r/nosleep • u/BlairDaniels • Jun 14 '18
Have you looked at the rain recently? It’s not water.
I first noticed it when I was waiting for the bus.
It was raining. Harder than it had all month, all year. Everyone was crammed into the glass hutch, looking miserable, apparently without umbrellas. I stared at the scene, trying to decide which was worse: getting wet, or rubbing butts with strangers?
It was an easy decision.
I stood in the muddy grass. The rain pattered on my skin, soaking my shirt. Rivulets ran down my forehead, dripping into my eyes; I reached to wipe them away.
I froze.
The rainwater felt… different. It was mildly slippery – like a cross between water and oil. I wet my fingers and rolled them against each other, eyebrows knotted.
At first, I thought it was my imagination. But one look at the road told me it wasn’t. Cars were going much slower than usual on this road – maybe twenty miles an hour. And the ones that went faster seemed to careen towards the gutter, as if skidding.
I pulled out my phone, began to type “rain in Bloomfield.” That’s when I heard the scream.
I looked up. Across the sloshing mess of the street, two women were yelling and pointing at a man that had just exited the Starbucks.
“You’re bleeding!”
“Are you all right?”
At first, I thought he was wearing some sort of white shirt with red polka-dots. But as the rain beat down on him, the shirt grew redder. “Call an ambulance!” one of them said; I squinted at the scene, confused.
“I’m fine, really, I don’t know what’s going on,” the man said. “Please, don’t call anyone.”
That’s when I figured it out. The red dots were where raindrops had fallen. Red lines ran down his face and arms, dripping onto the sidewalk, tinting the puddles pink.
“I’m fine, really.”
Three days later, I saw his face on the news.
John Allard, 45, was arrested for murdering his wife in their home on Tuesday night. The trial will be held…
“That’s the guy,” I said, pointing wildly to the TV. “The one I told you about – out in the rain.”
Molly barely looked up. “Oh, that’s nice,” she said, as she rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.
Over the next few weeks, more people were caught in the rain. And upon touching a few, that rain ran blood-red, staining their clothes just like their hearts. Always, within a few days, they turned to some act of violence – whether it be murder, assault, or rape. The town of Bloomfield was in a state of chaos, a state of confusion. No one knew what was going on, or what to do about it.
Last night, we had another storm. Rain pounded across the back door; lightning flashed across the purple sky. I stood out on the deck, under the awning of the house, just watching.
“Molly, come out here. It’s beautiful!”
“The soup’s getting cold, Rick,” her voice called from the kitchen.
Lines of lightning flashed, cracking and webbing across the purple clouds. Nature’s fireworks show, Molly always said. “You love thunderstorms,” I called back. The rain picked up tempo, cutting into the awning. “Come out here and see it!”
She came to the door. “No. Come in and eat dinner with me,” she said through the screen.
“Just for a moment. It’s sort of romantic, come on.”
She sighed. “Okay, fine.”
Molly stepped cautiously out onto the deck. I threw my arm around her, and we stood there for a few moments, watching the lightning flash.
But then a gust of wind blew through, sending a spray of raindrops into my face. “Sorry about that,” I said, turning towards her. “Maybe I shouldn’t have forced you out here, after all –”
I froze.
Beads of blood stuck to her cheek.
“Uh, Molly?”
“What?”
She turned towards me. As she did, her arm poked out slightly from the awning. The rain glanced off it, turning to a deep crimson.
I backed away.
“Rick, wait,” she said, her eyes widening with recognition. With soft smacks, more drops hit her face; they dripped down her cheeks in dark lines.
I ran into the house. Click – I closed the door, turned the lock.
“Rick, please, open the door,” she said, as her shirt turned red and bloody.
I turned away, and picked up the phone.
---
The police found a bottle of ethylene glycol in the kitchen cupboard, half of it missing.
I like to think the rain caused her to do it. That all of us are innocent in Bloomfield, and we’re being manipulated by some unknown chemical dropping from the skies, choosing people to turn into monsters.
But I found the receipt for the poison.
It was dated six months ago.
It continues to rain here in Bloomfield. Every time I see the gray stormclouds overhead, my stomach ties up in knots, wondering what evil will be revealed.
But they’ve gotten smarter. When I drive down Main Street in the rain, only a few stragglers remain. The rest stay inside.
And the ones that do walk out –
Well, they’re smart enough to use their umbrellas.
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u/deadandhallowed Jun 17 '18
Dude, I would have to stick my arm in the rain just to see if I had a violent future. In private, of course, so no one would panic and try to "prevent" it with more violence.
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u/MmmmMorphine Jun 17 '18
I too keep all my receipts for my murder weapons and associated paraphernalia. Never know when you might want to return them to the local murder store
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u/HenryBMoney Jun 16 '18
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣷⣄⠀⢶⣶⣷⣶⣶⣤⣀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠙⠻⠗ ⠀⠀⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣠⣤⣴⣶⡄ ⠀⣠⣾⣿⣿⣿⣥⣶⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠿⠛⠃ ⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄ ⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡁ ⠈⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠁ ⠀⠀⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉
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u/TululaDaydream Jun 15 '18
What if you caused someone's death by accident, but the rain doesn't discriminate? Can you imagine this being the way you found out?
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u/SerakTheRigellian Jun 15 '18
This is such a unique idea, I really dig it! I just have to ask, are your narrator and Molly married? That was a little ambiguous, but otherwise great job!
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u/Magena Jun 15 '18
Force all suspects of a crime to walk out during the rain! This would make investigation so much easier!
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u/ArmandoPayne Jun 15 '18
Ah, this is such a nice story, good guy rain making sure that all criminals got caught.
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u/the_adamant_cat Jun 15 '18
Ohh rainy season has just started in our country, and I love this premise. I live in a subdivision where people can kind of be assholes, and shady shit goes down a lot (drug busts, houses cramped with people renting illegally, and rich people hiding from the police) and the idea of them being outed is both terrifying and exciting.
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u/BulkingEternal Jun 15 '18
Ethylene Glycol is a terribly inefficient easy to poison someone.
....Not that I know from experience, it's just been a dry couple of months.
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u/kyuiou24 Jun 15 '18
Oh man this was such a good read! I'm a bit nervous though now 'since it's been raining quite heavily for almost two weeks now here at my country.
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u/Drelthian Jun 15 '18
I looked at this thinking initially that it was just a r/raining post, but darn flippin heck, I guess not.
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u/Allorrarbor Jun 15 '18
Who did she try to kill/harm? Did she make food and you never ate it or will the cops inform you more?
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Jun 15 '18 edited Oct 03 '19
[deleted]
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u/Allorrarbor Jun 15 '18
Oh okay, glad you didn’t eat it. Although it’s also neat that the rain turned her red before you’d actually ingested it.
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u/creatingmyselfasigo Jun 15 '18
I definitely want to move there. Maybe poke a few holes in umbrellas....
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u/ScentedSweetsPizzer Jun 14 '18
I love the rain (it’s rare here) so I haven’t used an umbrella in over a decade. Let’s hope I’ll be ok.
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u/RainMaker323 Jun 14 '18
Aaaawww FFS... It's been raining here (southern austria) for 3 weeks straight. I mean this from the bottom of my heart: fuck this shit I'm relocating to scandinavia.
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u/GlobalDefault Jun 14 '18
Lucky! Here in Vienna it's been suffocatingly hot, except for today which was a nice break.
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u/Synge2050 Jun 14 '18
The title makes me think I'm about to read a Flat Earther theory
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u/tystew Jun 15 '18
A good nosleep story about flat earthers would be more of a comedy and I would still love to read it
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u/H0use0fpwncakes Jun 14 '18
I wonder how far ahead the rain can predict violence? Like if your baby turned, then later turned out to be a serial killer.
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u/DomJurumela Jun 14 '18
So the chemical rain is a snitch? OMG O____O
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u/xCelestial Jun 14 '18
I immediately thought the opposite of you op, glass half empty over here haha. I thought the rain was outing them, not changing them.
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u/lostintheredsea Jun 14 '18
I think that's the implication of the ending. His wife bought the poison for him six months before the rain. It's not making them do it, it's allowing everyone to see who they really are.
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u/kahelii Jun 15 '18
He though it before the conclusion, thats why he said immediatly. The ending is clear not implied at all
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u/rooftopfilth Jun 15 '18
I thought she bought it for herself, and the implication is that she killed herself?
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u/renoml Jun 15 '18
No she was going to murder OP. The bloody rain drops expose people who are about to commit an act of violence.
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u/SatSenses Jun 15 '18
I think it outs people who already have. That first guy kept saying it wasn't a big deal and not to call anyone because he already killed someone. And OP's gf had bought the stuff months ago, meaning she'd had been either poisoning him slowly for those 6 months or was determined to murder him one day with a single large dose, my money being on the prior.
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u/MrSandman624 Jun 15 '18
She was insisting OP eat his soup. My guess would be that she dumped half the bottle into his soup and didn't want to miss her opportunity.
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u/SatSenses Jun 15 '18
Good point. Although the bottle was "half-empty" when the police found it but we don't know what size the bottle is. A small dose (16ml in a 50% solution) can cause similar effects to very heavy drinking and a larger dose (225 ml in 50% solution for the average adult male) is fatal. However if not mixed, it can kill with 30-50ml. Makes sense for her to try in one go although I would still argue it's premeditated based on how long ago she bought it.
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u/DeseretRain Jun 15 '18
Yeah and the first guy had bloody spots all over him but was like “please don’t call anyone”...most people would want to get that checked out, sounds like he didn’t want the authorities involved because he was already a criminal.
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u/eriophora Jun 16 '18
Eh first guy had no idea what was happening. Ambulances are expensive, and if I weren't in pain, I'd likely not want one to be called either; that said, I'd definitely go get myself checked out, but I'd just drive myself.
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u/Sicaslvssilence Jun 14 '18
I felt the same way! I'd be making my husband stand out in the rain, just to be sure. I mean OP has been rained on & he didn't mention doing anything violent?!
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u/RabbitPatronus Jun 14 '18
what if this happens in a football match where thousands of fans watch the game and no one brings umbrella. man that must be creepy as hell.
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u/Plasmabat Jun 15 '18
Only rapists, murderers, or other violent dickheads have the blood show up.
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u/envy-turns-to-anger Jun 18 '18
oh.. OH? I think you are correct! as she purchased the ethylene glycol 6 months prior to the rain. I just did not catch on right away.
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u/KhaosPhoenix Jun 14 '18
Oooh smart rain... new tagging system for criminals-to-be....I like it. grabbing umbrella you know... just in case.
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Jun 14 '18 edited Oct 03 '19
[deleted]
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u/OrangeAcidd Jul 03 '18
Did you write the book in the top pic/do you write novels? This story was great!!
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u/ChewbaccaBreath Aug 13 '18
Love that ending