A sputter. Alive. Awake.
Breathing: Oxygen in, Carbon out.
With each breath I grow: Warmer. Taller. Stronger.
I see for the first time. I am faced with different hues of warmth, the oranges and yellows swirling together, everything the same comforting hue. Then, it clears, forming orange and red shapes I can pick out. Everything around me is cool, the candlewick beneath me, the air around me, except the sense of two incredibly warm forces nearby.
I shine around me. My reflection catches on a line of picture frames. There are two humans in each of them, one with varying lengths of dark hair and the other with long lighter coils. With each picture, they looked slightly different, their faces thinned, they were taller, in some, they had red dots across their foreheads, cheeks and noses. The last one was different. It had a picture of four people, the light-haired one not in sight.
“I think you’re only supposed to light candles for birthdays,” a voice jolts me. I leap on the wick, hopping around to face the speaker. I catch sight of the dark-haired one from the picture. I breathed in deeper, growing bigger so I could reach his face. He was smiling: His lips were stretched to his eyes and tugged up at the edges, exposing his white teeth.
“Who says?” I hear a higher-pitched voice, I hop around to face the light-haired girl from the picture, “Candles are for celebrations of all kinds.”
Oh yeah! Something really cool is supposed to happen during celebrations! Something that contained the warmth of every comet and the light of every star. I don't know what it is though...
“You could just say you missed me on my birthday,” the boy laughed.
“Miss you? Never.” The girl rolled her eyes with a tone of amusement.
“Right, what are we sappy high schoolers?” The boy lightly punches the other girl on the shoulder.
They laugh, and then there’s silence. There was an energy between them, a beautiful warmth that connected them with a fragile string.
“It’s good to see you, Kara,” The boy says.
The girl, Kara, smiles. “I wish I could have been here earlier Alwen, but I got caught up with the internship and just got busy,” there was a pause, “but you know what I couldn’t miss? Being here now! Congratulations!”
“It’s just a job Kara, it’s really not that big of a deal,” Alwen sighs.
“Of course it is! I wasn’t going to miss celebrating your first job with you! Besides, you’ve been working to get this for ages.”
“Yeah,” Alwen nods, “Yeah, I have.”
I expect them to continue, but they fall silent. I await anxiously. I want to know more.
“So… How do you like LA?” Alwen asks Kara.
LA, is that an object? A place? Maybe I’ll get to see it if I’m lucky.
“LA’s cool, you know traffic and all,” Kara shrugs as if it didn’t matter. But now I know it’s a place, and it’s not interesting enough to go there. “But yeah I like my job, it’s been cool but I really miss it here.
Look at them! They miss each other so much. Maybe Kyra should move here from LA since she doesn’t like it there.
“Anyways, enough about me,” Kara lets out a giggle, “how about you?”
“Honestly, I’ve had a bit of a rough time over the past year,” Alwen said, “I placed all my hopes on that internship in LA and then I didn’t get it. It kinda disoriented me for a bit.”
“You didn’t get the internship, but you got the job!” Kyra chimed. I flickered brighter to cheer Alwen with Kyra. Kyra seems like a great friend! “Also, trust me, the internship wasn’t that great, it was honestly a waste of time. Besides, you’re still on the same track! And hey, you can still move to LA like you wanted to!”
Maybe LA is a cool place if Alwen wants to go there too.
“We’ll see,” Alwen says, “I’m just happy to have a job right now. Thanks for celebrating with me.”
“Of course! And you know that you can call me any time right? I know I’m across the country and all, but I’m still here for you.
Awe maybe I’ll have such a great friend someday.
“Yeah.”
They didn’t say anything for a while. Their faces have smiles pasted on them and my reflection catches on their strain.
They are so happy that they’re getting tired from smiling.
But the silence stretches for agonizingly long. The warmth I felt between them was suddenly cooler, not by much, but enough for me to notice it. I didn’t understand. I tried to flicker, trying to ask what happened and finally, as if he felt my desperation, Alwen started.
“You really didn’t have to come all the way here. I know you’re busy and--”
“Of course I did,” Kyra cut him off, “I couldn’t miss my best friend's first job! Besides, I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” Alwen mumbled, turning away. On his cheek was something glassy, something fluid, something--
My breath quickens as fear engulfs me. I want to get away from it. The monster. The flame eater.
I recoil into myself, forgetting to breathe. The warmth replaced by chills, light by its absence.
“Oh no,” I hear Kara’s voice coming near as she gently cups me with her palms. In this enclosed space, I feel safe. Safe from the water. Safe from everything. I remembered to breathe again, pulling myself back to my previous size.
“Alright Alwen, better make a wish before the flame actually goes out.” Kara beckons Alwen over.
A wish! That’s what it was. The two words that contained the warmth of every comet and the light of every star. The purpose of a true candle flame. A wish.
Alwen leans closer. I anticipate. Barely containing my excitement.
I wish
I leap in my spot.
I wish she hadn’t lied--
Hope you guys enjoyed this piece! I'm pretty happy with how it came out. That being said, I do see myself going back to edit this in the future, but I still think I like it enough to want to share it!
Anyways, do let me know what you think! Any comments and critiques appreciated. and please do share!
Thanks for reading!
- Nitya :)
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