The World As It Is ; m.c.

Stop Walking.

Ending

noun

1. a final part of something, especially a period of time, or a story.

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Pluto was standing in the middle of her living room, cleaning it absently. She put away a couple books, putting them in order alphabetically. She always cleaned when she had writer's block. She hadn't been able to write anything for the past couple of months and her house was the cleanest it had ever been.

She wandered back over to her desk, sitting down in the chair that just didn't feel comfortable anymore, staring at the blank computer screen. She hovered her fingers over the keyboard, willing herself to write something, anything. Pluto sighed heavily, closing the laptop so she didn't have to stare at the nothingness.

She could hear her girlfriend in the next room over, making something to eat. It was 9:00, but Pluto and Mia had a habit of eating late anyway. Mia was standing next to the island, looking in a recipe book as Pluto walked in.

"Have you written anything new?" Mia asked, hoping maybe finally Pluto had found some inspiration.

"No," Pluto groaned, walking up to Mia to give her a hug, resting her head on Mia's shoulder. "I'm so tired of not being able to write. I need to finish it for Jamie."

"You will be able to, soon." Mia comforted her. "You still have years before it has to be ready for her."

"Is she asleep?" Pluto asked, referring to their niece.

"Yeah, I took her up to bed an hour ago. She asked me again about the people in the picture frame you put in her room," Mia told her, giving Pluto a look.

"I'm not taking down the picture of Michael and Sophia. When she's older we can tell her what happened, that's the whole point of me finishing that story," Pluto answered sadly.

Mia hugged Pluto back, comforting her. They didn't see the little girl in yellow pajamas walk down the stairs into the kitchen to find them. Jamie stood in the doorway, holding her pillow tight to her chest, waiting for her aunts to notice her.

"Aunt Pluto?" Jamie asked quietly, startling Mia and Pluto.

"Oh, Jamie. Why are you awake?" Pluto cooed, picking Jamie up into her arms. Jamie was only six, but she was still quite small for her age. Mia and Pluto could still carry her everywhere, mostly only when she woke up after they put her to bed.

"I can't sleep," Jamie told Pluto as she got carried up the stairs to her bedroom. "I want you to read me my story."

"You want me to finish it right now?" Pluto asked, setting Jamie down on her bed, smiling at the little girl. Mia wasn't particularly happy that she read Pluto's books as bedtime stories, but Jamie did and that's what mattered to Pluto. Jamie had Pluto wrapped around her little finger.

"Yes, please." Jamie smiled sweetly, leaning back on her pillow, staring up at her aunt.

Pluto walked over to Jamie's small bookshelf. There was a collection of the Harry Potter series, books that Pluto read to Jamie when she wasn't reading her own stories to her. She found the book next to the pile of Roald Dahl books that were taking over the shelves.

"This one?" Pluto joked, knowing that the blue book was the one that Jamie was asking for.

"Yes!" Jamie said excitedly, patting the bed for Pluto to sit. She sat down on the edge of Jamie's bed, opening the blue book with the words 'The World As It Is by Elizabeth Taylors' written on it. Pluto began to read what she had written, finishing the final chapter as Jamie sat in her bed, listening intently to every word.

Jamie began to grow tired, yawning here and there, but insisted that Pluto continue to read. Pluto always smiled and read on, thinking of just how much Jamie looked like Sophia.

"The End," Pluto read, closing the book.

"Did my parents love each other like that?" Jamie asked, talking about the characters in Pluto's story. Pluto looked at the picture of Michael and Sophia that she had put in Jamie's room.

Pluto had taken that picture, she'd asked them to smile for the camera, but at the last second they ended up looking at each other instead. Pluto loved the picture, she missed them incredibly.

"Yes. Yes, they did." Pluto nodded as Jamie beamed at this new information about her parents.

"Can you read it again?" Jamie pleaded, Pluto laughed but obliged. She opened the book, knowing that Jamie was unaware that her parents did love each other like the characters in her book did, because her parents were the characters in her book.

Jamie didn't know that Michael and Sophia were real people, and that the best friends that fell in love were her Mom and Dad. She didn't know they were also the people in the picture frame that she was always asking about. Jamie didn't know that much about her Mom and Dad, just the bit of information that Mia and Pluto had told her over the years.

She didn't remember them that well, she'd only been a little toddler when they died, but Pluto did. Pluto could still remember getting the call, the phone falling to the floor as the paramedic uttered those awful words. Jamie had been sent to live with Mia and Pluto after, unaware of what had happened and how the perfect future she had had, had disappeared immediately when the fire started.

Sophia had always talked about fire hazards...

The world is cruel, Pluto thought, staring at the little girl in front of her.
Mia and Pluto anticipated the day that Jamie was old enough to hear about her parents, so Pluto had decided to write down the next half of Michael and Sophia's story for her instead.

If only Pluto could get rid of her writer's block to actually finish it. I guess she was holding on to them, thinking that maybe if she never wrote The End, there would be no end for her best friends. That maybe they would get to live their infinity in her unfinished words.

"Are you going to read it?" Jamie asked, staring at her aunt who had only opened the book, but wasn't reading it out loud to her.

"Yes, of course," Pluto snapped out of the depressing memory, looking down at the first chapter and beginning to read.

"A young girl sat on her back porch, she had a small ball in her hand and was absently bouncing it up and down. She was watching the people move in to the house next to her. It was one of those nice days, where the sky is that nice colour of blue..."

THE END