Find Me - 3. Breath

She wondered why he couldn't remember her; why, it had only been three years ago. It had only been one thousand and ninety two days since he'd sat next to her, wondering why physics was even necessary to complete high school. It had only been one hundred and fifty six weeks since she'd occasionally glance at him, only to find that her heart completely flipped when she saw him staring back at her. It had only been thirty six months since she couldn't help that feeling that grew inside of her whenever she saw him, whether it was in the classroom, or mourning over the death of his friend.

Yet, it only twenty seconds had passed since she whispered his name, breathless. Only fifteen seconds had gone away since she resisted the painful urge to follow him, talk to him, assure his that she was still here, always here; even though it had been only four seconds since his figure left her sight, she could only tell herself that he had changed.

And once he ran, she knew it was only pointless to stand in the same spot, stupidly staring after something she could have changed in mere minutes. Looking to the sky, Lyra huffed to herself, bending down to tie the loose shoestrings dangling from her feet. The rain still loomed far from their small town; presenting her with the time she so wanted.

With one last glance to the billowing forest behind her, Lyra decided to save him for another day.

Maybe then, he'd remember.

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The man besides her had already given up attempting to continue his informative lecture towards her; seeing her dreamy expression already spoke to him in ways no words could have. With the music playing from the radio, he should have known much better than to even think of getting a few sentences into her head. Taking off the sweatband from his head, the blond man sighed, grabbing his coffee into one hand while the other held firmly to the steering wheel.

The young brunette girl, on the other hand, perched her head on top of her hands, her eyes scanning every detail of the world outside, from the permanent, grassy hills to the deep blue of the ocean, to the suddenly swooping robin in the sky. Although still far off, the signs of the storm began to take its toll as the trees began to billow, waves growing.

"The waves should be huge by now." The blond man exhaled his disagreement.

"You'd better not even imagine going out in these conditions," he stated, weaving into the turning lane. "One wipeout and you'd be swept away at sea, you know."

Pulling at her pigtails in frustration, Lyra whined. "Come on, Morty! You know, you know I need practice before the tournament. Today, it's like the waves are challenging me, calling to me-" Morty snorted as the first few raindrops fell onto the windshield.

"So you're telling me that it wouldn't be your fault if you died out there?"

"Of course it would! I'm just saying that-." Lyra paused, collecting her thoughts. Smiling, she looked back at her coach. "Mortimer-"

"Morty."

"Morty," Lyra giggled, "I'm not eight anymore. I'm not some newbie who can barely balance on that board! You know better than anyone else that when worst comes to shove, I'd surf my ass out and be absolutely fine.  Plus! I need the practice; the tournament's in only a week, and, let's face it: I kinda suck right now."

"…Which is why you're not surfing out there at the moment." Despite the young girl's constant whining and pleading, Morty was settled on his decision. "Like you said, you have a week, and, knowing you, you'll be fine in time for that contest." He smiled; Lyra pouted.

"What if-"

"Nope."

"Not even-"

"Mmm-mmm."  Morty shook his head, driving into the apartment complex in which Lyra resided. "And don't even think about leaving before tomorrow."

The girl rolled her eyes, grabbing her backpack and opening the passenger's door. "Whatever, Mortimer." She jumped out just in time to avoid Morty's reminder about his name. Closing the door behind her, she walked about seven steps before hearing her surfing coach drive away, followed by the boom of distant thunder.

Looking at the sky, the bright eyed woman felt a twinge in her gut, a twinge of happiness, seeing that the sky was only painted half grey; she still had time.

Why couldn't Morty see that if he intended her to get better, she'd need to challenge herself, experience new challenges whenever and however they popped up in her life?

As she slipped on her board shorts and grabbed the giant surfboard from her car, she wondered why she was so determined to win; if she intended to win, she'd have to face the waves.

If she intended on beating the incoming rain, she knew she'd have to listen to her instinct and run, run towards the ocean that lay only a few minutes from her.

Lyra knew, as she swam into the vast ocean ahead, board underneath of her, that if she intended on finding herself, she'd have to take the risk.

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"You know what kinda sucks," Gold started, flipping his hair obnoxiously, "Your mom can still make that badass lasagna, and I can't eat it."

"All you can think of at this time is food?"

"…Yeah."

"Shut up, Gold." The red-haired boy had meant this to the full of his extent, of course; however, he'd finished it with a laugh. Around him, he finally felt like someone understood him again. He felt like everyone changed for the worse after that day that left scars in everybody's memories, with glances slowly turning into stares, and later into glares. The blame still weighed heavily on Silver's now-tired shoulders.

Looking to the sky, his silver eyes narrowed at the loud noise from his empty stomach. Attempting to hide the noise, he placed a firm hand on his stomach, causing the gold-eyed boy to smirk.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who agrees~!"

Silver huffed, throwing the pebble in his hand out of frustration, where it unexpectedly hit the now-agitated teen in front of him. "Seriously," he started, "what is it with you and trying to hurt me?" The silver-eyed boy only sighed, rolling his eyes once more as he reached out towards the ground, expecting to grab yet another stone.

"I don't understand it."

"Don't understand what, compadre?"

He almost hesitated, honestly, about admitting something that he'd been wrong about all along. "I don't know…life, I guess." Despite his lying, Gold nodded, chuckling.

"Ah, so this is another one of those discussions, huh?" Quiet. Fiddling with the chain on his wrist, Gold motioned over to his friend. "Lemme see your hand, man."

"What?"

"Geez, just let me see it!" Grabbing Silver's hand, the raven-haired boy finally managed to place the chain that was once on his wrist into his friend's hand. Upon seeing the boy's confused expression, he merely pointed once again to a small clock charm on said bracelet. "Crys gave it to me the day of graduation. Apparently a clock to her means "life"". He chuckled. "But anyways, to me, I think it means that no matter what crazy shit happens, life keeps going, whether you like it or not. And obviously, you're not liking that fact, dude." Silver rolled his eyes, playing with the small charm.

"Obviously, there must be some kind of reason that I died before you; you just gotta find that reason. And when the time comes, it just comes." Glancing up from the small clock charm, Silver never knew that he could speak so deeply. But then again, Gold was a person too.

"So I hope that helps with your life problems!" Fidgeting in his place on the boulder, Silver almost grinned. "Uh….yeah." It might have almost worked, if his gold-eyed friend was completely stupid.

"Um…no! Come on, you can tell ol' Gold! I don't judge!"

"Nah, it's okay. Maybe next time."

"Come on, come on! I'm dead, Silver! What the hell am I gonna do to ya'?!" Ignoring his last comment, Silver looked to the gray clouds in the sky; mixed with the purple and pink of the sunset, they covered half of the rainbow-painted sky.

"How about I tell you next time, when I'm not starving and running from the rain?" Gold narrowed his eyes, but reluctantly agreed to his friend's statement.

"Fine, man. But I swear to God, if you forget, I'll be haunting you for life."

Silver forced a small smile onto his face, turning and preparing to race the elements. "You already are, Gold."

And when he looked back one more time, the raven-haired boy disappeared for the day.