Stars
Shooting stars.
…
“What do you think they are?”
“Giant balls of burning gas.”
“Jesus Seth, why do you have to damn pragmatic? Haven’t you heard of philosophy?” Jed nearly explodes with exasperation, gesticulating with his cigarette.
“Jesus Jed, haven’t you heard that smoking kills?” Seth imitates Jed’s tone, before being gently shoved in the shoulder by Jed.
They both burst out laughing, and then silence falls.
“My Nan, before she died used to tell us stories” Jed’s voice was quieter than Seth had ever heard it “She used to joke that shooting stars were angels throwing their cigarettes away before God caught them smoking. It always sounded like the kind of thing she would do.”
Silence.
“Me and my mother used to watch the stars” Seth whispered into the dark “But I can’t talk about it.”
Jed placed his free hand on Seth leg.
“I know” He replied.
A shooting star burst across the night sky. Jed sat up on his knees.
“That’s her” He says, rising to his feet. “I love you!” He shouts into the starry night.
…
When Seth isn’t dreaming the past, he’s hallucinating the present.
Nameless faces hover in front of him.
They open their mouths, but no sound comes out.
And one face he knows he’s dreaming, because that face is gone. Dead and gone with the rest of them.
YOU ARE READING
Butcherbirds
Ficción GeneralSix years since the oil ran out. Six years since his father betrayed him and everyone else. Six years since his world crashed and burnt. A prince in exile returns to the place where he lost it all, his crown, his people, his friend. And there's noth...
