After The Rain (and other short stories)

After the Rain

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After the rain, we were forced to go back inside. It wasn't safe once the rain was gone.

We shut and locked the door behind us, silently hoping it was enough to keep them out. The rain was the only reprieve we got, the only time it was actually safe, and as a result, we both grew to love it.

Before, I had thought of the rain as an inconvenience, dampening my clothes and making my skin slippery and gross. Now, I thought of it as safety, the cold and wet becoming a reassurance that I would live through the moment and did not have to watch my back.

It's funny how the little things you enjoy can change so much when your life is at risk 24/7. It isn't a fun way to live, but hey, at least I'm living.

I heard rustling in the pantry, and a second later his grimy, dirt-stained fingers handed me a can of stale beans.

The bean juice had been drained out of the can a few weeks ago when we were short on water and needed something to drink. As a result, the beans were crusty and dry. They were food though, and food was valuable.

"Thanks," I said, trying not to scrunch my nose up at the stench of the half-dried and possibly mouldy beans.

He didn't respond, but I couldn't blame him. He was the quiet type, and being in the middle of an apocalypse hadn't helped him become more outgoing.

He emerged from the pantry with his own can of beans and sat down next to me. He held a tattered blanket and set his beans down momentarily to wrap it around me.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked, mostly to seem empathetic, since I immediately pulled the blanket tighter around myself.

He nodded, removing the metal mask that always covered the lower half of his face to eat his own beans.

He was the best thing about this apocalypse, the only reason I hadn't gone insane. His calm, collected demeanor contrasted with my optimistic and outgoing personality in a way that made both of us much less lonely.

His hair was a dark reddish-brown colour, growing in soft, cone-shaped spikes. Whenever he moved, it appeared that earth-toned flames were ablaze. It was quite spectacular.

His eyes were the same colour as his hair, possibly darker, and he rarely smiled, which made my heart ache for him.

His name was Rune, though names hardly mattered in an apocalypse.

"You should get some sleep, you look tired ," he said quietly, disregarding the fact that his eye bags were so dark they looked like bruises on his face.

"I should get some sleep?" I retorted with a smile, which he acknowledged with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." He leaned closer until he was right in my face. "You should get some sleep".

I flushed, turning red to the tips of my ears. "Well, if I'm sleeping, you're coming with me!"

He agreed, a sweet smile flashing across his face. "Alright, I guess."

We both stood up, and I unexpectedly jumped on his back, forcing him to carry me piggy-back style around the small living space. He grinned, struggling to hold my weight.

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Eventually, we ended up curled on a couch hidden in one of the back rooms of our hideout.

"Don't you ever think it would be easier to just die?" I whispered into the dark, his chest rising in a slow intake of breath under me. I felt the sadness in his voice, the way his body seemed to collapse in on itself as the answer was spoken.