Pitter patter pitter patter...

It was beginning to rain. The tapping of the raindrops were like a billion footsteps jogging towards my direction. The only exception was, you'll be soaked in the rain, and you'll be dead if you were trampled on by this many people. I looked up at the overcast sky so the rainwater would slide down my cheeks in the place of my tears. I was standing outside the newly built building: the library. This library had only just finished constructing about a couple of months ago, but was only open to public last month.

Before this library appeared, a park was once in the exact place. I would wander around the park whenever I was feeling angry, depressed, or stressed. I would laugh along with my friends while playing football using trees as goalposts. Of course, everything had changed, those were the old times. Now, a two story building stands, with pallid walls and enormous glass panels. From this position, you could clearly see the bookshelves and book cases positioned inside through the transparent glass panels when the sun is shining. However, the rainwater on the windows had blurred the vision inside.

Adjusting the straps on my backpack, I spun around and stepped further away from the library. Each footstep was ended in a puddle, the water soaked along the laces, through the trainers and then to my feet. The roads and streets were almost deserted, barely anyone could bee seen apart from a happy couple shielding themselves from the rain at the bus stop nearby. A gleaming black car sped past as I walked nearer to the traffic lights. Several more wheels rolled past, each creating a small wave of water from the water spreading on the roads. A luminous green circle appeared for the cars. I turned to my right and pushed the white button which had turned grey due to being pressed by many people. The letters W-A-I-T flashed up on the misty grey panel above the button. Another pale coloured car rushed past. The volume of the running raindrops grew as if they were aiming to wash away the road markings. Suddenly, the traffic lights rang and flashed a signal for me to cross. I was about to set a foot on the road until I was pulled back by a mysterious figure. Slowly, I turned around. Who was that? Someone, preferably human, stood before me. An oversized raincoat were hung on the shoulders, a large pair of sunglasses were loosely fitted across the face, and black suitcase was also being dragged along. Sunglasses? In this weather and this time of the day? I looked down, the feet were placed insecurely inside a pair of olive Wellington boots.

"Would you like a handout?" He asked and pushed a leaflet into my hands, shaping my fingers around it. The voice was deep, slow and sounded tiring, but somehow had a touch of liveliness inside it. He is probably a man, unless he had access to voice disguising equipment. As I looked up again, he stepped back, hauling his boots along the rainwater. I flipped through the monochrome leaflet, no images, no decorations, no colour, no contact details, just a truckload of text and paragraphs. What is this for? Why would someone randomly walk up to me just to give me this? My eyes moved towards one of the many captions. "Summerside Cafe, Snowice newsagent, Springville book shop..." I mumbled.

Those shops have peculiar names. In fact, all the names of the shops on the handout had names like those. I was about to open my mouth to speak when I've realised the man had already disappeared. It took me a few minutes to realise how much time I've wasted by reading the handout. Of course he would be gone. Quickly, I continued to skim through the leaflet, proper skimming this time. My eyes followed the path of my fingertips as they brushed along the page. As I've reached the end of the leaflet, I've realised it had stopped raining to celebrate noon. But not a drop of sunlight were still to be seen. My eyes began to focus on the last letters of the handout: Location: The road casse.

It's now almost 3pm. I fell back onto my bed holding the maps up to my face. Never in my life nor the maps had ever heard of or seen that road. Where on earth is Casse Road? Is this a prank from one of my friends or what? It's nowhere near April Fools. And wouldn't the man's voice sound familiar if my friends were playing dress up? This time, voice disguising equipment makes sense... Anyway, the truth will come out very soon. Immediately, my arms reached for my mobile phone and pressed a few buttons. Huh? The screen is still black... out of battery? Sighing, I grabbed my phone with my right hand, fingers curving around the screen. A small beam of sunlight seeped in through the windows, contrasting with the weather from the morning. The trees swayed to the rhythm of the breeze and the birds circulated above the houses. I pushed the electrical power socket into the wall and left my phone alone to recharge. Why would my friends pull this type of pranks?