1. le nébuleuse
[ la lune a demandé au soleil, "quand vas-tu me détester ?" ]
it was dark inside the planetarium, which was very accurately ironic because the sky that night was pale enough to see the planets that lingered at a distance.
the glare of a battery-torch disturbed the darkness that the place was comfortably blanketed beneath. echoes of two pairs of feet shuffling would have woken up the guards, if there were any.
there were none.
these feet could be heard running up the flights of stairs which led to the terrace of the building, which more often than not was where people would go to die. jump off the terrace, that is. in our case, these two did not seem to be dying that night. at least i don't think so.
the planetarium had tall matted windows that the streetlight stole its way through. as the pair of feet made it up the stairs, a beam of light snuck onto auburn hair.
a pair of feet had auburn hair.
the fog in the sky seemed sinister for january. it been sunless for months now.
the brightest star that could be seen then, was in fact not a star.
but the hands with the paint stains which were wrapped around the telescope, did not care much for that.
at that moment, she was one with the stars.
infinite.
the girl's dark hair fell to her face as she bent down. evidently, one of the pairs of feet belonged to her. "is it a sin to watch them like i am, when i know nothing of them ?"
her voice was a feverish kind of honey.
"i don't think so."
the second pair of feet belonged to a girl that looked nothing like the one looking through the telescope. her hair was a cancer kind of auburn, how it spread from the roots to the end, leaving some parts brown.
the first girl looked up from the telescope now, and looked back at her companion.
"alya, i found one i like." she said, with a smile. "come see."
a second pair of hands now gripped the telescope. these hands were withered and had red paint on the nails that closely resembled blood.
"interesting choice." replied alya, still bent down, looking through the apparatus.
"what is it ? tell me."
" i suppose it's the constellation pleiades."
"the name is beautiful."
alya looked up and walked over to the edge of the terrace. she picked up her dress and took a seat on the floor of it. "it is. there's a story that inspired the name." the first girl followed her steps and did the same. "tell me," she said. alya looked up at the sky. the colours in it were melting into each other now. like an ill-kept palette. "the pleiades were the seven daughters of the titan atlas. he had been cursed to hold up the sky for eternity, and he couldn't be there for them, to protect them." alya paused. a hand made its way onto her own withered one. "to save them from being raped by the hunter orion, the father turned his daughters into stars."
alya sighed. "it isn't a very happy story. apologies celene."
celene smiled in response.
that night, the sky was a cruel narrator. she knew how their story would end.
"how long will you wait ?" celene asked. her words was sleepy now. tired. soggy with forgiveness.
"as long as you need me to."
alya gazed at the girl with the dark hair tied up at the end with a worn out white ribbon. strands of it stole out of restraint. she gazed at the girl's sadness.
they sat in a silence unspoken of by the gods.
"do you think we'll ever come here again, alya ?"
"i know we will." spoke the girl. her eyes were exhausted from all that she had seen.
she felt a head on her shoulder.
"what's wrong ?"
celene took soft constricted breaths.
"i'm scared." she whispered.
a pain wrenched inside of the burgundy headed girl. a sort that wasn't hers to steal away from celene.
"i'm scared to never see you again."
at that moment, all the hurt that had constructed the walls around her fell to the ground like playing cards. a single tear wet her dress. alya had never cried before. she put her own head on celene's.
"i'm right here. nowhere else. i'll be nowhere else but with you." she replied.
celene looked into the pair of soft brown eyes that the sun shyed away from.
"it has been an honour to have loved you."
"it has been an honour loving you."
alya smiled. softly. a smile that melancholy loved. "i'll never sleep again. it doesn't feel right to be without you every night."
celene let out a whispered laugh.
she leaned in gently, her hand on the girl's cheek, putting a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
then she kissed her.
she kissed her like she had longed for no one else but her.
she kissed her like they were drowning.
she kissed her
and it felt like the world had shifted.
"will you marry me, celene ?"
"i'd marry you a hundred times over, alya."
the night could've been called cruel. but it was not her fault.
these things happen.
she would have now have stars that would light up the skies.
it was the morning that would clean up what she did.
-
[ le soleil a répondu, "le jour où je te déteste, j'aurai brûlé." ]
in another world, alya ties ribbons in her wife's hair, those freshly bought from the market.
in another universe perhaps.
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