Pisces Joint ⇒ complete

7

Barely clothed, barely awake, and barely knowing what she is doing, she races barefoot to the field, hoping everything she saw was a mistake- a dream perhaps.

Her legs possess pain, nothing comparing to the angst eating at her heart, dropping its crumbs into the pit of her stomach.

Each crumb brings her to feel heavy. Every step she sinks into the ground. She imagines herself falling into the Earth.

Veins tangling with roots.

Mushrooms inhabiting her eye sockets.

Tourists tripping over her bones.

Tragic.

Clouds assemble into thick curtains in the sky, covering the swelling moon and stars around it, allowing them to mourn his death with privacy.

Finally, she falls to her knees, crying with the hidden constellations above.

"Eight, where are you?" She looks above, seeing the joint of the art piece missing before hiding behind the clouds.

A few twigs snap, and she looks up, seeing familiar eyes look deep within her soul.

Eyes so brown that they drip honey for tears.

She runs to him, knowing faultlessly who he is.

Within seconds, their bodies mold together, keeping each other warm through the September winds.

Desperation is felt with each breath that escapes them.

He licks his lips, staring at the stars as if his name is lost somewhere in the constellations, peering at his former placement.

His dimples grow as he smiles.

"I will never leave you, that's why I'm here. Constellations following the rotation of the Earth, but I cannot follow who is hidden from my light," His grip tightens, rubbing her shoulders to help keep her warm.

Her body becomes so weak they both fall into the grass. Finally, she isn't alone. Eight coos in her hair, "I've waited years for someone to care about me, for I was nothing more than HIP 8110 watching people stargaze my companions. My tribe as a whole"

"Oh, Eight, I don't feel so lonely anymore."

"Pain is temporary, I should know. I flickered to my death, speaking to you through grunts of agony. Yet, here I am, holding you in my arms. Not allowing air pollution and the system of this society's meaningless money matrix to separate us."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."