In Another Universe

Wednesday 22:10 Goodnight Moon

Closing the door behind him, Charlie leaned against it, eyes shut. He sighed. Yet another day gone by. It had been a somewhat normal day, nothing really stuck out. In fact, he could barely remember what he did. He had vague memories of sitting into class, listening, or rather pretending to listen, to the teachers. He had lunch with his friends.

He remembered William vaguely asking about Isaac when they were in the queue. He had nothing to say about that. He hadn't seen him in a while. He remembered looking at Jack and Thomas and wanting to tell them, yet his lips feeling so shut, glued down. He just wanted them to know. Maybe soon. Of course, this was Jack and Thomas we're talking about so it's not that they would be of great advice, but he really wanted them to know. There was no reason they would react so differently from William but he just had to go past his apprehension. It was coming, just not yet.

"Are you going to stay like that long?" Evie asked, taking off her shoes.

She had picked him up right after school so they could eat out for once. Charlie protested at first, saying he really wasn't in the mood. And that was exactly why Evie insisted. She had seen him in the last week coming home from school and laying on the couch, mindlessly watching TV, or staying in his room, shifting between burying himself in his homework or hiding in his bed. He had stopped biking around and used his bike only for school. His problem with Isaac, only those two could fix it. But Evie promised herself that she would try to cheer him up as much as she could. Sure, a little restaurant might not be the solution but a burger can't hurt.

If he wasn't the happiest he has ever been, he smiled at least four times. That was the goal, to distract him. Afterwards, she took him to the cinema. He seemed to like the movie but he also had a lot to say about it. Evie didn't, but it was nice hearing him talk about something so excitedly after quite a while of quick, uninterested answers. Also, fingers crossed, the walk back from the cinema tired him enough that he would just fall asleep. Hopefully.

"Thanks for tonight," he answered, opening his eyes.

"You're welcome, love. Now go to bed." She tousled his hair before letting him go to his bedroom. "Good night."

" 'Night!"

He closed the door behind him and turned on the light. Immediately, something felt different. He knew that his room wasn't so tidy when he left for school that morning. It wasn't perfect but he could see that the clothes he had left on the floor had been quickly put in his laundry basket, the papers on his desk put into a messy pile. And his bed was made. Maybe this was part of Evie's effort to make him feel better. It was nice of her if that was the case. But he noticed something that changed his guess.

A little note resting on the book on his bedside table.

He knew that kind of notes too well by now to pretend to guess where it came from. Isaac. It was obviously from him. But how did he even get in here? And why? Why go to this extent for a note?

"It's gonna be messy. Maybe right now you won't understand why it's happening. But wait for a while because then, the stars will appear and you'll know why the darkness was needed"

-f.e.marie

Holding the note in his hand, he let himself fall on his bed. He yawned and, after closing his eyes for a moment, decided to indulge in his favourite activity: staring at the ceiling. It would probably not help him make things clearer, definitely not. But maybe it would help him empty his mind, help him stop wondering why was Isaac doing all of this, playing those kinds of games.

But something on the ceiling attracted his attention really quickly. He stood up on his bed to grab the little post-it. Once again, that was Isaac's handwriting. Charlie was more and more confused about his intentions. "Listen to the link I sent you, lie down, turn off the lights and look up."

He was suspicious, but what was the harm in that? He could probably come up with a list of the harm there could be in that but at that moment, he didn't want to even try. He was tired, but he had a really good evening, a fun time with Evie and he didn't want to end this day in a bad mood.

So he opened the link Isaac had sent him a few hours ago and that he just ignored. He didn't even open the message at the time, trying to focus on his evening with Evie. It led him to Isaac's channel, to his new cover, Goodnight Moon.

The video started on its own and for a few seconds, Charlie just listened. The other instructions stayed at the back of his mind, but he was just slowly realising how much he had missed Isaac's voice. Unlike his usual video style, it wasn't a video of him, playing the guitar in front of the camera and singing his heart out. It was a hyperlapse video of his window seal, the light changing behind his little cactuses and a cardboard little Swedish house. Clearly, Isaac didn't want Charlie to focus on the video itself, what matter here was the music.

Charlie put down his phone on his bedside table and laid on his bed as instructed and turned off the life.

He didn't believe it at first but he had to trust his eyes. In front of him, the ceiling had lit up. So many little phosphoresent stars of so many different sizes were scattered above his head. There were so many he couldn't count them. His eyes, going from one star to the next, started to water with the sound of Isaac's voice in the background. And all he could think was he remembered. He remembered Charlie's stories about his depressing white ceiling that seriously made him homesick. He remembered his nostalgia about his old starry ceiling back in Australia. He remembered. But not only did he remember, but he also did all of that. Probably thanks to Evie's help, but he did go through all that effort to make him feel better.

After all, maybe there was a reason for the darkness and the stars are just waiting for their time to shine. Maybe everything isn't bad. Maybe everything will be okay.