You Have Always Been My Light

The first thing you need to know is that this is a love story, and perhaps a little more than that, but that all depends on you.

This story starts where they all do, the superior night sky. Although, unlike the night sky that gets so carefully painted above your head every night, this sky is nothing but darkness.

 Black as the demons hiding in your head, nothing but a dark sky and a world bellow even darker.

This universe was not one to be filled with wonder and discovery, it was simply empty and silent.

Amongst the deep bath of endless sky, there was indeed small planets.

 One planet was different from the others, it carried something unexplainable by the rest of the universe, it carried life itself.

People roamed the planet, but they were filled with greed and darkness that they passed down to each new generation, like a plague.

The universe watched as the humans hurt themselves and one another, a dangerous species that would destroy itself.

Judge them if you must, but these souls were born into a dark world and as they grew, that darkness would eventually find its way into all their hearts.

They feared the darkness surrounding them, for they did not understand it, and fear you will find can be more powerful then perhaps the universe itself.

One day however, something changed.

Living on the planet was a small girl with gleaming silver hair and eyes as white as snow.

Something was different about her, for this child instead of letting the darkness consume her, instead chose to fight it.

While others around her sulked and feared, she fought bloody fists raised high to the sky, strength a song of her soul.

Now that is not to say she was not afraid. Of course, she was afraid, but unlike the rest, she didn’t let that fear consume her.

 Everyone you’ll learn is afraid of something, fear is as common as having a heart, and perhaps you can't have one without the other.

One day as she was fighting across the battlefield of her mind, she ran into a boy swaddled in darkness.

You see this boy had been taught to fear and he knew little to nothing else.

The girl, for a reason I still cannot explain, came up to him. She knelt her pail knees in the damp mud beside him and whispered of a world, unlike the one he grew up in. A world filled with magic; a world filled with the opposite of darkness.

Yes, the opposite of darkness, he did not know if it existed, nobody did.

The young boy’s ears had never heard anything like what this strange girl was telling him. He watched her with wonder, as she was like nothing his wide eyes had ever seen. Her voice was softer than the soil under his palms and even though her pail eyes shown with pain, he could see strength in the way she carried herself.

“What is your name?” She asked, her voice a song he wished only to bottle up and hear for as long as he lived.

With little hesitation, he stood beside her, “Solice, its Solice.”

The girl smiled at him, something he had never seen anyone do before. Seeing her, a warmth began to spread in his chest that filled up his soul.

Smiles have that effect on people, even as long ago as our story takes place.

She offered him her hand. “The world is not all darkness Solice”.

And he had never heard more beautiful words,

 the universe had never heard more beautiful words.

 He grasped her hand and a friendship that was everything, but darkness was born.

Every day Solice would play with the girl, she taught him how to fight the demons living inside him and at night would whisper to him of a world they both dreamed of.

They grew up together and the other souls marring the planet watched them with confusion, for their friendship was like a flower, blooming against all odds in utter darkness.

People kept their distance, especially from the girl, and soon everyone would avoid her at all costs, that is except Solice.

One day as he lay on a hill with her he let his eyes move from the sky to where she lay beside him. He had always loved seeing her like that, so at peace, not a trace of fear or sadness in her face.

He thought she was the most beautiful thing that had ever graced this world, inside and out, a light amongst the darkness. And I can tell you right now he was right.

“What are you thinking” he whispered, his question carried over the cool breeze.

“I’m dreaming silly,”

“But you’re still awake.”

She turned to him, her face lighting up, “You don’t have to be asleep to dream, some of the best dreams are ones we always hope for, even when our eyes aren’t closed.”

Solice felt his face brighten in the same way hers always did. It was a strange feeling and yet he loved it.

And he loved her, but he couldn’t tell her that, how do you tell someone that?

As time past they only became closer and closer, filling each other up with a hope that the universe had never seen before.

Pure raw friendship thriving in their hearts, it was a magic that would forever change the world.

The day everything changed started like any other day.

The girl waited in their usual spot, as excited to see him as she had been years ago when they first started meeting like this.

She waited and waited but he did not come. He always came.

 She waited an hour longer until eventually, she couldn’t shake the fear clawing at her chest like something was wrong. Fear pushing her forward she dashed to his house.

He is sick, his mother told her simply, go away. All she wanted was to see him, but still, she obeyed silently making her way back up the hill.

Days passed and each day she would wait in their spot sure than any second, he would come bounding up the hill calling her.

Once a week had dragged by her worry bubbled over and she went back to his house, sneaking around back to where she knew his window was.

Silent as the night she climbed over the shrub and filling her lungs with air and knocked on the side of his window.

It took a few moments and finally a figure hobbled over, keeping his distance.

Seeing her the familiar heat filled his chest, but sicker than he had ever been, he felt like darkness.

The girl was terrified to see him like this, his face paper-thin and pale, with dark magenta ovals under his eyes.

She felt her chest beat harder as he raised his hand as if to grab hers, but still from a couple of feet away.

She did the same, and in his eyes, she could see a fear she didn’t understand looming in those round eyes.

“How are you feeling” She whispered hating herself for asking, but terrified of his answer.

He attempted to smile but couldn’t quite muster it, “I’ve been better, can’t come to close.”

Her head suddenly pounded and all she could think was, this can't be happening, not to him, please not to him.

She imagined all the ten years of their friendship. His head of auburn hair bounding after her across the lawn, both of them squealing as he would tackle her into the soft grass.

Slowly, Solice moved away from her line of sight and she almost thought he had crawled back into bed when he reappeared clutching a piece of paper.

He held it in front of himself his fingers shaking ever so slightly.

She read it once, twice, and then felt her soul splitting and tears overflowed down her face.

I don’t think I am going to get to see the world we dreamed of.

Her heart furiously beat as she looked from his shaky handwriting to his desperate frightened face. At first, she had wondered why he didn’t just tell her, but once she read it she understood.

Some things were just too painful to say out loud.

He did not deserve this she thought.  He should get to see a better world; it was not fair.

Determination flooding her system she roughly scrubbed at her eyes and then trying to muster all the joy she had, she told him.

“You will get to see it, you will, you will”.

His expression was a mixture of sadness and confusion, but she couldn’t tell him what she was planning, he wouldn’t let her do it.

With one final look at her friend's pale face, she spun and ran up the hill and towards the mountain where the earth touched the darkness.

She climbed and climbed, her limbs ached and begged her to slow down, but every time she thought of stopping, she saw Solice’s face in her mind as he held up the note.

I do not think I will get to see the world we dreamed of.

She was sobbing and shaking but she kept climbing getting closer and closer to the darkness waiting for her.

This girl the universe had watched since she was firstborn. Afterall there was stubbornness and strength inside her that was going to shake the world.

And she indeed made it to the top and could see absolutely nothing, but an infinite sweep of darkness.

The universe was silently waiting, watching, unsure what she would do next.

She could see nothing but still, she collapsed to her knees and prayed to the very darkness that had frightened so many before her.

Over and over again she whispered, “Please let him live, let him live, I will do anything.”

Tears were streaming down the girl's face but she was determined to save the best friend she ever had.

Now the universe had never seen anything like this. For as long as the planets had been around, the souls living upon them showed nothing but hate, greed, and fear.

The darkness, despite its rough nature, saw the strength that the girl carried on her shoulders, not as a weight, but more like a crown.

And so it offered to make a deal, that as long as the girl stayed with the darkness up in the sky forever, it would indeed make sure Solice lived.

See, of course, it was a deal to trade her own life for his, but he was her best friend and the love that thrived between them was as unbreakable as it was real.

So, on that very night, a child of strength and love followed the darkness up into the sky with no fear in her eyes, for she knew she was about to save the boy she loved beyond reason.

 Now even though the darkness was an awful deal maker, it did hold its word and as the poor girl watched from above, Solice did indeed slowly get better.

She watched as that light she had seen on the very first day she met him came bursting back into his eyes.

She watched as he finally got out of bed and made his way practically running on still week legs, towards the hill they always used to meet at.

She watched, tears falling around her and being buried in the darkness she rested in, as he searched everywhere but she was nowhere to be seen.

His cries of her name echoed through the universe, but she could not answer.

Time passed and Solice felt his heart crumble a little more every day.

Just like everyone else he began to sulk around and keep to himself, mourning the best friend he would ever have.

The people around him watched him curiously, for they had grown so used to his strange behavior, One person, in particular, came up to Solice, something like pity in her soft eyes.

She barely had told him she had seen the girl climbing the mountain before he took off, his cap blown off his head as he made his way to where his friend waited.

Now of course, once Solice finally made it to the top all he could see was darkness, and all the girl could see was him.

Where she sat in the dark mist it pulled at her a little farther every day, she felt herself slowly breaking. The weight of the darkness finally taking its toll.

 Solice had watched his friend for as long as he could remember and knowing her fierce determination and selflessness he realized what she had done. He built a ladder, and with no idea where he was going, climbed his way into the sky in search of his long lost friend.

Now, remember how I said fear was a powerful thing, there is of course only one thing more powerful, love.

Making his way across the sky he could see nothing, and so in hopes of finding her, he channeled all the love he held in his heart and began glowing spectacularly. His auburn hair becoming strings of embers and that loving heart he kept safe in his chest overflowed with a light that chased the darkness behind the mountain and with it his friend.

Below people came rushing out of there houses thrilled by the new light in their sky.

Solice felt alive in a way he could never imagine and yet still a part of him longed dearly for his friend.

So every night he would journey back into the darkness hoping to eventually reach her and tell her that she was the best friend he had ever had.

Tell her that she saved his life, that all those years spent dreaming she was his best dream of all.

The girl who was a shell of what she once was, watched every day as her friend lit up the sky chasing her and all the darkness, around the planet. but not before she saw the look of hope shining like wildfire in all the people's faces down below, and she would smile to herself knowing the world was a better place.

Now perhaps you think this is where our story ends, however it is not.

Sitting in the darkness the girl began thinking. She thought of how she had been fighting her entire life. How even though she was devastated and crushed with heartbreak and fear, something still burned inside her.

She remembered dancing the last night with Solice before he got sick. She had had a bad day, and he had decided to cheer her up by dancing around her like a crazy person. She had giggled and a fierce joy that melted through her veins consumed her until she was too was dancing with him.

Dancing through the darkness, he had always been her light, and she had been his.

A secret of the universe is that darkness will always come into our lives, sometimes it can be awful suffocating, but we will always make it out.

The girl did the impossible that night, she decided to keep going, for Solice and for herself, and at that moment, she was the strongest she had ever been.

Her face once again bloomed silver and the damp tears speckling the air around her, a sign of weakness, she turned them to stars. Bright glowing balls of light to spark dreams in the souls below and show them that the darkness was not as powerful as they had imagined.

 And with Solice watching eyes wide from the bottom of the sky, he saw as his best friend began glowing as beautiful as ever.

Like him, she became bursting with light despite the darkness that seemed determined to consume her.

She was so bright, so very bright, but he had already known that.

She had outsmarted the darkness, and even when Solice disappeared from the sky every night, the people below were still greeted by a light perhaps even more spectacular than that of during the day.

Nervousness racked Solice’s body but he fought against the darkness surrounding him trying and failing to get close to her.

Every day he would slowly make his way across the sky shining his light down on the world below, and once he made it to the mountains he would attempt to plunge himself into the darkness just to get the smallest glimpse of his best friend.

And each time Solice found his way behind the mountains, the girl would rise into the sky the stars once again bursting with light.

She would shine up there and when it was finally time for her to go back down there was always a single moment where she got to see her best friend that she would never forget coming up from behind the mountain.

Watching him as he held up his shaking hand of light and his face lit up as he watched her do the same.

It was a love that even the universe would never understand.

And together the friends helped shape the world they had always dreamed of.

And children were born into a world, not just of darkness, but a world of hope and strength.

A world with the opposite of darkness, a world with light.

And down below the souls who had known Solice and the girl noticed how they both just happened to disappear the same time the burning lights came into there sky.

The souls began calling the one during the day Solice and the one during the night the girl’s name, which of course was Luna.

To this day, every time I get that tiny glimpse of Luna its worth all the darkness we fought together.

For she will always be my light.