KILL KO

Chapter 1

Cody was heartbroken when his girlfriend fell into a coma. He was heartbroken still when the doctors told him and her family that she would never wake up. She was going to be a vegetable for the rest of her life, and not the yummy kind.

Kelsey's family had opted to pull the plug despite Cody's protests. He wished she would wake up but he figured that, in a way, pulling the plug was a form of waking up because life is just a dream for the dead.

"You're a MONSTER!" Kelsey's mother had screamed at him during the funeral.

She screamed out in anger after noticing that Cody was vlogging during her daughter's funeral. He was crying, of course, but he was vlogging, nonetheless.

Kelsey's father promptly grabbed Cody and threw him out of the funeral home.

"It's what Kelsey would've wanted!" he'd shouted as they slammed the door on him.

At the time, this upset Cody, but after having some time to think about things he was grateful that he was kicked out of her funeral. Sure, a vlog titled "MY GIRLFRIEND DIED?? (emotional)" with a thumbnail of himself crying in front of her open casket would get hella views, but it would also draw criticism. It would alienate him from his audience and he wouldn't be able to bounce back from that—he was no David Dobrik.

************

Now, two days after Kelsey was buried, Cody kneels in front of her grave; it's his chance to finally grieve properly.

"Oh, Kelsey," he says, teary-eyed, "I'm so sorry you're dead. It's been a real bummer, babe."

Cody sniffles. He doesn't notice the strange girl hiding behind Kelsey's gravestone.

Her name was Emily; she was beautiful, but she was hiding her beauty behind the gravestone of Cody's dead girfriend because she saw Cody coming and threw herself behind it so she wouldn't fangirl. She was wearing his merch too. Emily was there to grieve her boyfriend. He had died after an altercation with a longboarder-tattoo artist named Jake. Sometimes, when she walked around Venice Beach, she thought she could still hear his screams.

Emily stays quiet and listens to Cody's monologue.

"You know what, Kelsey?" He says, "sometimes, in the middle of the night when I can't fall asleep, I think about how when I die, I'll be buried next to you. Maybe not officially, but I'll make sure that someone buries me next to you," Cody sheds two tears, "that really comforts me."

He takes a deep breath and continues, "sometimes I even want to get out of bed and come down here and dig a hole and then lay in it just so I can feel what you're feeling," he sheds two more tears, "I miss you baby. And I wish you could've met our son..."

Cody pulls a puppy out of a backpack, "his name is Kel."

The emotional revelation causes Emily to tear up from behind the gravestone.

Cody pets the pug, "I named him after you, baby."

He weeps as he sets the puppy back in his backpack and zips it up.

He sighs, "if only you were here to be a mother to him. I don't know what to do. I hear it's hard being a single parent." Cody cries more and bows his head.

This touches Emily. She crawls out from behind the gravestone on her hands and knees. Cody doesn't notice her so she pats his head and says, "there, there."

Cody lifts his head, "Who are you? DId you just come from behind my dead girfriend's gravestone?"

"My name is Emily. And yes, I did, Emily says, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"How long were you hiding behind the gravestone?" Cody asks, concerned.

"Well," Emily starts, "I've kinda been hiding behind a gravestone for my whole life... I feel like most people have been, you know?"

He does know. He feels an instant connection.

"Is that my merch you're wearing?" He asks.

Emily nods, "it was my boyfriend's. I actually came here to drop off some flowers. He died a few months ago."

"I'm so sorry," Cody says, "that's too bad. Do you mind me asking how he died?"

"Oh, no, that's fine," Emily looks flustered, "he died after some guy named Jake beat him up really bad in Venice beach."

Cody furrows his brow, "was this guy Jake a tattoo artist?"

Emily's face perks up, "Yes, He was a longboarder too."

"Holy shit, lol, I know that guy. I got a tattoo from him a while back. He did a good job," Cody laughs, "it really is a small world, isn't it?"

Emily smiles, "it really is."

Cody stares at her, captivated by her beauty and infectious smile. Without thinking, he leans over and tenderly kisses her. She kisses him back. Emily and Cody's kiss turns into a makeout session. The two romantically swap spit over Kelsey's grave.

************

Below the dirt, Kelsey's body rests inside her casket.

The loud kissing from above her grave can be heard even six feet under.

Kelsey's eyes shoot open. She awakes from her coma.

The doctors were wrong; she hadn't died.

But she had been buried alive.

"Dammit," Kelsey says, "this sucks."

She listens and hears kissing coming from above.

Is that.......CODY?!?! She thinks, Oh. My. God. It is.

She glares in her dark coffin. Her cheeks turn red with rage.

I've been gone for, like, two seconds, and he's already with some other girl? Her thoughts begin to race.

She whispers to herself, "You're going to pay, Cody Ko. Even if it means with your life."