stars ; j.s.

11

J A C O B

      Slowly but surely, I made it back to my grandparent's house. I spent hours walking aimlessly around this little town. Over and over I would circle around past the same houses, thinking too much to worry about where I was headed. I hadn't even noticed the night sky surrounding me with all its beauty.

     I stopped on the front porch and sat in the old rocking chair my grandfather loved so much. Looking up, I was overwhelmed by the number of stars. Thousands of little illuminations, creating a stark contrast against the dark blanket of sky that laid above me. I admired them a little more that night because as strange as it may seem, they spoke to me. Not with words, but with an abundance

Only one thought seemed to fill my mind.

                                                                                Violet.

     I heard the door behind me open with a creak followed by heavy footsteps. My grandfather pulled up a chair next me without a word. He sighed and stared up above him, mimicking what I had been doing. The silence made me think even more about everything I had messed up. Thankfully, my grandfather spoke up to distract me from my wandering mind.

     "These stars," He began, his aged eyes meeting mine. "They can be saviors."

      I nodded at his statement in agreement. There weren't any words I could possibly muster up without releasing any tears. Among everything else, the stars were what most reminded me of Violet. It was as if she was one herself. Breath-taking and radiant, lighting up the dark reality of the world with that smile I missed so much.

     "Not for me. They're killing me. The more I look, the more guilty I feel," I admitted.

      He turned his chair slightly to get a better look at me. "It depends on how you look at them, I suppose."

     "They remind me of someone I miss." I told him truthfully.

      "Someone you love?" He asked. "You don't miss people you don't love."

      "I don't know what to call it. It's just that this girl, she never seems to escape my thoughts. I haven't stopped thinking about her since I met her."

      He laughed a little, adjusting his glasses. "You're whipped, son. This girl is someone you really care about, though she isn't your little girlfriend."

      "How did you know I wasn't talking about Bree?" I pondered, giving him a confused look.

      "You would've said that from the start," he mentioned.

I stared at the sky, rocking back in forth in the wooden chair. The wood boards creaked below me on the deck as I did so. Thoughts raced across my puzzled mind as the silence grew thicker. Her hair, loose in wavy strands, flowing from side to side as she walked so gracefully, making you mesmerized in a sort of intriguing hypnosis. But her eyes, they'd put you in a trance upon looking at them. A perfect mixture of blue and green, where the green told the story of her innocence and grace as she frolicked among the grass in the country fields she lived in. The blue, matching her love for the stars.

     "How did you know?" I began, directing my attention to him, "That you were in love with Grandma?"

      He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "There was something I couldn't keep my eye off of about her. The way she carried herself without putting in any effort to look so good. She was a little bit quirky and clumsy, but equally adorable. It wasn't really anything in particular that drew me to her, it was everything. As soon I saw her, keep in mind I was only eleven years old at the time, I knew that was the girl I would marry."

     "So, you just know when you love someone?"

       "Son," He smiled, eyes crinkling at me. "I think you do know."

      My hands covered my face. "What have I done?"

      "That's about where my help stops. You've got to learn to fix your mistakes on your own." My grandfather got up, gripping his back in pain with a groan and began walking slowly back to the door. "Just look up and you'll find your way home."

     His words stuck in my head and I made a promise to myself to always remember them. With the advice in my mind, stars in my eyes, and love in my heart, I knew everything was about to change.