Milomi's world

Ara loves gazing at the night sky. She would lie down under the blanket of stars, talking to her best friend Sam, wiling away time.

“We’re not special, you know,” she told Sam, who kept insisting they were. “We’re not, because-“

Sam cut her off, shaking his head. “Don’t drift apart, stay here with me. Stay here, in the present.”

They didn’t meet each other’s eyes, but kept staring at the stars. Ara grabbed Sam’s hand, an unspoken gesture they’d developed over the years. It meant “I’m here.”

Hours passed and they were still lying there, basking in the moment. Not worried about the sunrise, or the fact that any day could be their last together. They could be whisked away to join The Battery any time, this was all they had.

Many years ago when The Battery came into existence, Sam and Ara made a pact. Since The Battery recruited people only during nighttime, they vowed to sleep in the day.

“I’ll stay awake, if it means being with you. That’s all that matters. That’s the ‘special’ we have.” Smiles were shared, and promises were kept.

Everything was uncertain now, though. Their friendship rocked on an angry sea, threatening their ship to topple over and sink slowly. They knew this, Ara even tried talking about this, but was cut off as usual.

“We’ll escape if they come, Ara. That’s what we decided six years ago, and I’m not going to let you go. You’re special,” Sam told her over and over.

She writhed in her sleep that day. The light was too blinding, her thoughts were too meddled. All she wanted to tell Sam was that they were not special. She’d known this for the longest time, it’s what she grew up knowing.

Ara remembered her mother telling her,”We’re ordinary, Ara. We’re normal, like everyone else. We’re all the same, not special.” She couldn’t forget the way this haunted her after The Battery, but she lived by it.

Ignoring her heavy eyes, she got up and began writing a letter hastily. She knew what was going to happen, she’d known for quite some time. She could almost hear them coming for her and Sam didn’t deserve this.

It was the last thing Ara wanted to do, but there was no way out. Sam deserved more. He deserved a ‘special’. Not her.

The Battery came for her in the evening, when she was with Sam. She had stowed the letter away in his cupboard, and nodded to his words with tears in her eyes. This was it.

“Ara, are you crying? Did I do something wrong, I mean I can be pretty dumb at times…”

Ara shook her head, a bittersweet smile adorning her face. She embraced Sam, trying to hide the tears now streaming down. Minutes later, their moment ended. They could hear The Battery.

The world blurred and chaos reigned in those few moments. An invisible force was pulling Ara, and she started speaking quickly.

“Sam, we’re not special,” her voice was cracking.”We’re not, because destiny always gets to us.”

And just like that, Ara disappeared.

He stood there, understanding everything. Sam was broken as he felt it all sinking in. Nothing could matter now, but suddenly everything did.

‘We can only rebel against destiny for so long, till it gets to us. We’re not special,’ he shook his head, thinking. He went out and looked up at the stars. Fate would always catch up to them, and outsmart them.

He ran. He ran away from destiny, from The Battery. He knew that he would have to surrender to fate one day, but not that night.

That night he grieved. For Ara, for everything they’d had. For the truth, that they were not special.

Written by
Milomi.

Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/-wEFdRCG4IU