Remember The Stars - A Collection of Short Stories

8

A girl walked down the street, her hands behind her back and her white dress that went to her knees swayed behind her. Her hair that was messily put into a bun blew in the wind and her bangs brushed against her face, and her mask displaying a fake smile. Behind it, her face was tear stained as she cried and agony and loneliness as she faked her emotions. The light in her chest was replaced by a joyous light, while her real light in her chest was an ugly grey, a light that showed how *close* she was to giving up.

The girl walked up to her friends, her smile growing as she choked back her tears so she can continue this facade. They smiled at her, not seeing past her lie that was hidden so well and at the same time so plain to see. They didn't see the dimming light behind her fake one, the tears that fell while she smiled, the laugh that she forced out of her body, nor pain in her eyes as she hid everything behind her mask and waited for someone to point out her sadness. She grew tired of her fake emotions and her mask that hid everything from the world, the longer the wait the dimmer the light grew.

As she left her friends in the light, her face wet and her chest hurting from the knife filled with emotions that stabbed her. Her lips sore from her fake laughs and smiles and her fingers intertwined with her shadow, her only friend who follows her around. The girl stopped moving when she reached a fork in the road, her eyes following a girl who was coming towards her. A happy smile was on her rosy lips and her eyes were like diamonds shining in the dim sunlight provided. Her blonde hair swayed in the wind as her bare feet walked along the rocky gravel on the ground. The other girl approached her and smiled at her kindly, the light in the others chest lighting up a bit. Her hand softly went up and touched her mask, her thumb rubbing against the surface of the fake skin on her face. Her smile grew larger as a gentle aura grew around her, her hands caressing her cheeks.

"You're not okay, are you?" She asked, her voice soft and gentle as it swiftly left her lips. The other girl looked at her, staring at her in disbelief, letting a small tear run down the surface on her fake face. The other girl smiled at her and then, with gentle fingers, lifted her mask off of her face, showing her true emotions. "You're free." She whispered, her kind smile not leaving her face. The girl looked down at the mask that was off her face before looking at the other girl, the tears streaming down her face. Her body composure eased and the weight lifted off of her shoulders as more and more tears fell down her face as she hid her face and cried. The other girl dropped the mask on the ground, watching it shatter on the ground before she embraced the girl she cried. The dimmed light brightened as more tears came down her face as she cried all of her sadness and loneliness out. She cried all of her sad and bad thoughts out as well as became aware that she was loved.

The other girl then smiled at the crying girl before releasing the embrace around her and slowly backed away, turning around and walking down the path that she came from before. The girl, wiping her tears away, watched the other walk away until she became simply nothing but a small speck, a real and genuine smile on her face. She looked down at her shattered mask on the ground before she turned around and looked away, starting to walk home with a real smile on her face as her hands were behind her back as her white dress followed her, the soft sun setting in the distance.