A Night In The Stars

A gentle night breeze ran through my dirty blond hair, messing it up slightly. I was sitting on the small circular green grassy field behind my house, with a beer bottle in my right hand, the huge apple trees that I planted around the garden were looming down on the grass around me, shadows of the trees creeping up on me. Moonlight streamed through the gaps between the leaves and branches, making my golden hair shine in the darkness, like the blazing stars in the darkened sky. I tilted the bottle back and gulped down a massive portion of the drink. I raised my head and stared into the stars-littered sky. Despite the dazzling moonlight, I could still make out different star constellations blinking down at me.

Snap! I turned my head at the sound of a twig being snapped behind me. Behind me stood a woman in a knee-length white snowy dress, her black silky hair flowing down her shoulder. Her smooth tanned skin glowed with a pale golden shade under the starlight. “Sophia,” I gasped, I could recognise her anywhere, I had even bought her that dress for her birthday.

“Hello Kyle, it's been so long since we had visited each other.” She smiled her brilliant smile, flashing her shining white teeth.

“Sophia, I didn’t expect to see you here tonight. I’ve missed you. I have almost lost hope and that you would not come back to me.” I said softly and stood up without taking my eyes off her.

“I made a promise to you, didn’t I? I would never break my promises even though it takes me a long time to fulfil them.” Sophia assured me. Without wasting a second, she opened her arms and I flung myself into them, holding her close to my body, craving her touch. I took in her familiar scent of pine trees and that fresh smell often lingering in the air after the rain. Smelling her scent had brought me back to the last time that I had held her so closely in my arms.

I was laying on the same grass clearing with her head on my chest. I cradled her body close to mine, her raven black hair sprawled all over my body, I ran my hand in between them, smoothing her silky hair as she stared into the starry night sky. “You’re beautiful,” I said as I stared into her icy blue eyes. She blushed under my glaze. “I love you.”

"I love you too.”

“The stars are shining and dazzling tonight.”

“Just like you.” We fell into a comfortable silence, treasuring each other’s presence and warmth. I stared at her glowing face, lost in its beautiful features, trying to bury the thoughts of losing her that always swarm in my head.

“Promise me you will always come back to me, no matter what.”

“I promise,” She clasped her hand with mine, “forever and always.”

I pulled my head back and looked down at her face, only to have her mesmerising blue orbs staring into my light brown ones. “I’ve missed you,” I said

“I have missed you too.”

“There was never a day that passed without me think about you.”

“I am sorry.” Tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

“Why did you leave me?” I asked. She caressed my cheek and wipe away the stray tear that escaped my eyes with her thumb.

“I had no choice.” She said, “I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t want you to experience all those years alone,” she told me, “I didn’t want to leave you.” Tears were now streaming down her.

“The first few years were so hard, it hurt so much. As years went past, the pain faded into a dull ache that I always carry with me in my heart.” I cried into her hair “It hurts so much.”

I was typing away at my computer, waiting for Sophia to come home for dinner when my phone ring. “Hey Soph, where are you?” I exclaimed.

“Mr. Anderson, this is Dr. Olson from the hospital speaking,” A man with a gruff voice replied instead of the soft melodic voice I was used to, “I am sorry to inform you that your wife, Sophia, had been in a car crash an hour ago and her condition now is fatal.”

I have been in the waiting room for hours, with most of my families fallen asleep on the cold hard chairs around the room. I had called my families not long after I arrived, filling them in about Sophia. I demanded the nurse to let me see her when I first rushed in through the doors, however, they wouldn’t let me see her due to the fact that they were carrying out an emergency operation on her. Ever since then, I have been pacing back and forth corridor, refusing to relax until I know that Sophia is safe in my arms. Little did I know, that I could never hold her in my arms ever again.

Sophia sat down on the grass and put my head on her lap. She whispered soothing words into my ears and held me close as sobs racketed through my body from my flashback of the day she crashed. “You should move on,” she said as I calmed down a bit, “you can’t bottle all of these in yourself forever.”

“How can I move on, when you are the only one I loved and still love till this day”

“You have to learn to let go, to live and have fun.”

“You’re my life. I can never be happy without you.”

“Do you think I would want you to be like this forever?” She ran her fingers through my hair.

“No.”

“There’s your answer, live and have fun, if not for yourself then do it for me, please,” she said as her tears slide down her face onto mine.

“Alright,” I put my hand on her tear-stained face, feeling her strong jaw bone, “anything for you.”

“Thank you.” She turned her gaze from my face to the dotted night sky. “The stars are bright and beautiful tonight.”

“Just like you.” Her cheek turned pink slightly and she smiled down at me.

We both looked up at the stars, enjoying each other’s comfort after being separated all these years. After a while of comfortable silence, I turned to her. “You won’t leave me again, will you?”

“Never,” she replied softly, “Every time you look up at the stars, you will find me within them.”

“Good, don’t leave me again,” I whispered to her.

“I will forever and always be in your heart.” She said, pulling me in for a kiss.

I woke up gasping on my bed. It was still the middle of the night, but I was no longer outside on the field and Sophia couldn’t be seen anywhere. I walked over to window beside my bed and glazed up to the starry night. I raised my fingers to my lips, where Sophia has just kissed me. Even though that was only a dream, I knew that it was real, I knew that everything would be fine and Sophia would always be beside me.

“I love you,” I whispered up to the blinking stars and for the first time in years, I smiled.