INEFABBLE - Short Stories Collection #2

Under The Same Sky

12 A.M. The city's asleep, but my mind's wide awake. Aside for the occasional beeping of my grandmother's wristwatch, I could also hear the clock ticking and my heart breaking. The eerie silence of the room was triggering the things I didn't want to remember. I shook my head.

Not tonight, please.

I was lying on my bed, a blanket covering my already-cold figure. Christmas was approaching anyway so I knew that the cold air's already normal. Beside me was my unusually quiet phone. It used to vibrate continuously because of messages full of love and happiness. Now, even a simple "hello" went unanswered. We usually would stay up all night talking on the phone. Now, we still stayed up, but we're either fighting or he would be the one bragging stuff to me, making me feel uncomfortable of even responding.

This had been his routine for the past few months. Our interactions were becoming colder than the weather. There's no warmth from the messages we exchanged. I couldn't feel the home we promised to provide for each other despite our distance, despite not having seen each other because of the pandemic. He was only a few blocks away from me but he didn't even bothered to try and come here for me. He knew how my family welcomed him so much. I wondered why he didn't visit me.

Tonight, I knew he's fast asleep. It always kept me up in these wee hours of the night, thinking how could he sleep so soundly just like now. How could he not think of what I was doing or if I was doing okay. It's a mystery for me. He wasn't who he used to be anymore.

Sighing, I sat up from my bed and looked outside. The moonlight reflected through the glass windows. I stared at its inviting reflection as if telling me to go outside and to admire its beauty. I hesitated. It's past midnight after all. I didn't want to go outside, afraid that the darkness might be dangerous. But the moon and its inviting image from the windows taunted me to be fearless enough and go outside.

I hesitantly grabbed my sweater from the nearby closet. I didn't bother to see if it was my favorite sweater or not. I just grabbed the nearest soft fabric as soon as I opened it. I put it on and walked to get my slippers. Seeing that I was layered up to prevent the coldness of the air to freeze me over, I tiptoed my way to the door, consciously being aware that my footsteps could wake someone up. I stopped though, seemingly forgetting about something.

After getting my phone, I carefully plodded my way towards the staircase at the end of the hallway. The quiet atmosphere of the house was haunting and ironically relaxing at the same time. I took one step at a time, trying not to bump into something or break something that might sound and wake up everyone else in the house. That's the last thing I wanted to happen.

As I reached the foot of the stairs, I carefully ascended it. I clutched my phone and my sleeves, already bracing myself for the cold midnight air outside even though I was not even at the halfway of it. When I was at the front door of our rooftop, I heaved a sigh before carefully opening it up. Behold, the cold air smacked me and I immediately felt as if I was going to freeze. That didn't stop me.

I dragged myself until I reached the steel bench my mother bought a few months ago. With shaking hands, I laid my palm on it and immediately felt goosebumps form from the cold contact. But still, I sat there. It didn't matter to me how cold it was. What mattered to me was the mesmerizing view above me.

The December skies always fascinated me. A lot of constellations were present and I heard that even meteor showers would put up a stupefying show in about a week or two, I guess. The cold air and the wonderful December skies. Perfect combo. The full moon did conceal a few stars but that's alright. It still looked like a masterpiece. A masterpiece I would not mind staring alone.

Just then, I felt something continuously vibrate from my lap. My heart suddenly became giddy, assuming that my boyfriend, Charles, finally came to his senses and tried to call me. Without looking at the screen, I picked it up and excitedly said, "Hello? Go outside the skies-"

"Not the one you're expecting a call from, huh?" a different male voice answered and chuckled from the other side of the line.

My eyes widened and immediately looked at the caller I.D. It's my best friend, Oliver.

"Oh, hey, Oliver," I greeted, trying not to sound glum.

But he's my best friend and he immediately picked up the tone of my voice, "Yep, definitely not the one you expected to call."

"Sorry, I thought you were Charles," I sheepishly stated as I laid my back at the cold bench. I flinched at the sudden contact, again, but I tried not to let Oliver hear it.

"Based from a gentle whistling sound of the wind, I'm assuming you are outside," he noted. "And you usually go outside when you can't sleep or when you have a lot of things inside your mind."

See, he knew everything about me, probably more than Charles. We're only a few years apart. The thing was that we never met personally yet. We're both from two different sides of the world, on different timezones. But it didn't hinder the friendship the blossomed between the two of us. We had a lot in common and our ideals were most likely the same as well. He knew of my problems and my struggles. I knew of the things he feared and the things he wanted to achieve. We're best friends.

"You know everything," I muttered sarcastically. "How surprising."

"Hmm," he hummed from the other end. "Tell me."

I sighed and stared at the sky again, "You know. Charles."

"Ah, the douche," he jokingly said, making me chuckle. "What did he do this time?"

"Nothing," I answered. "That's the problem. He did nothing."

"Nothing in a good way, right?" he pointed out. "You've been telling me about your problems about him for many nights now."

"Is it my fault though?" I asked, swallowing tears from forming. "Is it my fault that's why he's acting like this?"

"It's never your fault, Selene, don't blame yourself," he insisted. "You shouldn't be blaming yourself for his attitude change. It's his choice why he's like that. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"I feel like it's my fault," I pushed. "He wouldn't be like this without a reason. I wonder what I did."

"You didn't do anything," he sighed. "Look, let's not think of him right now. You're already in so much stress because of school and he's making it harder for you."

"Sure," I quietly said. A brief silence enveloped the both of us until I recognized a typing sound from his end.

"Are you working?" I asked. "You shouldn't have called me."

"You dumbass," he jokingly said. "I knew it's vulnerable hours for you. I was just trying to check up on you because I felt like maybe you would be overthinking and I was right."

"You really know me that well?" I questioned as I looked at the stars. It mesmerized me again and I got lost in thought. I didn't understand what Oliver was telling me.

"...and you got entranced by the stars again," I heard him say, making me snap out of it.

"Sorry, it's just," I sighed. "Breathtaking."

"Yeah, right. You mention it at least once in every convo," I could almost imagine him rolling his eyes at me. I chuckled.

"I wish you were here," I whispered as my eyes studied every star it could land upon.

There was a pause from the other side of the line. I heard the abrupt stopping of the sound of his keyboard. Then he spoke, almost in a whisper.

"One day, we'll be able to admire the same skies, Selene."