The Stars Are Beautiful - Wattys Winner 2019

THE STARS ARE BEAUTIFUL - Recipient of Wattpad Watty's 2019 Award

OF ALL THE PARTS of me that fell in love with her, my memory won in the end.

It loved her when I was only a grain of sand being scrawled into a map of possibility; before I knew my own name or the sound of my mother's voice, my memory locked with the most beautiful laughter between heartbeats and fate.

Years after her Soft Goodbye, my memory is still a begging child, constantly tugging for a revival.

And while the image of her remains evergreen within my mind, the world has grown quieter without her, and, in a way, so have I. When someone you love dies, that's exactly what happens, and with a resilient memory such as mine, I'm only left with a double-edged choice: remember to keep her memory alive inside of me or forget and be forever restless with this void. Both have consequences that I may suffer in defeat.

This kind of alone is far different. This kind of alone has taught me I was once a cosmic kid fighting for falling skies, burned-out stars, and trails of dust. There is so little magic without her. There is so little fight within me.

But still, my heart beats. It dreams. It wonders. And most dangerous of all, it hopes, because, despite its smallness, this hope is still a great something.