The Sun + Stars

1

Kim Yongsun has two friends she could count on: her acoustic guitar and the upper-left corner of the campus green where she picks her guitar's strings for three hours a day.

She steps across the grass with its brown leather strap across her chest, combat boots sinking into the muddy ground from that morning's rainfall. Dreary days were best. The hurried movements of students, heads tucked into their chests, going to and from classes set in contrast with the slow-strummed melodies of a nice folk tune.

It's writing weather. Tucked into the crook of her arm is her journal filled with the poetry and songs that only Mother Nature would truly hear. And her suitemates whose audible groans resound through the thin walls at night.

Yongsun sits next to the large oak tree, ignoring the mud that splatters the cuffs of her jeans, and balances on one of its exposed roots. She swings her guitar over her shoulder and settles it into her lap like a child, then places the journal onto her knees as she settles into her familiar crook in the tree. She flips to the page bookmarked by her pen.

"Alright." She hums, digging into her pocket and placing the guitar pick she finds between her teeth. "Lesh shee here."

She'd been working on a song yesterday about the fish in the cafeteria from lunch, hastily written chords above the lyrics.

(Verse 1)

Ever so rarely is the Café relished

But dining plans force my hand

Today there was barbeque sauce on my baked fish

I think my appetite is finished

(Pre-chorus)

I consider between starvation and barbeque fish

Why the fuck is sweet honey barbeque sauce on my fish?

(Chorus)

I hate the Café

Because it makes me pay

1500 dollars every term

For motherfucking barbeque fish

Yongsun stares at the page for a moment longer only to turn to a clean one. The rage-fueled song did feel incredibly good at the time but, in hindsight, turned out pretty awful.

An idea for an up-tempo song for her electric guitar had been on her mind all day, but only the toe-tapping melody and not the song's subject. It wasn't about love or nature or the cafeteria's lunch meats. She wants something astronomical this time – beyond human limits. Currently its lyrics are proving to be beyond her limits.

(Verse 1)

When I close my eyes

I find myself amongst the stars.

And silently I fly past Earth's sky