to you, two thousand light-years later
Laura Ma
- title inspired by Shingeki no Kyojin, chapter 1
In another world, we would rule the city and glide from rooftop to rooftop. Our blades would
shimmer with fluorescence - the lights swirling like pools of oil. We would kiss on the balcony,
under the whirl of filtered ventilation and neon shadows, desperate under the summer wind and
machine-humming. We would be vigilantes against the dying sky, assassinated with glimpses of a
next life in our eyes. Across another universe, you would crackle your knuckles and they
would be bruised indigo. The golden hour of light would rush through in the morning - the
earth singing swords and whistling arrows. And I would take to the atmosphere, wreathed with
laurels, saying, “It is not over yet.” Immortal and dead within our time, we would be vengeful
gods, dark ink and melted wax leaving ruins of this epoch once more. Yet, in this life,
we are both not here. I breathe chemtrails and solar flares, flickering away like vintage film and
dried flowers. Maybe the mirrors will ripple with the reflection of myself and take me away.
Maybe I will shapeshift, bones expanding and face splitting to become someone else. Maybe
the night will burst out of me, and my body will enchant me into a new being. But no: in
this life, I am no hero; I am not destined. I am stretched thin like gossamer and silk, ethereal
in my lack of living. Because sometimes we meet; sometimes we miss, like meteors grazing
the borders of star systems. We are parallel, and we intersect. Perhaps we can find holiness and
shared memories in these liminal spaces and probability romances. Perhaps the red string
connecting us would never snap, and we will reincarnate and transform just to see each other.
Because I am so excited to fall (in love) with you again.
Laura Ma is a 17-year-old writer from California. Her work appears in the Paracosm Literary Journal and the Pollux Journal. Over the weekend, you can find her listening to anime soundtracks and wishing that it would rain. She tweets @goldenhr3 on Twitter.