The following day Chloe sat in same spot and watched workers repair a sky rocket. She wondered if the loud, haunting bangs were some sort of melody for the longing they both shared to be one with the sky. Her pulse jumped as she felt someone sit down on the bench.
“Another tale?” Chloe turned to look at the stranger with hair like the galaxy, his smile remaining soft and his leg crossed as if he hadn’t moved from his spot yesterday. She gave him a shoulder shrug.
“Alright then. This time we’ll talk about our life in Egypt.”
“...Egypt, as in the region now covering what once was North Africa?”
“You must be a history lover. This time, you met me first on the Nile river...”
For the next few weeks, their routine was the same. Every other day, Chloe would sit with this man, who she soon learned was named Andrew, and he described their past lives together. He described different forms and areas of life; from marine life to life as ancient Romans. Chloe went to sleep every night and relived these lives of romance, euphoria, and extravagant adventures in her dreams only to wake up at the point of one of their deaths in cold sweat. They grew close enough where he could lay his head in her lap and she would find comfort combing her fingers through the twinkling strands on his head. His voice was husky and soft while relaying their past lives and demise.
She learned he was an engineer who grew tired of Mars and missed Earth from the late 1980s as he remembered in a past life before. He learned she was simply a young girl who worked mornings at a coffee shop and spent her afternoons putting her heart onto rockets that shot into the sky. They found things about each other that caused chills: both had matching infinity symbol tattoos on their wrists and when they touched, a pleasant heat shot through her and the gold in his eyes intensified. At night when she was dreaming about their past life of the day, he could barely sleep because the energy from her dreams left him breathless.
Chloe, however, wanted a final scene where they both remained alive. A happier ending. Each time she asked if their ending changed, he gave her a sad smile and the silence spoke volumes. He traced her fingers in apology, lips humming a quiet tune that only she could understand, and she felt a piece of her deflate. She found herself stopping him before they would die, even though at night her dreams now played out the whole sequence. Eventually, she gave up on sleep so she wouldn’t wake up agonized.
Another day came and Andrew could feel her reluctance to come near him. He frowned as he turned to look at her sitting rod straight and staring straight ahead.
“You haven’t been sleeping lately.” he said quietly. “I’ve managed to get a full 8 hours this whole week... Why are you so distant to me?”
Her fingers remained in her lap and her eyes didn’t meet his as she listened to the robotic chirps of the station in the distance, cars racing around and men yelling out words she couldn’t decipher.
“Andrew,” she finally said, voice low and shaky as her knuckles grew pale from squeezing too tight.
“Every meeting we’ve had throughout history results in us falling in love and dying? None of them result in us being victorious?”
Andrew gave her a soft smile, sadness making the curl in his lips falter at the edge.
“Not even one?” His head shook.
“No matter what, we eventually die. We’ve tried to beat death, to cheat it somehow, but it never works out. One of us has to part before the other or we both go together. Loss is definite.”
A soft chuckle escaped Andrew’s mouth, his arm reaching over the back of the bench to grip his fingers around the wood, squeezing as tight as his strength allowed. Star filled hair shook while he dropped his head back and inhaled.
“We are the Romeo and Juliet of the Universe.”
Teeth gnawed on a swollen lower lip as her fingers folded and made cranes in the fabric of her skirt, smoothing them over to erase them and start anew. Chloe turned her head away, throat choked, and Andrew continued to watch the leaves above him shift into rust and gold.
“What’s the point?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he heard it clear with the sirens screeching about another rocket searching for a bulls eye to dock on.
“Why do we even stay together?”
Long fingers released their tight hold on the bench and slowly slid up Chloe’s shoulder blade in a gentle, yet firm path to remind her of his physical presence. Still, she refused to glance. His eyes reminded her of the sun: intense, bright, and confident of its purpose in the world. She felt the pleasant warmth from his fingertips slide down her arm, curl around her elbow, and then latch onto her waist, pulling her close within a moment’s breath.
“The love that results is so powerful it vibrates through our skin. Our tattoos burn our wrists every time we think about making love and when our eyes meet it feels like everyone has finally vanished from Earth and we are the sole missionaries here to revive it’s beauty. It drives us to pleasant madness, sleepless nights, wars declared in the name of rapture. We forget where our limbs begin and end because they’re so entangled in the morning. We develop a sixth sense for each other’s every movement and thought.
“We stay,” he leaned in, their eyes closing as he inhaled the floral, yet spicy scent of her perfume, “because there’s nothing else like it. No other compares. We feel full with shared energy until our final breath.”
Her breathing became shaky, and Andrew pressed his lips to the crown of her forehead.
“We are destined. To deny it is foolish. There is no ‘what-if’ for our ending. Let’s live out our days together in happiness, no matter the outcome, because the present is more important than the future.”
Andrew pressed his forehead against hers, his skin hot and his heart now racing as she clung to his shirt. “I know you’re afraid,” he stroked his and against her cheek, “But you don’t have to be. I’m here now and I’ll be here til the end. Will you spend the rest with me?”
Chloe searched sun filled eyes and she could only give a soft smile and wrap her arms around his waist.
“Will they be the best moments of my life?” Andrew let out relieved laughter and pressed a firm kiss to her lips.
“If they’re not, you can kill me yourself.” Chloe’s smile grew against his mouth before he held her face tenderly in his hands and hummed his comforting tune, the ‘dings’ and ‘tings’ of repair work began anew in the distance.
Their adventure together was inspiring. They moved in together quickly and Andrew introduced her to a world of light filled rooms, calm silences and sporadics. She gave him the art of appreciating the little things, dancing in empty rooms with no music, and sky gazing on the roof into stars that were barely visible to make constellations match. His hands couldn’t stop holding her, his lips starved for contact, and she craved the intense heat that he created with just a smirk and a stare throughout the day. Mornings were spent with shared breaths and entangled limbs, afternoons with roaming, evenings curled into each other with music from decades past.
With four years passing, she forgot about her fate. He took her as far as they could go: former national parks, frames of palaces in India, to Africa where mankind’s oldest bones were found. Yet no matter where they were in the world, Andrew caught Chloe staring into the sky and following shooting beams of light. Imagining herself shooting in the beams to another planet. Reaching her hand into the sky to grab a rocket and hold on for the ride.
When Chloe’s birthday came around on the fifth year, Andrew held her in his apartment and presented her with two iridescent tickets. She paled with shock, trembling as she covered her surprised cry with her hand.
“I know this is all you’ve ever wanted,” he placed the tickets in her hand as she let out a choked sob, “And all I want is for you to see, first hand, what shooting through the stars is really like. It took some favors, but we can pack up what we have and go to Mars."
He smiled as she hugged him tight and cried in his chest happily. "Are you ready?”
He smiled as she hugged him tight and cried in his chest happily. "Are you ready?”
“I’m ready. I’ve always been ready.”
The next seven days were a whirlwind. Chloe said goodbye to her job, her coworkers, and made sure her apartment was out of her hands. She traced things with her eyes closed to remember the feel of things in her home and the coffee shop, smiling as she thought about what it would feel like on Mars. They celebrated with wine and music from the early 1970s on their last night, drunk and happy and light.
She had never been more elated in her entire life. With the same wheat field colored dress from their first meeting she clung to Andrew and her ticket, her face bright and full of hope. Andrew would kiss the crown of her head every few feet they moved forward and they were greeted as they handed over their tickets at the threshold of the rocket. With one last look back at the home she always knew, she followed Andrew to their seating and held his hand tight as the rocket grew closer to launch.
Andrew leaned his head against hers and they both shut their eyes as they heard the exhausts building with fire. “Whatever happens, we’re happy in this moment, okay?”
Chloe smiled, fingers holding a bit tighter as the feeling of rising through the air began.
It usually takes three weeks to get to Mars. No one would have guessed that during the first week a malfunction would lead to the crashing of their rocket into an asteroid belt, killing everyone on board in a flash. Chloe would never get to see Mars, but with Andrew holding her close she didn’t mind. The stars were within a hand’s reach and she was content to join the solar system after being full of nothing but happiness.
All she could hope for now is to be reunited within the next life sooner than later.
*Story 1 Complete*
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