Life After

Living isnt just being alive.

She's insane.

Nekoda was out in the rain. Again. And not just a drizzle, or that soft whispering rain. But the kind that had you saturated within 5 seconds and felt like bullets pounding against your skin, with winds that made it hard to stand properly in.

Her face was turned towards the sky. Her usually bright blue hair, looked dark and was running down the side of her face, water dripping off it in an endless cascade. She never used to look like this, with her choppy chin length blue hair and black attire as if she was living for the next funeral she'd attend. She used to be all bright colours with long blonde hair, but everything was different now.

What was she thinking?

She wasn't. She never did anymore. Anything she did nowadays was spontaneous and extreme. After Dek had died, it was like nothing mattered to her anymore. She went out in the pouring rain, ran endlessly, jumped off anything she could and was always taking risks.

And she'd stopped listening to him. It was like she'd hear every word he said, but wouldn't pay attention to what he meant.

He ran towards her as quickly as he could, the rain obscuring his vision, the only light the violent bursts of lighting. The cold, chilling him to the bone.

"Kody!" he yelled, "Kody!"

Had she heard him?

It was doubtful, the wind was too loud and the thunder rumbled as if it was trying to scream out its own song but couldn't quite find the words.

"NEKODA!"

It was hopeless, he continued to run towards her, no longer yelling her name, each breath becoming more laboured than the last.

She must have sensed him coming, because her eyes found his and a laugh escaped her lips, the kind of laugh that would sound like joy if you didn't know how sad the person was. But he knew, because he'd lost Dek and the wound was still fresh.

Kody danced her way towards him and bounded into his arms, hugging him tightly before stepping back.

"What're you doing?" He yelled, because nothing else would've been heard over the rain, lightning and thunder.

"I'm alive, Seth."

Another laugh escaped her lips as she spun in a small circle, facing the sky.

"I'm alive!" She screamed to the sky, "This is how you feel alive, Seth, this. Your heart needs to race and you need to feel it. Be alive with me."

"Come inside, Kody, please?" He pleaded, "It's cold an-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by her lips, exploring his mouth with her own, he got over his surprise quickly and kissed back ravenously. Her hands on his face and his around her waist, water dripping off them in sheets creating their own mini waterfall, but suddenly the world and weather didn't matter anymore. Immediately warmed though she felt ice cold against him, his mind went blank and all he could think about was how good it felt.

His heart was beating so fast, he wasn't sure he'd felt like this before.She danced back a step and smirked.

"What-" Seth began, immediately missing he feel of her lips.

"That's what it feels like to live." She explained, and spun around in the rain once more.

It took a while for him to realise what had actually happened, what line she had just crossed and what that might mean for them as friends. Lighting struck and the thunder echoed.

"C'mon, Koda, let's get you inside."

This time there was no protests, just Seth grabbing Nekoda's hand and leading her inside back the direction he had came, to the warmth of his house.