She stood still, staring into the purring rain in the direction he had faded. The shadowed atmosphere of this dark night constructed a thick hollowness inside Lana's very soul. At sixteen, she had thought it would be easier to say goodbye. But as she'd gotten older, it only kept becoming more difficult to do so.
Her dark reddish-brown hair cascaded down and past her shoulders like a waterfall of pure crimson. And the drenching drops flowed through it as a cleansing river. Beads of rain, hundreds of them, streamed down her perfectly beautiful face. Even as the water purred over them, she kept her mossy-green eyes ever open. Her skin's complexion wasn't fair, nor dark, but naturally tanned the way a model's might be. She was somewhat slender in form, and what she lacked in stature she gained in curves. And any small, complimentary detail found on an average girl her age was amplified by her strong beauty.
Though Lana's demeanor was somewhat calm, the sorrow purring from her eyes told something else. Yet, the expression on her face remained emotionless, which was the exact opposite of how she felt inside. Everything she was experiencing couldn't even be put into words, and her heart was being ripped into small pieces, continuously getting smaller.
Anyone who might be watching would have found it hard to know whether or not Lana was crying. The never-ending crystal-clear fountain dripped from heaven onto her face, and mingled with her tears, making either liquid indistinguishable from the other. And like the water, Lana's tears fell to her feet and were swept away amidst a miniature river on the concrete parking lot. She wished she could be swept away like that. Lana knew there was a form of beauty in tears, and crying was a way of expressing emotion. But even so, there were only very few things that could make her cry. And whenever she did, they were never tears of peace or joy; instead, all that was able to filter out of her sorrowful eyes were jewels of grief or longing.
Don't get me wrong, Lana was often happy or full of peace, but those kinds of feelings seldom grew as strong as the negative ones, and were never quite strong enough to trigger an emotional stream. But as I said, that part was left for when the crying was necessary, and parting from Xeno was one of these necessary moments.
Her soul mate–though he was more than that–wouldn't be seeing Lana for two weeks. And to her delicate heart, it would feel like an eternity to be apart from the only one whom she deeply loved. So strongly that she'd die for him without the slightest question or hesitation. No doubt she knew Xeno felt the same way about her. And she was sad to think of how hard it was for him to make the choice to leave her like that.
Why is being separated from a close friend so unbearable for Lana? Xeno is her lifeline, her anchor, and the reason she doesn't lose herself.
Lana quit staring into the rain-filled air and dropped her chin several centimeters. She turned around and stepped into the stars.