A cloud and a pond find friendship in an empty world.

1. Once upon a time, when the rains had ceased and the world had begun to die,
there survived a cloud. Her name was Madison and she was the last of her kind. She had
no family or friends because they had all been lost due to the lack of water. Even her
figure was losing shape. However, she didn’t know about this problem. She believed it
was natural; after all, this was the way it was her whole life. She was a very hyperactive
cloud and always found a way to amuse herself no matter how empty the world was. She
pretty much loved to float (as if there were anything else clouds could do). One day,
while she was floating along, singing “Mr. Roboto” (very horribly, I might add) she saw
something that caught her eye. It was very shiny and Madison could not help but fuel her
curiosity. She glided down to see what this shiny substance was. It was very calm and
gentle. She was incredibly amazed by its fluidity.
“What is this?” she asked in wonder.
“Me? I’m a puddle!! And you’re a cloud! I didn’t even know those still existed!”
Madison was taken aback by the response. She had never heard another voice
before. The sound was beautiful, maybe the most fantastic thing she had ever heard.
“You can….talk?! Say something again!”
“Of course I can talk. Can’t everyone?”
Madison giggled at this response.
“I’ve never met anyone else before. Who are you? And what is a puddle?”
The puddle looked at Madison with bewilderment. He could never imagine a life
without other beings. Of course, that is what life had turned out to be. The drought had
wiped out everyone he once knew. It was only a matter of time before he would be gone
too. This must be a cloud who was formed after the drought begun, he thought. But how
could she not know what a puddle is?
“My name is Jeremiah. As far as I know, I am the last pool of water on this
planet. That’s what a puddle is: a pool of water. You do know what water is, right? No?
Oh, well water is a liquid that is clear, odorless, and tasteless. Water used to cover the
Earth until the drought. The drought, or lack of rainfall, dried up all the water except for
me. I am the remnant of the Pacific Ocean. You are probably the last cloud ever. You and
me, we’re the same. We’re the last of our kind.”
Madison had never been so eager to learn about why the world was the way it
was. This puddle was so intriguing! He continued to talk to her about the way Earth used
to be. He explained how people would visit him and his family for their summer breaks.
He told her about flowers, rivers, and trees. She asked him about everything, from how
the world was created to how it became the way it was. They talked and talked without
even noticing the sun setting and rising and then setting once more.
Suddenly, Jeremiah realized how fluffy and healthy Madison looked. He was
confused until he looked at himself. He had shrunk faster than he had ever noticed before
in his life. He brought this to Madison’s attention.
“Look! Look at how much you’ve grown and how little I’ve gotten! I think you
stole my water!!!”
Madison looked at herself in horror. She could not believe what she had done.
“I am so sorry! I don’t know how this happened!”
Jeremiah saw the horror frozen on her face. He reassured her that everything
would be okay. In his thoughts, however, he wondered how he would be able to live and
stay with this cloud he had grown so fond of.

2. The next morning, Jeremiah barely had any energy to open his eyes. He had
decreased to the size of a basketball. Madison had no idea what to do. She had finally
found a friend on the void planet. She didn’t want to lose him. She saw that this puddle
meant more to her than anything she had ever known. There was only one way to
describe her feelings. Three simple words that humans exchanged when they found the
one they wanted to spend the rest of their life with:
“I love you.”
There she said it. Jeremiah had said that those words had been magical for the
humans. For some of them, including one called Snow White, “love” had saved them
from the end of their life. Hopefully, this would work now for Jeremiah.
Nothing happened. Madison’s heart sunk. Was this how Juliet felt when she saw
Romeo’s still body lying beside her? Was this the way a child felt when their pet died?
She felt a drop of liquid leave her eye. What is this now? It’s clear, odorless and…oh my,
this is water! Madison realized that she had begun to cry. She could not hold it back. She
cried for her lost love, for her lost family, and for not being able to experience life on
Earth. For forty days and forty nights, she cried. Finally, she was too exhausted to cry any
longer. She opened her eyes and saw that she was no longer staring at a puddle against
barren land. However, she was staring at an ocean!
“Jeremiah? Is that you?”
Madison waited for an answer. Maybe she had gone crazy. Maybe her eyes were
just so clouded with water that she only thought she was looking into an ocean.
“Madison! You did it! You saved me! And I love you too.”
There he was. He was the ocean. Through her tears, he was able to cover the
whole planet with himself. Together they ended the drought and saved the world.