₁𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞... 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐

𝒊𝒊. 𝑯𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔

𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬.

****

Thousands of specks of bright light embellished the navy blue velvet that was canopied over her, silent and twinkling dots of hope that paled in comparison to the magnificent, spherical beauty that occupied the spot of the most celestial body in existence.

However, it wasn't the moon that had attracted the gaze of mist-clouded sea-green eyes.

The sparkling points were what had entranced her. Many bitter-sweet memories of Lorelle's were associated with the sky, and the stars featured in almost all of them. Remembrances of blankets on the grass, the warmth of a small body cuddling into her side, her hand running through windswept black hair overcame her as she struggled to regain her hold on time.

She had always told Percy that looking into the stars was like looking into the past. One could never know if the stars were actually there or if they had crumbled to dust and ashes years ago with the last vestiges of their light continuing to grace the Earth each night.

If he had been here, she would have pointed to all the stars she had shown him in the past as well and explained each of them while her little brother listened with rapt attention, as though she were telling him something far less mundane than the stories of stars he had heard many times before.

That, Percy, she would say, is the Alpha Centauri, and then point her finger at the star, and that one is the Proxima Centauri. They're both seeing nearly four years in the past.

Her little brother would smile slightly, and ask her, Tell me more.

She would laugh and continue, There's another star. It's so very far from us, so far that it can't be seen even by the strongest of telescopes. It's called Icarus. It's in that general direction, she would jab her finger in the air again, not truly knowing the real direction but just wanting to entrance her brother, and if its light reached the Earth, then it'd be seeing the events that happened 9 billion years in the past.

Percy would have put forward a question, Why is it called Icarus?

Lorelle's face would have darkened as her thoughts would have wandered to Apollo, and she would have taken a deep breath before telling him, Icarus was the son of Daedalus. He tried to escape Crete using wings of wax and feathers. His father told him not to fly too low or too high, but he didn't listen. He flew too close to the Sun, and his wings got burnt to ash, causing him to fall into the ocean and drown. What lesson do you learn from this story?

He would frown, and ask, I don't know, what?

She would give a sinister smile, her fingers ceasing to massage his scalp for a moment before answering, Icarus taught us that we should never fly too close to the Sun, for the sun has one duty, and it is to burn. It would leave you in the charred remains of who you used to be, and you would drown in misery, just like Icarus did in the ocean.

Percy would be wide-eyed, his fingers tapping against the ground as he would have asked, Can you please explain it again? I didn't get it.

Her lips would curl upward, and she'd say, Icarus taught us not to be over-ambitious, because that would cause us to lose, in the end.