The Clock Was Ringing

A starlit conversation

It was exactly 11 pm now and the stars were glistering in the night sky like sprinkles on that 400 calorie muffin you ate that just piled up all that sweat lost in your workout and put it back in you. The stars were at their most luminous moment at this time of night and in this area up high above the city. 

They were a luxury for anyone to see. Karli was sitting at the tiled rooftops of the apartment building simply gazing at them, her arms wrapped around her legs to stay warm since she forgot to get a blanket and doesn't feel like getting one now.

Her phone began to ring.

"Jamie... if you want help in convincing people I'm not the type to teach alright."

"No it's that. I just wanted to tell you if you see the big dipper that's all."

She paused for a moment after saying a phrase of a word.

"Yeah I see it" She said with a smile "So why are you here?"

"Well remember at the elevator you told me about how you enjoyed looking at the stars and all?"

"Yeah"

"Well I thought I could give it a shot and see them for myself"

"What do you think about them?"

"There beautiful."

"Are you on the rooftop also?"

"No I can't, my landowner would kill me if he sees me there"

"Why's that?"

"I'm still not sure, he's probably hiding something up there. Doesn't matter now anyway"

"Yeah"

"So how long have you been up here Karli?"

"Oh about 30 minutes or so"

"I just stayed 10 minutes, but I could just stay an hour and look up at the sky."

"I knew I wasn't the only one. If everyone can just get off their brainwashers for just a moment and look up at the night sky they would feel the human inside of them"

"True, either no one has the time or no one cares enough to have a glimpse at it"

They continued on with the conversation for another 20 minutes or so moving from one topic to another but always ending at how beautiful the stars were and looking for all the constellations. Karli memorized almost all of them through the past 3 years. It all started thanks to her new apartment when she decided it was too much of a fuss to live in the city. She simply looked up at the sky after another tiresome day and now she's here.

"Now this might melt the ice..."

"Melt the ice?" She let out a small chuckle "What does that mean?"

"Well you know how people break the ice as in to remove the awkward silence?"

"Yeah"

"Well I though melt the ice might mean the opposite"

"You're afraid that the boss will fire you if your late?"

"I'm terrified of it, I'm not sure how you can stay so cool in front of him when he keeps yelling at you to the point where he just gave up but I can't do that and I'm not as helpful as you are. He'd fire me and find anyone else to replace me"

"If that happens I'll quit too."

"What? You're serious?"

"Yeah, he's fired me 3 times before and he begs me to come back, I can always do it a fourth time."

"Well thanks Karli. That means a lot to me."

"You were my first friend in the company, it was really awkward for me especially after leaving the city and coming back to it. You were the first one to reach out to me."

"Yes... Yes I was" 

"Are you blushing?" She said with a small giggle. 

"What!? No!" 

"I know you are Jamie!" 

"Ugh... alright fine... I am." 

Karli kept giggling for a little bit more. Jamie kept silent in hopes that this topic would pass by.

"Are you done now?" 

"Yes... yeah." She let it out in a high pitch." 

Karli checked the time now. It said 11:30 PM

"Its getting pretty late now isn't it?"

"Oh damn... its almost twelve AM!" 

"Careful before you're mother hear's you!" She laughed once more. 

"Ha ha. Very funny Karli. Don't you have to go to bed also?" 

"I do this almost every day Jamie it's alright if you leave the convo first."

"Oh ok goodnight"

"Goodnight"

She put her phone on the red tile next to her, there was this gap that the tiles had so she simply slide her phone inside it like putting a dollar into a vending machine, only to find out it will most likely go back out... like all the time. She continued gazing at the stars until she began to compulsively close and open her eyes and decided it was best to go to sleep now. She took her phone out of the tile and jumped through her window to her bed at the other end of her room, covered herself with her blanket and let her eyes close themselves.