I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

“I don’t know,” I say, because it is the only truth I have. “We will look
for a reason till even the sun and moon are gone because we
believe that an answer will balance the tragedy.” Hikari stares up at
me with desperation like glimmers in her tears. I wipe them away as
mine fall with hers.
“There is no reason for tragedy,” I say. “One day, the universe will
collapse, death will have no one left to claim, disease will have no
one to infect, and time will come to an end, but even then, it will not
have been for nothing. Because if we chose to only love what we
wouldn’t lose, then we would never love at all.”
I take her face in both my hands and even if it hurts, I remember
each and every moment I held her this way. I remember every
moment I held Sam too.
“Love is not a choice,” I say, smiling with all the gratitude in the world
that I am the pitiful creature she chose. “And even if it were, I would
choose you every time.”
“Sam.”
“Hikari.”
Every memory I locked away on this bridge breaks from its confines.
They fly from their glass caskets and I let them all live within me as
they deserve to.
The snow continues in a haze around them. Hikari’s arms wrap
around me, her head tucked to my chest to shield her from the
brewing storm until she finally lets the snowflakes kiss her face.
“The stars are falling,” she whispers.
“My love,” I cry. “They already fell.”
The thing about hope is that it is a fearful reaction. We are hopeful
because we are afraid. Because we think on some level we are