I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

C stands just below, a hair’s breadth away from grabbing the ladder.
“Are you gonna fall?”
“I’m not gonna fall.” Neo won’t let him do that.
“You sure?” C asks. “You look like you’re gonna fall.”
“Sony! Hand me those scissors so I can stab him with it,” Neo yells,
just as she walks into the room with so many random objects in her
arms she has to open the door with her elbow.
“I got everything!” Sony says, dropping her stolen merchandise on
Neo’s bed. Her cat wobbles in behind her.
I quit my pacing and take inventory of the spoils. If you remember
our first meeting, Hikari, you took me on a blindsighting adventure to
gather a measly pencil sharpener. Back then, I didn’t realize the
morbidity in that. Even if the
ends were wrong, the means were a spark to our fire. It was the first
time we stole together. The first time we shared our humanity with a
bit of sin.
“Thank you,” I say as Sony organizes the arts and crafts supplies
she took from the library. A pair of scissors, markers, a little paintbox,
and colorful paper.
Eric lends us the Christmas lights. With them, we create our own
finite constellations that cannot be overshadowed by clouds and the
city’s pollution.
He even gets me a cardboard box, one identical to Neo’s from one of
the maintenance closets.
“Will this work?” he asks. We exchange a knowing look, one with
history behind it that holds a thank you in the air like a light on a
string. Then, he gives me a light smack on the head. “Don’t set
anything on fire.”