The Alignment Of Our Stars

SUN

                 

Fate doesn't exist.

            It was impossible for Elliot to believe that a concept so far-fetched could be real–that someone, somewhere, had laid out her entire life before them and set her destiny in stone. She couldn't fathom why someone would even linger on such an intangible idea when the only truly real thing in the world was the terrifying inevitability of death.

            The thought of her death hadn't seemed so terrifying lately, though.

            See, the only constant in Elliot's life was her father's fleeting relationships and her dead sister's alcohol stash wedged beneath her bed. The lack of support in her life meant that it wasn't easy for her to let people in. To break down Elliot Jameson's walls was a long and arduous process that most people found impossible to conquer; there have only been few that were successful.

            These few had managed to worm their way into her guarded heart. These few knew every inch of the stone cold girl who really wasn't that stone cold when people bothered to know her. These few were the only ones who knew that she snorted when she laughed really hard, or that she had a peculiar obsession with foreign films, or that she liked to draw pictures into her skin whenever she hated herself.

            Every single one of them left her eventually.

            And every single time, Elliot was left between the tattered walls of her bedroom, sobs wracking her throat and fire spreading through her lungs. Her hands—trembling with a concoction of anger and despair and fuck I knew I shouldn't have trusted them—would clutch at her chest desperately, as if her heart was threatening to fall out.

            (She was convinced that it would.)

            It was a humid summer's night when Elliot stumbled away from a rowdy beach party, slender fingers wrapped around the neck of a half empty Hennessy bottle. Taking one last swig of the drink, she sprawled across the cool sand uncaringly, firelight hair spread beneath her head like a halo. Her eyes, bright with drunkenness, lifted to the night sky.

            Stars. They were her favorite things about the nighttime. When the world was blanketed in utter darkness, the stars light up the sky so beautifully that it makes her breath catch in her throat. She never really understood how burning balls of gas could be so ethereal but the way they shine so brightly always managed to amaze her.

            So, with the ocean lapping at her feet and the hoots of teenagers a distant noise, she continued to study the stars above her. The music from the party was so far away that it seemed muffled, as if her head had been submerged underwater. She hummed along to the tune of the song as she tried using her imagination to make pictures out of the stars.

            Elliot scoffed lightly. "What am I doing?" she mumbled, pulling herself up into a sitting position so she could drink from her bottle. She let the alcohol pass her lips eagerly and winced slightly at the burn in her throat. "I don't know shit about astronomy and constellations and planets and... Space stuff." It didn't stop her from admiring it, though.

            "Mind if I join you?" an unfamiliar voice asked from behind her.

            "Absolutely," she replied with no hesitation. She didn't bother to steal a glance at the stranger, emerald eyes still trained on the breathtaking view above her.  She hoped that her disregard for him was enough for him to leave her alone; alas, he was as persistent as they come, and took a seat beside her anyway.

            Elliot's eyes fluttered shut in annoyance, a disgruntled sigh exhaled from her lips. "Jesus Christ," she muttered lowly. She ran a hand through her long hair as her head turned to the side to face the boy who was much too close to her. "What part of my answer did you not understand?"