The World As It Is ; m.c.

Steady.

Metaphor

noun

1. a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

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"I don't want to study anymore," I whined, throwing my Biology textbook on the ground with a bang.

"Can you stop throwing textbooks on the ground or at least give me a warning before you drop them?" Pluto asked. Everytime I had dropped one of my textbooks, she would jump, startled, and would glare at me.

"I'm sorry, I just can't study right now." I groaned, looking down at the pile of textbooks on the floor.

"Tell me something you know, then you can stop studying for the night," Pluto offered, setting down her book to stare at me across our room.

"Fruits are giant ovaries of plants," I told her, thinking about a lecture my professor had given a couple weeks ago. That had been the only I remembered from it, simply because it was odd and I had sent Michael a text that pineapples were spiky ovaries.

"Is that correct?" She asked me.

"Yes."

"Okay, good. I didn't really think through that plan of me helping you study," Pluto said, frowning to herself, "tell me something else."

"Well, In Biology-" I began.

"Did you not hear me, I can't help you study. I'm an English student, I don't know any of that stuff," Pluto said, leaning down on her bed, propping herself up on her elbows, "tell me a story."

"What is it with you and stories?"

"I'm making a collection of people's stories, writing down my favourites. That way when their story ends, they can live on in their words," She pleaded, staring me at with wide eyes, "I can make you live forever."

"Can we do something else other than me telling you a story?" I asked.

"Can we go for a walk?" Pluto asked, getting off her bed to come and drag me off of mine. "Let's go for a walk."

"It's night, it's so dark out," I stated, looking out our window at the night sky.

"Exactly, it'll be very romantic."

"I'm your roommate, not your girlfriend." I grinned at her.

"Not yet," Pluto whispered in my ear flirtatiously. Another little thing that Pluto always did was flirt with every girl she met. At the moment I was her favourite to flirt with.

She grabbed my arm to make sure I followed her outside. We walked into the night and you could see the stars scattered across the black night, it was beautiful. I looked over at Pluto who was staring up at the stars, she looked back over at me, sensing me watching her.

"If I had some candles and serenaded you, would you ditch Michael for me?" Pluto smirked at me.

"I regret ever telling you that." I laughed to myself.

"Hold me close and hold me fast..." Pluto began to sing, making fun of me.

"I hate you." I grinned, shoving my hands into my pockets and walking away from Pluto who was laughing ridiculously loud.

"You love me." She smirked, catching up with me. We began to walk around the Campus, Pluto leading me to a clearing next to the trees. She and I laid down on the cool grass, staring up at the stars again.

It reminded me of when Mikey and I had been younger and he and I were trying to find the constellations in the dark sky. His mom had called him to come in and I could remember him telling me that he could jump the fence to get into his yard.

I missed him, after always being next to him, it was weird being separated. I missed my best friend, I wasn't used to looking out my window and seeing stars instead of him. I stared up at the black abyss trying not to think of Mikey.

"Space is terrifying," I thought out loud.

"Space is fascinating," Pluto countered.

"An infinite space of darkness filled with things that we have never seen or experienced?" I asked her, trying to justify my fear of space and its secrets.

"All the more reason to find it fascinating," Pluto told me, looking over at me. "I don't think it's infinite though, there must be an end to everything. But, I do think you need an infinity to see and experience everything out there. An infinity we don't have. We will never get to see the things out there that I want to see so desperately, simply because we weren't given an infinity. Depressing, but nonetheless fascinating."

"Who talks like that?" I asked her, looking over at her strangely.

"I do," Pluto answered simply as if it was obvious, "or anyone who is in love with the beauty of everything."

We stayed still, lying down in the grass, staring at the starlit sky. I tried to look at the beauty of everything, trying to see what Pluto saw, but I couldn't. My vision was blurred, scratched and covered in dust, marks left by the hate in the world. The world was too filled with hate, that the beauty Pluto saw seemed to be in hiding. All I saw was a world filled with discrimination and distrust, it looked ugly.

"You see the beauty, right?" Pluto asked after a moment of silence, her nose scrunching as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I see the ugly scars," I said honestly. History was marked in ugly scars and our future wasn't looking that great either. All we seem to be are a ton of people remarking on how bad things are without doing the slightest thing to make them less horrible.

Pluto ignored me. "Look past the ugly scars then."

"You can't. We're surrounded."

"But there's so much beauty in the world, even the ugly scars are beautiful," Pluto muttered sadly, staring intently at the twinkling stars.

"Yeah, sure."

"Everyone starts off seeing the beauty in the world, but as we grow, it eventually fades and disappears," Pluto muttered quietly to herself, "you can't let it fade, you can't let beauty disappear, not even for a second, because it's not the ugly scars that cloud our vision, it's us."

"What happens if you let the beauty disappear?"

"Then you find it again, and when you find it you'll know not to let it go this time, because you truly understand how important the beauty of the world is," Pluto answered, reaching her hand out to the black sky above us as if she were trying to catch one of the twinkling stars. Or as if she was hoping one of the stars would catch her.

"What if you never find the beauty again?" I asked, running my fingers through the long grass, tugging on the strands as if I feared that Gravity would fail me and I would float up into the night. I don't think I would be willing to be caught by the stars like Pluto was.

"You already have," Pluto said, turning to look at me with an odd look.

"How?"

"You love Michael."