Stolen By Fate

Girl On The Moon

"Stay by the car." Tyler demanded as i drifted away from it. We had stopped for gas, and to let Domonique speak to someone on the phone again, at a Circle K; but I didn't know how far we had driven. It was chilly outside, but not enough to make me want a jacket.

I wandered slowly, swaying as I stepped, further and further from the light of the gas station. The stars canvased the desert and I heard nothing but the gasoline flowing into the Magnum. 

"Alayla." Tyler warned, ready to grab me.

"She's like the swallow that flies so high..." I sang as I leaned against a red pillar, staring out at the sky and I could have sworn I saw a shooting star cross the sky for a split second, like a pen stroke into dark, shallow water. "She's like the river that never runs dry..." I could merely whisper.

"Alayla..." I heard Tyler walk toward me. I kept singing, weariness taking over my mind.

"She's like the sunshine on the lee shore..." I felt tears well up in my eyes as my voice quivered. "I love my love and love is no more..." Tears blurred the stars together as I let them rush down my cold cheeks. I felt Tyler behind me and his warmth radiated over my back. I waited for him to pull me back, to tell me that we had to go or that I shouldn't be so far away from the car. I waited for his touch and my skin tingled as I did, but he was silent and unmoving. 

I breathed in and out, each time letting more tears conjure and fall. It wasn't until then that I began to shiver from the cold. I didn't want to move, I had suddenly become weary and a fear inside me made me believe if I closed my eyes for too long, the stars would disappear.

He moved even closer to me, enough that I could feel him take in each breath. "My mom used to tell me a story when I was a kid. Don't remember much of it - hell, I could even be remembering it wrong - but every time I look at the moon and the stars it just reminds of it."

"What was it?" I murmured. burying my face into my frizzy hair. 

He sighed and leaned against the pillar as he stared at the moon in the distance. Light covered nearly half of it and the rest faded into the night. Another shooting star shot across the sky and I pointed it out.

"It was like some kind of folks tale. I can try to tell you it, but I'll probably mess it up." He sighed and rested his hands on my shoulders, and I turned my head to see him looking at the moon. It reflected in his eyes, moving over his pupils as he spoke. "There was a civilization that once lived on the moon. They survived solely on the light on the moon reflecting from the sun. Perfect beings in every way that could live forever as long as the sun lit their planet. It had a kingdom, a king and a beautiful princess. She was perfect in every way; had skin like cream and eyes like diamonds made of the sky itself."

Tyler wrapped his arms around me slowly and rested his chin on my shoulder. I let my hands fall over his arms and leaned my head against his softly.

"Now, the princess was always looking down at the earth. She saw all the good and the bad going on down here. She saw all the heartache and all the innocence. She saw the innocent turn into the guilty and she began to lose faith in what her world was there for. She would ask her father why they were there to help this planet when we didn't have much of anything to show for it. It seemed the moon and the sun was here for us and she didn't know why. 

"Her father was her idol. She loved him dearly. He came to her one day while she was watching the earth and asked her to look closer. To try and find any good in us and with that advice she watched more closely. And she found herself focused on one man. She watched him grow up watching the stars and even though she knew he couldn't see her it was as if he knew something was there; something outside the darkness over the earth. She knew there was someone he missed dearly and soon, he began to cry every time he watched the stars. She felt his pain and confusion so dearly that she wanted him to see that he was not alone. So, she gave him the power to see her. The only human on earth that could see her and her civilization and he then fell deeply in love with her. Every night he would wait for the stars and know that she was watching over him. Every time he looked at the moon he could see her brilliant smile and everything was okay.

"Her father, as he had became very sick, disapproved of her love for a human and forbid her to see him, unknowing that the man could see her too. So, she sent him love letters, that fell to the earth with flashes of light and sparks. My mom used to tell me that every time you see a shooting star its another love letter secretly written by the girl on the moon." 

I felt Tyler smile a little as he said this and he buried his face into my hair before continuing. 

"One fateful day, savages from another planet raided the moon, wishing to take all the light, youth and beauty from it, but the only way the whole kingdom could hide was on the dark side of the moon where they would soon grow cold and die. So, the king used the last of the power he had left to put the princess into a deep sleep and bury her under the white sand of the moon. When she awoke, she saw the desolation and ruin of her kingdom. She waited and waited for her people but never saw the inhabitants, nor her father, ever again. The man on earth vowed to one day bring her to his home and show her the hidden beauties that lie here and they would be together forever. And to this day he hasn't figured out how to bring her home. Sometimes you can still see the love letters she sends him flying through the sky as she sits alone on her world."

I looked back up at the moon as Tyler kissed my neck, sending chills down my back.

We were silent for a long time, enjoying the night together as a small breeze brushed past us. Domonique had gotten off the phone and, after a moment, she went into the convenient store and it was completely silent throughout the night.

"No matter what happens you are my first priority. I'm sorry, Alayla, for how I have been acting. I just never wanted you to ever be in such danger. That's what scares my, Hun." He buried his face into my neck, kissing and whispering sweet nothings against my skin. The grip of his arms around me tightened when he whispered that he loved me.

"Tell me about the friends you had..." I murmured, hoping I didn't make him angry for asking. There was a long silence that followed and I thought I felt his heart skip a beat against me.

"Another time.." He clutched me close and lifted me off my feet, carrying me to the car.