Have You Ever Seen a Star Burn Out?
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Original - Misc › Non-Fiction/True Stories/Autobiographical
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
1
Views:
884
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4
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Category:
Original - Misc › Non-Fiction/True Stories/Autobiographical
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
1
Views:
884
Reviews:
4
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of non fiction. Where possible - and where appropriate - permission has been granted from any people or their descendants to be included in this story. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Have You Ever Seen a Star Burn Out?
The two shadowy figures lay on blankets staring into the night sky as they’d done so many times before, but this time was different there was a tension hanging in the air that needed to be addressed.
“Have you ever seen a star burn out?” she asked.
“What?” He turned his head to face her with a puzzled and slightly irritated expression face.
“I asked you if you’d ever seen a star burn out, you know just stop giving off light all of a sudden. Well, have you?”
“You are such a strange girl.”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“No.”
“Doesn’t that seem a bit strange to you? I mean there are so many of them, you would figure that you might see it happen once in your life.”
“Yeah, sure. I guess.”
“But the problem is that you wouldn’t really see it when it happened would you? You’d really be seeing the moment that the last amount of light left the star millions of light-years earlier.”
“To the best of my knowledge.”
“You are not strange enough,” she said mater-of-factly.
“Should I be offended by that, because I’m not?”
“Not offended, concerned. It seems to me that the people in the world who obsess over normalcy are the most likely to just freak out one day and go on a killing spree.”
“You think that I’m going to go nuts and kill people? That’s a charming quality in a friend.”
“Maybe you won’t,” she shrugged as usual she’d tried and failed to keep her tone neutral.
“Maybe it will be you who goes all Ted Bundy on a whole bunch of normals. I’m not the one that everyone always says is walking the line between sanity and insanity.”
“Dancing.”
“What? Random!” His irritation was growing, why couldn’t she just say what she wanted to say? It had never been a problem before.
“No, I’m not random, you’re just slow. You can tell ‘everyone,’ whoever they my be, that I’m am not walking the line; I’m dancing on it.”
“And you are the one concerned about me?”
“Yes, I care about you. It-I’m worried that if you don’t show at least some people who you really are, that you’ll forget. You never used to worry about what anyone else said or thought. It was so cool being able to tell you anything without the fear of being judged hanging over my head. I miss you, the real you. Not this person you’ve been trying to be these last few months.”
“You never said any of this before now, you should have.” Finally she’d gotten to the heart of what she’d wanted to say!
“When? In between classes when you avoid being seen with me? Or better yet at lunch. That prissy little French poodle cheerleader of a girlfriend of yours would just love that.”
“It was not my idea to meet you out here in the middle of the night.”
“We used to come here all the time at night. Do you remember why that was?”
“Yeah, to get away from…”
“The very people you now sit with at lunch,” she interjected with a small trace of bitterness in her voice.
“My friends.”
“Really, what am I?” She made no attempt this time to conceal the pain she felt at his rebuffing of her. She ignored the tickle of the single tear that crept down her cheek, but she did turn so that he could not see it. “Will you at least tell me if it’s worth it?”
“What?”
“Popularity.”
“Truth?” he asked as though he didn’t know what she’d say next.
“Always.”
“No. It’s not,” he realized that as he said this that it was true, there was not really anything he’d gained from his new social standing. As he thought about it there was a considerable amount that he’d lost, not the least of which being Her, the one person who had always been in his life the only constant. A long pause echoed all the things that they’d left unsaid, the crickets chirping in the warm air gave no comfort to either of them and in that silence he finally understood the real reason that she’d asked him here tonight: Nothing would ever be the same between them, this was the end.
He reached out to her and placed a hand on her back, “I love you.” He was overwhelmed by what had just happened, but determined not to shed the tears in his eyes.
“I know. I love you too.” Without so much as a backward glance she pushed herself up off of the blankets and set out at a slow walk across the field, leaving him alone with his popularity.
A/N: A little sophomoric, I know but hopefully it doesn\'t suck too badly. Please let me know what you think.
“Have you ever seen a star burn out?” she asked.
“What?” He turned his head to face her with a puzzled and slightly irritated expression face.
“I asked you if you’d ever seen a star burn out, you know just stop giving off light all of a sudden. Well, have you?”
“You are such a strange girl.”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“No.”
“Doesn’t that seem a bit strange to you? I mean there are so many of them, you would figure that you might see it happen once in your life.”
“Yeah, sure. I guess.”
“But the problem is that you wouldn’t really see it when it happened would you? You’d really be seeing the moment that the last amount of light left the star millions of light-years earlier.”
“To the best of my knowledge.”
“You are not strange enough,” she said mater-of-factly.
“Should I be offended by that, because I’m not?”
“Not offended, concerned. It seems to me that the people in the world who obsess over normalcy are the most likely to just freak out one day and go on a killing spree.”
“You think that I’m going to go nuts and kill people? That’s a charming quality in a friend.”
“Maybe you won’t,” she shrugged as usual she’d tried and failed to keep her tone neutral.
“Maybe it will be you who goes all Ted Bundy on a whole bunch of normals. I’m not the one that everyone always says is walking the line between sanity and insanity.”
“Dancing.”
“What? Random!” His irritation was growing, why couldn’t she just say what she wanted to say? It had never been a problem before.
“No, I’m not random, you’re just slow. You can tell ‘everyone,’ whoever they my be, that I’m am not walking the line; I’m dancing on it.”
“And you are the one concerned about me?”
“Yes, I care about you. It-I’m worried that if you don’t show at least some people who you really are, that you’ll forget. You never used to worry about what anyone else said or thought. It was so cool being able to tell you anything without the fear of being judged hanging over my head. I miss you, the real you. Not this person you’ve been trying to be these last few months.”
“You never said any of this before now, you should have.” Finally she’d gotten to the heart of what she’d wanted to say!
“When? In between classes when you avoid being seen with me? Or better yet at lunch. That prissy little French poodle cheerleader of a girlfriend of yours would just love that.”
“It was not my idea to meet you out here in the middle of the night.”
“We used to come here all the time at night. Do you remember why that was?”
“Yeah, to get away from…”
“The very people you now sit with at lunch,” she interjected with a small trace of bitterness in her voice.
“My friends.”
“Really, what am I?” She made no attempt this time to conceal the pain she felt at his rebuffing of her. She ignored the tickle of the single tear that crept down her cheek, but she did turn so that he could not see it. “Will you at least tell me if it’s worth it?”
“What?”
“Popularity.”
“Truth?” he asked as though he didn’t know what she’d say next.
“Always.”
“No. It’s not,” he realized that as he said this that it was true, there was not really anything he’d gained from his new social standing. As he thought about it there was a considerable amount that he’d lost, not the least of which being Her, the one person who had always been in his life the only constant. A long pause echoed all the things that they’d left unsaid, the crickets chirping in the warm air gave no comfort to either of them and in that silence he finally understood the real reason that she’d asked him here tonight: Nothing would ever be the same between them, this was the end.
He reached out to her and placed a hand on her back, “I love you.” He was overwhelmed by what had just happened, but determined not to shed the tears in his eyes.
“I know. I love you too.” Without so much as a backward glance she pushed herself up off of the blankets and set out at a slow walk across the field, leaving him alone with his popularity.
A/N: A little sophomoric, I know but hopefully it doesn\'t suck too badly. Please let me know what you think.