The Stars

 ‘The stars look so beautiful.’ Hope pulled herself closer into her boyfriend’s chest as he played with her hair and gently kissed her forehead. ‘Do you really have to leave?’ A soft sigh escaped Chris and he pulled himself up.‘Is that why you wanted to do this?’ 

Hope didn’t answer at first and Chris let go of Hope and scooted over so the two were looking at each other. ‘I know it seems like I’m going to be away forever but it’s only going to be around 5-6 months. I know you want me to stay but I’ve been planning this for almost a year.’ 

‘I know and I’m so happy but I’m also so scared.’ It broke Chris’ heart to see the love of his life so scared for him but they both knew that at one point Chris would be going to space. 

The mission was almost simple, he and two other astronauts would be sent to space in a new spacecraft called the HS Oblivion which NASA had been working on for the past 10 years, this was going to be one of the greatest events in history. The two had spent the past month doing more and more things together, going on more dates, finishing all the tv shows they grew out of, revisiting all their favorite places within the city together – they did whatever they could to spend every last second with each other before Chris would be sent to space for 180 days. 

‘I won’t be able to make it to the launch since I have work but I’ll watch it on my phone, I’m really proud of you.’ The two shared a kiss and fell back into their position on the ground and continued to stare at the stars and tried to stay there forever in each other’s arms.

‘Just remember that when I’m gone in space, I’ll be one of those stars. So when you begin to miss me, just wait until nighttime and look at the sky.’ 

Hope couldn’t sleep that night, she was so nervous that it kept her up. No matter what she did all she could think about was Chris leaving. ‘Babe?’ Chris whispered as he couldn’t fall sleep either. ‘Come on, let’s do something.’ Hope was confused but followed her boyfriend into the kitchen and watched him take ingredients out of the cupboards and set them down on the counter. ‘Whenever you’re stressed or nervous you cook, so I’m going to make pancakes.’

‘You don’t know how to make pancakes.’ 

Chris looked down at the ingredients he pulled out and smiled at Hope. ‘I’m just gonna wing it and these are gonna be the best damn pancakes you’ve ever tasted.’ 

10 minutes later the two were laughing as Hope recorded Chris trying to flip a pancake except it was stuck to the pan. ‘You forgot to add the butter!’ 

‘There’s butter in the pancake that should’ve been enough!’ Chris laughed and tried to scrape the pancake off but it was burnt and he only managed to get a chunk of it off. 

‘Let me try.’ Hope said as she got out a new pan and handed Chris her phone and showed him how to cook pancakes successfully, then Chris took it and ate it and at that moment Hope had completely forgotten that he would be leaving in just a few hours. Chris handed the phone back to Hope and kissed her as passionately as he could, knowing he’d be gone before she woke up.

The big day arrived and the two couldn’t be any more anxious, Chris was preparing to be launched into space on the HS Oblivion and Hope had managed to convince her boss to play the launch stream on one of the screens at work. Hope’s boss walked over and stared at the ship being showcased, waiting to join space. ‘Don’t be nervous, your husband is a great man.’ Hope played with her fingers as she nervously watched the screen and prayed that everything would go to plan, any minute now. Then she saw them, the crew made their way up to the ship after one last wave to everyone watching and them the craft was ready to launch. 

Cheryl - a work buddy of Hope’s - gripped her shoulders and excitedly shook her. ‘This is it! It’s going to go great!’ She enthusiastically half yelled into Hope’s ear but Hope was trying not to pay attention to anything that wasn’t the screen five feet away from her. Before she knew it the countdown was beginning and suddenly in three, two, one, the HS Oblivion launched and cheers filled the small room and Hope let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and the stream ended. Everything went well and the 180 days officially started.

All had gone well until two months later when the HS Oblivion had started experiencing difficulties on day 73 but then the problem seemed to disappear and they were told not to worry. Day 95 they began experiencing the same problem - and then the ship exploded.

Hope had gotten the news while she was editing a new piece about the HS Oblivion for the D.C Times, her boss walked in with the most expression on her face and Hope swore she was about to get fired.

‘The spacecraft exploded and everyone on board has been pronounced dead. I’m sorry, Hope.’ At first, Hope thought this was just a sick joke but when it finally set in, she was sent home early to grieve the loss of her husband.

The funeral was no better, she told the story of Chris’ life up until his last breath to the sea of black fabric and teary eyes. After his family and friends told their renditions of Chris’ life and everyone grieved and reminisced together and threw Orchids on his casket - Chris hated roses. The service ended and everyone left except for Hope who stayed in her car outside the cemetery replaying the video of her and Chris making pancakes. She made it to the part where Chris tried to flip the pancake but he forgot to butter the pan so it stuck and burnt, she laughed and felt the tears coming back and she broke down. It hasn’t been easy since he left for space for good.

Without really thinking Hope stepped out of the car and looked up at the sky and saw more stars than she’d ever seen before. ‘Just remember that when I’m gone in space, I’ll be one of those stars. So when you begin to miss me, just wait until nighttime and look at the sky.’