Ok...I usually don't write short stories (I'm more of a poetry person) but I figured I'd at least get this reviewed. The story spawned from a conversation I was having with a friend about life. I don't think the story is as good as I'd like it to be...so, constructive criticism could help? ^^; (And if anyone can think of a better title, please let me know. ><
Thanks.
"If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?" He smiled and gazed into my eyes thoughtfully. I shrugged and gave him the first thing I thought of. "Wings...So I could leave, and forget everything." I knew what he was thinking, and it wasn't true. I wouldn't leave him for the world. I would carry him in my arms everywhere I went, if I had to.
"So? What about yourself?" He sighed, and turned his sight to the shimmering stars above us. "I don't know...Love, maybe. Someone to wrap their arms around me, and let me know that everything will be fine. And someone that needs me to wrap my arms around them." I hugged him, and held him close, but I knew it wasn't the same. "You're hopeless, you know." He curled up in my embrace and rested his head against my chest. "I can hear your heart beat." He looked up at me with a curious smile, then went back to listening.
"Do you ever wish you had one?" I looked down at his silky hair with sympathy. "One what?" He tilted his head up again, and our noses met. I stared into his eyes, and he stared into, and then past, my own. "Nothing, love. So what've you been thinking about so much lately?" He shifted his position and nestled his face into my neck. He always did like the feel of skin. "Life...Death...All of it. I want the privilege to die and fade away." I shook my head and backed away. He didn't think of death the way I did. "You sound suicidal." He laughed - a childish chuckle rather than a mechanical attempt to recreate human joy. But there was contempt and disdain veiled behind his laugh. "You don't know what it's like...to be an in-between." I felt bad...Felt...Like somewhere deep inside him self he hated me. I felt that…although he was there, in my arms, he was miles away. Maybe it was selfish of me. "I'm sorry." I remember the days we used to spend together, watching the clouds go by...The games we played, secrets we shared, and I remember how lively he was. I couldn't let that life escape me in a single moment. I couldn't.
"Were we in love?" Were we? I loved him...Love him, with all of my heart, but he can't remember. Is it time to get over the past? I saved his body and mind, but where is his soul, if there is such a thing? “No.” I lied. He knows it, but he won’t say anything contradictory. He yawns and rolls over onto his back. It reminds me of when we first met – I was running in the fields, he was laying under a tree. We were both nine at the time, but now I’m going on 18 and he’ll be 17 forever. “I’ll make a way for humans to have wings, so you can fly.” If anyone deserves to be free, it’s him. But I’m the chains that are holding him down. “Would you come with me? We could fly far, far away, and start a new life together…” That would be nice, it really would. He smiles and reaches out toward the creamy navy sky with his synthetic hand to grab at the moon. “All the way out there?” I grin, and nod. “All the way, if you want.” We used to talk about living on the moon when we were younger. We would make it our own secret haven, and everything would be perfect…It’s nice to dream.
He stands, and goes over to the edge of the roof – he used to come up here all the time by himself, and then it was a we, so I brought him here again after he came back as an in-between and it was ours again. “What will I do when you’re gone?” He turns back to look at me, standing on the edge of the roof like an angel – his thin white garments hanging loosely from his skin in contrast to the dark elegant sky. I shake my head, but the thought holds on tightly. “You’ll live.” I know what he’s thinking again; he doesn’t consider himself alive any more. In the blink of an eye, he’s gone from sight – plummeting down toward the awaiting ground. I scream, and scramble to the edge of the roof, and dive to reach for him in mid-air. He grabs a hold of my arm, and stares deeply into my eyes, then smiles. We finally got our chance to fly together. He wraps his arms around me, and it seems like we’re lingering in the air, rather than falling. But that’s only an illusion, and now it’s my turn to die and fade away, and he won’t bring me back…He loves me too much – or at least, I’d like to believe so. And so we whisper our goodbyes, and then the black seeps in along with the pain, and before I get the chance to give up on the world, the world gives up on me and everything disappears.
