Poetry and All Things Alike

Stardust

We sat in my room, silently. This is how most nights went whenever she stayed over. My mom would tell us that it was getting late, so we had to go to bed. We always listened to her, and climbed up the creaky staircase to my room, brushing our teeth before crawling underneath the sheets. But we never went to sleep.

We would lay awake, waiting to hear my parent's bedroom door close, and for my mom to walk up the steps to the third story. Holding our breath, we waited, longing to hear her begin to snore because it meant that she was finally asleep, that both of my parents would not wake up until the morning.

After spending about an hour in my dark room, laying in bed with our eyes blankly staring either at the wall or the ceilings, we finally heard the muffled sound of my parents' snores through the ceiling. Melissa nudged me, making sure I was still awake. "Yeah," I replied excitedly. I heard the sound of the covers rustling for the next few seconds, and then finally my bedroom light clicked on. I shielded my eyes for a few moments as they adjusted to the brightness. I watched as Melissa climbed out of bed, grabbing herself a sweatshirt, and the one for me, before she pulled it over my head.

"Lets go," she said softly, as she reached for the jar under my bed. I nodded, and stepped softly out of bed. She slowly opened my bedroom door, making sure it didn't creak, and we both flinched when it did. After a painful minute of trying to make the door open silently, we had finally opened it wide enough to fit through the gap.

She slipped out of the room and I tiptoed behind her, feeling my heart pound with excitement. The floor creaked as we moved, but those sounds weren't as suspicious. They could easily be blamed on either Newman or Tawny. When we finally made it down to the first story, we knew we were safe to make a little noise, as we were two stories beneath my parents' bedroom.

Melissa turned on the hallway light, searching for my crocs, tossing them to me when she found them, and pulled on her flip flops. I climbed on top of the stove, reaching for the cabinet above it where we kept the cookbooks and flashlights, and pulled out a flashlight, although I knew we wouldn't need it for long.

She opened the front door, both of us cringing at the loud creaking noise it made. I can't remember a time when that door didn't creak upon being opened. That is just how it will always be. The sound is so distinct, that we were nervous my parents would recognize it and come yell at us for sneaking out of the house. But two stories away from the door, they couldn't hear a sound.

I stepped outside into the air which was cool, and humid all at the same time. I'm not sure what month it was, July or August. Most likely July. The weather had not yet begun to smell like fall was approaching, and the days were some of the hottest throughout that summer. I flicked on the flashlight, shining it in front of us as we walked down my driveway, and down the hill towards the plateau below my house. As we walked down the hill, mosquitoes began biting at our bare legs. I always slapped at them when they did that, but Melissa would grab my wrists and yell at me for killing them. She would often remind me that all life had value, and they were just trying to eat.

This time, she didn't seem to notice though. Her eyes were fixated on the lawn in front of us, and what it was full of. The air was full with the sound of peepers, and the sky was clear, the kind of night where you could see the milky way like it was in high definition, so beautiful it could have been a painting.

Finally, Melissa stopped, so I did too. "Turn off the flashlight," she said. I did. I never asked her why. I always trusted her.

Once the light was off, I could see them more clearly. The flashes of green slowly moving through the air and through the grass. Fireflies. I glanced over at Melissa as she turned the lid off the jar, and set it on the ground. She smiled over at me, and I grinned back. "Can we..?" I began to ask, the anticipation killing me. She nodded and replied, "now." I immediately sprinted toward the closest firefly, which had been on the ground a couple feet away. I clasped my hands over it, and peaked between my fingers, waiting for the green glow to appear. When it did, I kept my hands cupped tight, and ran to the jar, letting the bug gently go into it.

Melissa and I ran around like that for quite some time, catching all of the fireflies we could, before falling over onto our backs, laughing hysterically, both of us drenched in sweat and shivering.

After a while, we tightened the lid on the jar, and headed back up towards my house, no longer needing the flashlight to guide us. We silently snuck back into the house, wiping the clumps of lawn clippings from our shoes onto the floor mat. I followed her quietly back up the stairs and to my bedroom, stripping down naked when we got there, and changing into different clothes that weren't covered in sweat.

With all of the lights off, Melissa set the jar on my dresser, the light from the fireflies flickering on and off and illuminating my room. I stared up at them in awe for quite some time, until I heard her pick up my guitar. I continued watching them as she began to sing and play "Boats and Birds" by Gregory and the Hawk. My eyes began to grow heavy, so I laid down on the floor, my head resting right next to her feet. The smelled like freshly cut grass.

I closed my eyes and breathed in the familiar smell, drifting off to sleep as she sang, "Just leave me your stardust to remember you by.."