He looked up, gasping for air, as the clouds themselves began to glow. It was a beautiful, terrifying glitch in reality—a heartbreak moving so fast it became a forest fire in the middle of a monsoon. He wasn't crying; the steam from the burning rain just made it look that way.
One by one, the rain turned into liquid sparks. Elias began to sprint, his boots splashing through puddles that hissed and steamed. Behind him, the street was transforming into a river of orange light. The faster the song played, the hotter the storm raged.
By the time the final, chipmunk-high chorus peaked, the entire skyline was a wall of golden flame, and Elias was gone, leaving nothing but a pair of scorched footprints and a silence that felt far too slow.