I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

They have no claim to this day.
In Hikari’s arms, I forget what I am and where I am from. The idea of
home no longer has gravity. I have flown off my orbit, chosen to
follow meteors with no aim but to roam.
I am not afraid of what constitutes life or mere existence. I watch and
yet I smile, hug, kiss, run, speak, sing, shout, swim, play, create, and
love all the same.
This place–this exact spot where land and sea meet is where the
world was born. It is where Time ceases, Disease festers, and Death
dies.
Because the world was built for kids who dreamt of life and were
raptured by loss. It is theirs and it is mine. It is ours to claim, and it is
ours to reap. In this place, freedom takes us by the hand and we
dance to its rhythm in coarse, cool sand and wild, welcoming waters.
In the book of our lives, upon a single page dedicated to its creation,
we name it Heaven.
—
When night falls, we retire to C’s dad’s pick-up. The clouds dissipate
with the dark, revealing a sky rendered black by a layer of stars.
Fortunately for us, C’s limited thieving capacities grant us yellow
blankets to warm our soaked skin.
We lie in the truck’s bed like poorly laid out sardines. We are tangled
together, masses of bodies huddled, shivering, and laughing. Sony is
at the center, Hikari and Neo clinging to her like babies while C and I
make the outsides.
Our stories flow between us. Some are old humorous tales that get
interrupted by cackling because we already know how they end. It’s
like a joke that doesn’t need a punch line. A communal store of
memories that make way to new stories.