The morning was reasonably clear, but dark storm clouds dotted the horizon, at least the parts you could see through the trees, and Kyra said that it was expected to rain late that evening.
They were both feeling pretty fried, but the coffee and the food helped. They didn't talk much at first. Ashley was still embarrassed, but then Kyra spotted a group of blue wrens and pointed them out to her, making her smile.
"Its weird to think how similar people are to animals," Ashley said thoughtfully. "Like, we all share a certain percentage of DNA, but every species is so different."
"What have you been reading?" He teased, but she just shrugged.
"I remember learning it in school," she replied.
"People think that we're so intelligent because we've altered the world to suit our needs," Kyra agreed, "but, we're so separated from our natural instincts that, when those resources are completely depleted, we won't survive when nature comes back."
"Kyra, don't scare me!"
"Sorry," he laughed.
"I can still remember the day I figured out that humans were just another species of animal," Ashley told him.
"How old were you?" He wondered.
"I was eight," she explained. "The teacher at school told me I was wrong because there were too many differences between us, but, when I thought about it, I found more similarities."
"If we aren't animals, then what are we?" He asked, frowning. "Because I'm pretty sure we aren't rocks."
She giggled and shook her head, watching the wrens as they skipped about the clearing, the brown ones being bossed around by the blue one.
"Then, I grew up and started watching the news," Ashley continued, fixated on the birds. "That's when I realized that we really were animals, just not in the same sense as I thought when I was a kid."
"That's a good way of putting it," Kyra agreed, looking thoughtful.
"We're taught about what's right and wrong from a young age," she said, "but, contrary to popular belief, crime really does pay, and that's the truth."
"I never want to do anything like that if it's at someone else's expense," Kyra agreed, then shrugged. "I get that this world's hopeless, but I still love it."
She smiled at him because she liked what he said. Just because the world we lived in was messed up, doesn't mean we can't appreciate the beauty that was still there to be found. It just meant that us lucky ones had more reason to be happy, because we had so much to lose.
YOU ARE READING
Stardust (Complete)
Chick-Lit2016. I met a boy with a whole universe inside him, his eyes full of shimmering stardust, like windows into his soul, shining so brightly I could barely look into them for more than a second. His body was like a bridge between the physical and spiri...
