"Where do people go when they die? Are you a Heaven/hell type person?" He didn't think the question was too out of line. Of course, he was feeling bold, having the most outrageous and spontaneous person laying next to him in a field in Somewhere, The Middle of No Where, Some Place Else, United States of America.
"We don't go anywhere, squirt. We turn into stars. Explosive people might even turn into galaxies. Or another sun that gives life to people on another planet people on earth will never discover. That's what I'd wanna be." Amazing. He'd failed at predicting her answer for the millionth time in an hour. She lit a cigarette between her plump limps that moved slightly whenever she talked.
"Why do you do that? You know it's going to kill you, right?"
Her eyes shot him a look of unspoken judgement saying, "As if I don't know that, dumbass." "Maybe I do smoke to die. I don't know. Want one?" She offered him hers and he politely declined.
Sitting in silence, he understood something. A knowledge so far reached previously that it had never crossed his expanded mind once. He was insignificant in life. And she was everything. Rebellious, studious, well read, a force that would change the world - or at least die trying. Straining his mind to remember a single quote from a single book of the millions he'd read to place his feelings.
"If people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane. That's how I feel right now."
At first he thought she'd ignored him, blowing smoke rings after long drags on her addiction. "Only the most overused quote from an overrated book. I enjoyed reading it, despite it's popularity among depressed teens." Of course she'd read it. "Be more original next time, hun. Looking for Alaska won't get you too many girls."
"I wasn't trying to be original. I was trying to tell you how I feel at this exact moment in time. Ya know, I'll never have this same feeling again."
"Be more original with your feelings," he could hear the smile in her voice. She knew exactly how to criticize him where it hurt.
He heaved a heavy sigh. "Ok, fine. How about this one. The massive bulk of the earth does indeed shrink to insignificance in comparison with the size of the heavens. Tonight, I feel like the earth."
She propped up on her elbow towards him, clearly thinking hard on who said the quote.
"Have I read that?"
"What, are you asking me? Like I'm supposed to know?" He received that look of judgement again and at once stopped laughing. "It was Copernicus in case you can't find it up there," he tapped her forehead.
She looked him dead in the eye. "I knew that, you didn't give me time to think." If he knew anything about this girl at all, it was her uncanny ability to lie.
He left the subject alone and silence settled yet again. The sun had set long ago and the stars and moon were out. As the air chilled, she shifted closer to the boy and he put his arm around her to keep her warm. He knew she had drifted to sleep by the steadiness of her breathing against his chest.
He was holding the future in his hands. He, an insignificant boy from the north. An overwhelming sense of worth overtook him and he realized that if all his purpose in life was to protect the future itself, he would be ok with that.
"We don't go anywhere, squirt. We turn into stars. Explosive people might even turn into galaxies. Or another sun that gives life to people on another planet people on earth will never discover. That's what I'd wanna be." Amazing. He'd failed at predicting her answer for the millionth time in an hour. She lit a cigarette between her plump limps that moved slightly whenever she talked.
"Why do you do that? You know it's going to kill you, right?"
Her eyes shot him a look of unspoken judgement saying, "As if I don't know that, dumbass." "Maybe I do smoke to die. I don't know. Want one?" She offered him hers and he politely declined.
Sitting in silence, he understood something. A knowledge so far reached previously that it had never crossed his expanded mind once. He was insignificant in life. And she was everything. Rebellious, studious, well read, a force that would change the world - or at least die trying. Straining his mind to remember a single quote from a single book of the millions he'd read to place his feelings.
"If people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane. That's how I feel right now."
At first he thought she'd ignored him, blowing smoke rings after long drags on her addiction. "Only the most overused quote from an overrated book. I enjoyed reading it, despite it's popularity among depressed teens." Of course she'd read it. "Be more original next time, hun. Looking for Alaska won't get you too many girls."
"I wasn't trying to be original. I was trying to tell you how I feel at this exact moment in time. Ya know, I'll never have this same feeling again."
"Be more original with your feelings," he could hear the smile in her voice. She knew exactly how to criticize him where it hurt.
He heaved a heavy sigh. "Ok, fine. How about this one. The massive bulk of the earth does indeed shrink to insignificance in comparison with the size of the heavens. Tonight, I feel like the earth."
She propped up on her elbow towards him, clearly thinking hard on who said the quote.
"Have I read that?"
"What, are you asking me? Like I'm supposed to know?" He received that look of judgement again and at once stopped laughing. "It was Copernicus in case you can't find it up there," he tapped her forehead.
She looked him dead in the eye. "I knew that, you didn't give me time to think." If he knew anything about this girl at all, it was her uncanny ability to lie.
He left the subject alone and silence settled yet again. The sun had set long ago and the stars and moon were out. As the air chilled, she shifted closer to the boy and he put his arm around her to keep her warm. He knew she had drifted to sleep by the steadiness of her breathing against his chest.
He was holding the future in his hands. He, an insignificant boy from the north. An overwhelming sense of worth overtook him and he realized that if all his purpose in life was to protect the future itself, he would be ok with that.