Heart pounding, excitement climbing, I clamber into the woven basket. You jump in after me moments later and we hold onto the sides, placidly worried and smiling.
There's a loud roar of fire and heat (that takes us momentarily by surprise) before a weightless feeling travels through me and we're off! Off from the ground, the air lifting us up. People already below us wave to the giant red and navy balloon and watch it fly.
I look on as the ground gets further and further away, the people's faces becoming blurry, the cars starting to resemble toys. The trees are only door mats of emerald bathed in a warm orange glow; the setting sun kisses our skin. Your hand finds mine as we just look. The sky is ablaze in colours so beautiful, I try to remember them perfectly- I want to paint this sky.
Higher and higher we rise, and we're caught in a beautiful moment of tranquility. Because it's so quiet and so wonderful.
Dark thoughts are hard to come by these days. Happiness has planted its roots firmly in the soil of body and nothing can cut it down.
But then I imagine what it would be like to fall, down down, into the lake that's passing far below. To fall deeper, into the murky depths. To be caught in the weeds, to struggle but to have no avail. To float there, forever, a ghost in the blue.
To fall, to fly, what's the difference, in the end? You always have to return to the earth at some point.
Even the birds, once they learn how to fly, will travel great distances, but will always have to rest, sleep, feed. If I were a bird, I wouldn't ever stop flying.
I feel like a bird now, up touching the heavens.
I'm not going back down. I'm going to stay up here, flying and traveling without a care.
I cast my attention to the golden sands, rippling like the water in the lake, that wave all the way into the horizon. It is where the sands meet the sun that everything is golden.
Golden, like the fire that roars above our heads and the basket that carries us. Like the reflections in the lake and the hues in the sky. Everything is made of gold, like we've lost the sight of all colour but that.
There once was a girl, naive and young who was left alone to do what she pleased. Sometimes she was happy and sometimes she wasn't. A lot of the time she wasn't. If there was no one to love her and hold her, there was no one she could love and hold back. In the absence of love, in the absence of colour, she was corrupted and angry. Angry with the world for turning her into something she didn't want to be, angry with everything being only grey, angry for hating everyone especially herself. There was no beauty in her heart and none reflected in her eyes and her physically pretty face. She had wanted to die, to sail off into some inky black somewhere on a small boat only big enough for one. Then the girl met a boy, or a young man. He was selfish and arrogant but saw the girl as someone to look after. He changed, he grew. She grew with him. They both blossomed into two lovely new people, taking care of each other. They made each other breakfast, did the shopping for each other, bought little gifts, small, meaningless things that added up and up until they realized that love, the true and pure kind, had replaced their once cold and dark hearts. They were better towards every person they met, they were happier. They were a quiet little fairy tale wrapped up in a bow. They were grateful for their second chance.
Seven years on and still holding hands, you and I are facing the end of a day. It won't be the end of anything else though because I will love you wholly through the next day and the next. And the nights, the nights are even more magical. When the nights draw in, we are brave and daring. We always take a risk with each other, testing ourselves, our limits.
Once when we were feeling rather brave, we booked this hot air balloon ride, fulfilling an old promise to ourselves.
The thing is, looking out into the distance, I have a feeling of limitlessness, a sigh that had been trapped with in me, escapes in a breath and I'm relieved. Everything has worked out and I see only happiness set out on my path now.
Oh, the clouds, they sail on by with such ease. They have undertones of golden orange and highlights of rose pink. For a couple of minutes the driver doesn't turn on the flame to heat the balloon; we just drift. Like a cloud. Effortless and peacefully. The gentle almost-summer breeze lightly touches my skin.
I remember how one summer we were sitting in a cafe and indeed, whether it was an omen or a sign, a hot air balloon was outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. We sat together, drinking cold drinks and exchanging quiet smiles. It was hot and we were both quite sweaty but we didn't care anymore. We were tired from shopping, I think.
"We should do that," you said, inclining your head towards the sky. "Let's fly away."
"For real?"
"Sure. First we grow some wings."
"Right," I said, understanding it was a game.
"Don't be like that. We could still fly away. Maybe it's just by car or train or even actual flying in a plane. I know, let's hijack a plane and find a little island in the middle of the ocean and live there for the rest of our young lives."
"Oh," I say biting a smile back, "sounds tempting. And when we're old?"
"When we're old I guess we could come back. Every one who flies away comes back down to the ground." You shrugged. "The sad truth."
"But at least they had their time. Let's do it, run away together, you and I."
"That's quite a daring assumption from an only-just-said-yes-to-being-my-girlfriend-girlfriend."
"Test me." I felt mischievous.
He smirked. "Okay, no empty promises. We'll go somewhere some day and we'll fall in love with that place. That's our dream, okay? Our promise."
"Empty dreams are the same as empty promises. We might not be together until then, we might-"
"You're too pessimistic. Brighten up, look outside, the sun is shining, the birds are singing -do you hear them singing?" He cupped a hand to his ear.
"No, there seems to be a window-"
"Shh," he clamped his other hand on my hand playfully. I stuck my tongue out.
"Ew, not cool."
I laugh at him.
"Do you hear them? They're singing," he started to sing, "follow your dreams, go where ever your heart takes you. Now, whatever happens, it will be great." he pauses and then as an afterthought adds, "Because you'll be with me!"
I rolled my eyes as people in the cafe turn to stare at his sudden outburst of song.
"You're embarrassing."
"You love me."
"So what, maybe I do."
I am just absorbing this all, being here, in the sky, flying, falling with you in a world made from gold.
A group of birds dare to fly close by. They call to us, a greeting or an angry comment, I cannot tell. The tips of their wings have been dipped in gold also, for they catch the light and shine like hundreds of minuscule suns.
Free, as free as a bird. I breathe in, the air is clean,I smile a smile that's genuine and it spreads not only on my lips but through my being.
I can see the world from here, even as the colours fade and the sun slowly sinks into the gold upon gold.
You wrap your arms around my waist. You are my sky, you are my all.
I can see the whole wide world and it's utterly captivating.
a/n: for thosestarsofours's musical chairs writing competition. Sorry this book has kinda just turned into competition entries xo
