A World Without

That which began in a chorus of color begins its descent to shades of grey. It was never going to work…never meant to work and we knew it from the start. But even now as our timer inevitably plummets towards zero, I can’t help but feel betrayed. All the stars that used to twinkle in her eyes start to dim in a mirror reflection of the evening above. The sun dips below the horizon line, cascading like a shooting star…all dying fire and no wishes this time. What started with a falling star, ends with one, too. Her fingers untangle slowly from mine, then pull away swift as a breeze as the end settles in along with the night. The next time the sun sees the sky, we’ll be facing it alone. 

The wind sounds with a deep, empty howl. High above the world, it swirls through the bowl below. Sasha’s hair whips furiously, curls clawing at her face like hands at a cliff's edge. I watch as the mist kisses her face, leaving wet freckles behind. Her eyes latch onto the water beneath, holding like a lover’s embrace as the silence stretches between us. If it wasn’t for the storm in her eyes, furious with a mist of their own… I’d think she didn’t care at all. 

A few shades of dying blue pass before I turn away, so as not to watch the crack between us cleave deeper. For the first time all evening, I bear witness to what has come to pass above. The dark has settled in and night has officially fallen. In the moment between breaths, time starts ticking again. Though space itself hasn’t changed at all, Sasha seems to have stepped through a portal to another world, leaving me stuck in this one. Her face changes and her eyes harden, as she prepares to make the first move in her new world. Without ceremony, she rises and walks away into the wind, condemning me to face my own new world. A world without.