I could stand!
I put everything I had into stretching out my body. I spun around, the veil of light chasing me a second later to drape itself around my skin. The thin tulle layers of my mini skirt transformed it into an upside-down flower that floated and fluttered. Sparks flew out in every direction every time it shook. I combed my fingers through my hair, which was now dyed with every color of the rainbow. The wind began to blow, and each settled layer that made up the silent air of this world came back to life. My long hair billowed out behind me, scattering colorful particles of light. My eyelashes, my pupils, my nails, my lips…all of me was glowing with the rainbow and twinkling in the night. Pulsing.
When I took a step with my heeled mules, my toes lifted up off the ground. One step, then another, and then I was flying like a butterfly. I was weightless. There was no force that could stop me.
“Take me with you! Take me far, far away! As far as you want!” I took the hand reaching out for me. He pulled me closer.
“We’ll be together forever, Rara.”
The alien hugged me, and then we were spinning, around and around like the leads in a romance film. Like we were lovers finally reuniting after a long period apart. Particles of rainbow light danced around us, illuminating us against the darkness.
“What about helmets? My pink one broke, but one of us can wear the black one, right?”
“Doesn’t matter. We don’t need helmets.”
Still holding my weightless form, the alien walked slowly over the grass toward the motorcycle. He sat me down on the back seat, then turned slightly to look at me. “Sorry to make you wait so long.”
I nodded with a smile. I was so happy I thought I’d explode. “It’s okay. I always knew you’d come get me. Always.”
The engine switched on, and the bike sped away. We shot off at a dizzying pace like fireworks into the night sky. We really were blasting off! The alien couldn’t lie.
“This is amazing!” I shouted, wrapping my arms around the alien’s torso and pressing my face into his back.
I loved doing that. It meant I couldn’t talk, but it made it feel like we really could escape this world together. I watched the scenery fly past us from the corner of my eye. It was like we were living in a world that moved at a totally different speed. The time we spent together like this was more important to me than anything. We only had a limited amount of it each day, and there was always something hanging over our heads. Every day, there was a ton of stuff we needed to do, and I was always thinking about how far apart we were or how much time we had left together…but right now?
“I wanna be together like this forever! Forever and ever!”
My wish had come true.
The wind was rushing past us, and we were piercing through the clouds. We broke through the boundaries of the sky itself. We left the planet, cast off everything that bound us to the earth, and flew higher, farther. I blinked rapidly as the twinkling stars of the Milky Way rushed up to us, holding tight to the body in front of me. I would never let us be apart again.
The bike continued on, carrying us on its back. It climbed right up toward the zenith above us, leaving a sparkling trail against the black curtain of the night. It was heading right for the other side of space. I knew that we’d melt into oneness the moment we reached it. We’d end up wandering the same space forever, exploring the infinite expanse of time.
The alien turned and put one hand on his mask before tearing it off like he was done with it. Then he smiled at me and raised his arm to throw the mask away.
“Huh?” Surprise had me catching the piece of cloth in one hand. “You need to put this back on!”
“No, I don’t. I don’t need it anymore.”
“But…”
Wait a sec. What did he just say?
“But you’re not gonna be able to breathe!” I finished.
My confusion lingered a beat. Speeding through space felt so good that the moment would probably end up left someplace far behind us. I needed to keep it together. I grabbed the sense that something was off by the tail. I thought it over. I had to. Why was it such a big deal if the alien took his mask off? Why would it mean he couldn’t breathe? Why did I think that? Why shouldn’t he take it off? I was with him.
“I promise you it’s fine. I’m with you, Rara. And I’ve decided that’s not changing. So it’s fine.” His lips stretched into a tender smile. I loved his face. His eyes softened quietly as he dodged around the mask I was trying to put back on him.
“You have to…”
That quiet blue light. The silence that had replaced the sound of his breathing.
“I said it’s fine. Okay? I said it, so it’s true.”
I turned to look at the bike’s glittering ruler-straight trail. A long, sparking line. A thread of light.
“No. No, you have to wear it.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You do! You have to breathe! Breathe! Stop this!”
We were trying to make this journey together. We were trying to move forward by following this thread. But then it hit me. Or I guess more accurately, I was finally starting to remember something.
This isn’t my thread!
My thread was way messier. It was a massive knot that couldn’t be undone. Even though I saw it all unfold, I’d completely forgotten where it came from and where it was going, where it started and where it finished, as well as the very moment that it had ended. I arched my spine as it all came rushing back, putting some distance between me and the alien. My thread had ended, but his hadn’t, and now he was twisting the end of mine around his and forcibly tying them together. They were supposed to go off in different directions. Now that they were joined, did that mean we were heading for the very end of eternity?