On the hotel balcony, the blunt from the night before still rested on the small table. The night earlier, she had bottled a tear that fell without warning. She sealed it in a tiny vial and tossed it over the balcony. As she stepped outside to finish the blunt, a
There was a fire—huge logs stacked in the middle of the beach. She sat a little apart from everyone else. The fire barely lit her face, catching the single tear that slipped down her cheek. The wind stirred her hair as she tried to keep it from her eyes.
Another day in hell, he thought. It had been a year—a busy year spent doing nothing except getting fired from jobs and watching the stereotypical decline of his mental health. From cyanide to nuclear-irradiated earrings. From human trafficking to a global drug operation. From climate control technology capable of
She walked through the labyrinth, its high green walls lined with images resembling the ones on the staircase where she grew up. In the green halls, she shifted and aged as she walked, changing without noticing. The labyrinth grew darker the farther she went. Fewer and fewer paths remained lit.
He was flying a kite, the wind rippling through the green grass in soft waves. Their child ran around nearby as she watched, mesmerized, storing the moment away as a memory. She smiled, remembering how he had wanted to buy the kite for their son—though it had really been
The last bit of daylight filtered through the kitchen window. She sat at the island eating yogurt while the kid was distracted by an iPad. When she finished, she took a jar from one of the cabinets. Outside, the sky shifted colors, and she captured the final ray of light,
A monarch butterfly landed on the window. Its wings rose and fell slowly before it flew away. He lifted his brush to the glass and painted another one. The texture wasn’t quite right, and as the butterfly took flight, it altered the texture of the sky itself. The butterfly
She sat on the bench beside the cliff. The wind blew softly as the sun began to set over the sea. An orange path of light stretched across the cliff. A tear fell without reason—only the weight of everything at once. Lifted by a gust of wind, the tear
The wolf walked up to her with familiarity. She petted it as it pressed its head gently against her ribs. The dark priestess took hold of the wolf’s chains loosely and began to walk. Obediently, the wolf followed. She had learned she carried enough light to cast shadows. Loyal,
He placed a finger on the surface and watched the lake’s perfect stillness break into ripples. The boat, suspended upside down in the night sky, was impossible to see from below. He moved forward slowly and planted another star. A little farther on, he watered a half-grown constellation. From
He grabbed an umbrella and ran into the rain, wearing a long brown trench coat, a hat, and carrying a briefcase. Running late—as usual. Not his fault this time, though no one was going to believe him anyway. While trying to flag down a taxi, he stepped into a
They pulled over on the quiet countryside road. It was almost time. All the lights from the nearby cities were about to be turned off. It was the fifth year since parts of several governments had created a holiday where, at ten o’clock, every light in the city went