Their first kiss tasted like blood and rain. Ella’s boyfriend, Cal, had hit her again, and she’d run through the storm to her closest friend to comforting. May had hugged her, rocking her on the couch, for hours, before it happened. Afterward, they pulled away from each other with lightning speed.

“I-I’m sorry.” Ella’d mumbled as she had fled for the door, out into the rain.

May just shook her head, wondering what on earth had gotten into her. She called her man, Edwin, to straighten herself out, but there was no answer. Just a few minutes later, Ella returned. She crawled back under May’s worn quilt and cried.

They never did anything like that again, never spoke of it. After it happened, though, their friendship wasn’t the same. When May’s father, her last living relative, had died, she left school. Ella had drifted away soon after, and no one- not even her family- had ever heard from her again.

Knowing that, you can imagine May’s shock when she stepped out on the porch that Wednesday Morning.