Lights and Skies
"Do you think there is another world aside from ours?" Jitana asks as she settles in the seat beside the window. I cannot even count how many times we have this conversation in this very same spot inside the public library.
"I mean come on Earth is like a grain on the beach in the universe, there must be something somewhere right?" she continued, looking at me expectantly.
Shaking my head, I replied with a smirk. "I don't know. Do you really want to run away from here so bad? "
"Who would not want to explore an unfamiliar world?" She asked. "Besides, it's not like I have much going in this world anyway."
"Well apparently, me. I have many other things to think about, so should you. Graduation tomorrow, then going to college." I replied snatching the books she rented. "And I take offense on your last statement." I scoffed jokingly.
Alright so I have a very nagging best friend here. Was that supposed to be a good thing?" she answered.
"Well FYI Missy, I am a hot item here at school as you very well know." I proudly said, raising an eyebrow, daring her to deny.
"Hot? Yeah so hot and so full of yourself." She chuckled ever so subtly but still earned us as laser glare from the librarian. She stopped abruptly closing an imaginary zipper in the line of her mouth.
"Come on let's get outta here. It is getting dark anyway so we should probably go home." I whispered as I stood and started walking, lightly pulling her by the arm as I pass by.
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Jitana Hart. She is a real head turner with her shoulder-length black hair, smooth fair skin, glossy thin lips, prominent concave nose and big brown wandering eyes. I cannot even remember how long I have been crushing on her. It so happen that she is also my best friend so there is that. Cliché I know but it is what it is. All those cheesy chick flicks got this one thing right on the money. If you started feeling more than what a friend should feel to your best friend, it's never easy to address.
I kept on fiddling with the books I am holding as we walk this familiar route from the library to her house. I am mustering all of my courage because I have decided that tonight I am going to confess. It's got to be the perfect timing, tomorrow is graduation, after that we are going to part ways. The plan is to tell her how I feel and what happens next will depend on how she will answer. We never know we might not see each other after graduation. The thought of it fills my heart with dread. I took one glance at her walking figure and realized we are getting near our destination while I am getting no progress at all. So with a long sigh, it is now or never. I called out to her.
"Jit."
"Jes!" she exclaimed at the same time.
I was screaming in my mind, Dang what timing!
"Look." Jit continued pointing a finger into the sky.
My eyes followed the direction she was pointing and I gaped as I saw a ball of light in the sky. Jitana kept on staring at the light as if she was mesmerized.
"It's beautiful." she breathed.
"It is..." I agreed until I noticed something odd. Is it getting bigger? Or is it getting...
"Jit looked out!" I shouted but I was too late. The beam of light descended from the sky and hit Jitana. I ran towards her direction and manage to clamp my hand to hers. I started pulling but she won't budge. I looked at her face and saw her eyes were glazed like she was staring at nothing.
"Jit snap out of it! Wake up! Come on I need your help here! Please!" I pleaded as i continued pulling her hand. I started to panic when I noticed her body is started to disintegrate.
"Jit! Hey Jit!" I kept calling as I pulled to no avail. Tears are now threatening to well from my eyes. I felt the force from the light intensifies as I began losing in our tug of war.
"No no no..." I mumble. I almost lost grip of her hands as the pulling from the other side gets stronger. My best friend, my crush for years, is vanishing right in front of me. I cannot possible let it just happen. I refused to let go and kept and pulling to my side. But the force from the other side is too much and I got dragged into the confines of light.
"Oh Fug". Now I am in the same situation. I tried to struggle to escape but the force kept me bound on the spot. Maybe this is how it is supposed to be. I can't believe we are gonna die by a random light shooting from the sky. I hope we are not being abducted by aliens. That would be so unfortunate. It's funny how I can think of nonsensical things on the verge of being killed. I willed my eyes to focus on Jitana just to witness her body completely disintegrated into sparkles. With no hope left, I closed my eyes and waited for everything to end.
However, it did not.