Halo of Light Around the Moon | Rilaya

14: Halo of Light Around the Moon

[15 years later.]

"Hey... It's been fifteen years since we last saw each other. I've come here before with Lily and Danny, but this is the first time I'm actually talking to you alone. In fact I think this is only our second conversation we've had together, where it was only the two of us. Well kind of the two of us, since I'm guess I'll be doing most of the talking. I came here because I assumed you were tired of people crying and saying how much they miss you, so I thought I'd update you on how everyone has been these past few years without you. Don't get me wrong I miss you and everything, but I know how much you liked listening to people's stories. So here it goes..."

"I see Riley and Maya have already been here today, from the fresh flowers... It was really rough on them to begin with. Riley couldn't go back into work for about three months. She had left your adoption paperwork on her desk and wasn't able to face it until then. You were going to be their legal daughter, and you never got the chance to even know. She hasn't ever been the same since you left. As hopeful and happy as she tries to appear on the outside, the moment that you look into her eyes you can tell that she is empty inside."

"As for Maya, she immediately went back to work, but she could never look at your empty desk. She was able to stay strong though. I think it was because she knew you would want her to be. She managed to make it all the way up until graduation, before she cried at school. She couldn't hold it in anymore... Despite what she claims, I still think that she believes it's her fault that you ended up like this."

"Then there is Danny. I'm pretty sure you liked listening to his stories. He's always been quite the entertainer. You'll be happy to hear that he is now I pretty well known author. He writes short stories about the people he meets and you have been in quite a few of them. In fact, one of his stories about you got on the New York Times Best Seller list."

"Then there's Lily. Now where do I begin... She wanted me to tell you that she wishes she could be here today... I guess I'll just start from the beginning... The very first day of school without you, she asked me out and I said yes. We lasted all throughout high school and I proposed to her after graduation. We were engaged for two years before I broke things off, I could tell that she wasn't in love with me, but I couldn't blame her for that... You see, that time you came up to me in the hallway and asked me if I liked her, I lied to you when I said I didn't. I'm sorry about that, but I knew it was the right thing to do... I know you were really fascinated with space, so I figure this is the best way to explain this. LilyAnn Nova Minkus. I know you saw Lily as a star, that's why you took the star ring, because you always wanted her to be with you. She was able to light up your dark life, and you feel in love with her. She told me about the night on the rooftop... A nova is when a star shows an increase in brightness for a period of time before it returns to its original state. The day you walked into John Quincy Adams, Lily began her nova and it died with you. I had never seen her so happy in my entire life. Her smile was bigger, her laugh was happier... You brought out the best in her, Ayla, and that's why I lied to you. I wanted her to be happy and when she was with you nothing could ever have made her happier... She told me about the moon. She said that she thinks you liked it so much, because it reminded of you. She told me how you stopped her toy moon on waxing crescent the first time you went over to her house. I didn't know what waxing crescent was until she explained it to me. It's the beginning of the new moon cycle, the first time when the moon lights up the sky again after it is completely dark. She thought you saw it as your first chance of hope, and I think she's right. I also think that she's the star that lit up your moon... When you died her toy stopped work, and she likes to believe that you took the light with you. She never changed the batteries on it, and she has never gotten rid of it... I know she told you where she was going before she left, but since I'm here I'll give you a couple of updates. They landed smoothly and are still performing their experiments. Lily said that she was going merely for the science, but I think we both know she is lying. The day you died, she started studying astronomy. She was determined to one day go to space and today she is on the moon... If that's not true love, then I don't know what is. I know she never told you, but I can tell that she regrets that more than anything she's ever done. I'm not going to be the first one to say it though, I will leave that to her."

"As for me, there really isn't much to say."

"Before I go there's been something I've been meaning to tell you. The very first day we meet you, Danny asked you what your name meant and you said that you didn't know. Well I looked it up. 'Ayla: the halo of light around the moon.' You were the moon after all."

"It's been nice talking to you, Ayla. We all miss you... I'll see you tonight when I look up at the moon, and even when I can't see the moon, I know you'll still be there."

Brandon stands up from the grass he had been sitting on. He looks down at the stone in the ground with Ayla's name on it, and sets a single Lily flower on top of it.

[Meanwhile on the moon.]

"Lily, what are you doing? We're heading back to the shuttle."

"Something I should have done a long time ago," Lily answers.

She stands up and heads back to the ship with the others. Behind her she leaves a message written out in the sand:

"I didn't know what love was, but somehow I knew I loved you."