Dead

1┊Stanford High

┆ Kaia ┆

I breathed out, the cold condensing to form a dewy bubble, fleeting in the winter air. Stanford Highs iron-wrought gates approached rapidly; they had once been beautiful, tall and magnificent, with webbings of metal and adorning twin pillars – they were now teeming with lichen and rust. I took a deep breath, willing warmth into my hands and nose; the rest of my body was covered with clothing and yet the cold still had its way of penetrating that too.

"Kaia, over here!" I whipped sideways, locating the source. Indigo Rivers, one of my best friends approached me quickly, ombre curls bouncing beneath her burgundy beanie.

Her expression was strange; her usually periwinkle eyes, too translucent to be considered emerald and too dewy to be considered silver, were voided of light. Her expression was serious upon her heart-shaped face, her skin already losing its sun-kissed glow to Michigan's harsh winter. 

"Kaia," she repeated my name, closer this time. "Let's go inside. I'm freezing."

I caught up with her, already turning to leave. "Nice manners, Indi." 

 "I'm cold." She whined. "Can we please get inside already? I feel like my eyelashes are becoming icicles and winters only just begun." She threw furtive glances over her shoulder as she spoke.

Rolling my eyes at the disdain lacing her voice, I smiled slightly, catching up with her again. "It's winter – the cold is officially our friend."

Indigo gave me a pointed look, raising a softly shaped eyebrow. "Winter, Kaia, will never be my friend. It's nothing but icy winds, frost, darkness and no opportunities to make use of my summer wardrobe." She muttered darkly.

 "But doesn't the novelty of snow and ice make you excited? Doesn't the darkness of the sky, illuminated with golden lanterns –"

 "Street lamps," she interjected. "Street lamps, Kaia. And don't go all literature-freak on me again please. You make me feel brainless."

 "-make you feel even in the slightest warm? The prospect of finding light in the dark?"

She pretended to think, turning and smiling so faintly, it looked more like a scowl. "No."

Sighing dejectedly, I rubbed a hand across my forehead. Before Indigo could speak again, Matilda approached from her other side, scowling at the shrouded grey firmament above. "God, I hate the winter."

 "Way to start an optimistic conversation, Mattie." I congratulated, hauling my rucksack onto my shoulder again.

Scowling at me, she smiled slightly. "Says the pessimist."

"Actually, I prefer to be labelled a realist if I have to be labelled at all."

Indigo groaned again and shivered, tugging at our sleeves roughly. We were nearly at the double doors where a sea of students were sheltering from the cold too when the slowly growing commotion behind us came to my attention.

Matilda was the first to react to two tall figures approaching the double doors from some way behind us, her eyes green like springtime fern, glimmering curiously at first and then full on gapingly. 

Turning fully, her jaw slackened. "Are those your brothers? They're both back?"

Indigo shut her eyes, forehead creasing uncharacteristically. When they flickered open, her eyes were dewy and strikingly blue, as though an icy blizzard had been raging behind her closed lids. She pressed her lips together. "Yes, that is. I'm surprised you still recognise them." Frost lined her voice, a clear warning for Mattie to comment no more on the matter.