And then one night, she could hear it calling

The wind

She could not explain how it felt like something

Was calling out to her

Was telling her to

Get up from bed and leave

In the end, no one would hear her explanation of it anyway.

Getting up, she put on a red jacket over her clothes

Holding her breath, she went downstairs

Parents were asleep

It was almost one in the morning.

Her hand shook as she opened the door

She feared it would make a noise

She prepared herself for the flurry of footsteps

For the storms of questions

From the people who brought her to this

Messed up world

But the door was silent.

It was all going according to some morbid plan.

When she left her home,

The world was deathly quiet

All she could feel was the early morning air

Fog enveloped the road beyond her.

She wanted to take a look back

But looking back at the past

Was something that always tore her apart.

And so, she ran.

Did she know where she was going?

Not exactly.

Still, she kept running.

Until she got past the houses, and into the city.

She slowed down, got on the sidewalk.

Though it was early in the morning,

The streets were still busy.

Life was still going on.

People were moving forward.

And here she s, a girl in a red jacket

A girl without the ability to move forward

A girl stuck in looking back.

Soon, her legs began to feel tired.

Slowing down, she continued in a walk

Until she reached the front of a tall, ten story building.

Looking up, the building was barely lit.

But it was a building yet again, stuck in her memory.

Her memories, of him.

His hands were warm against her eyelids

Her heart was pounding fast

"Don't look till I tell you so!" He said in his teasing voice.

She laughed, and touched his hands.

"What is it?"

They were so close.

His casual clothing against her sundress.

Standing on the roof of that building,

One warm, summer day

Not so long ago.

"Now, look!" He said, lowering his hands,

Standing behind her

Placing his hands on her shoulders,

Nestling his cheek against hers.

She could remember, as she climbed the stairs

How her breath got caught in her throat

How her heart seemed to have skip a beat

When she saw the most beautiful sunset.

How could she forget?

How the sky was a canvas of pink, orange, and red.

How all the urban sounds mixed into one

Up on that roof with just the two of them

The wind making her hair fly

And how his hand

Slowly wrapped itself around her own

And how they stood there

Together

Thinking that things as perfect as this

Would have no end.

And there she stood now.

The air was so cold, biting into her skin.

The tops of the buildings were blanketed in the fog.

She could see the lights

They were so far below

Like a river flowing, filled with lights,

Filled with life.

There she stood, the same place

Where he held her hand.

The hand that always felt warm to his touch

Was so numb with the cold now.

Oh, how she wanted to be numb.

If she could only be numb,

she wouldn't feel everything so much.

Looking down at the lights,

At the people who looked ahead,

She found herself looking back

At everything he did to her

The good, and the bad,

At everything they said about him

At everything they said about her,

He was a big mistake

He was a bomb ready to destroy her

And there she was,

Waiting for it all to fall.

Falling.

Falling was the opposite of flying.

Only people who don't know how to fly, fall.

But hey, not her.

She'd been running to escape all her problems.

Sure, she wasn't actually, legitimately flying.

But in her mind, she had been escaping it all.

Technically, she had learned how to fly.

The lights were faraway beneath her.

But the past was closing in.

If she thought of it hard enough

She could almost feel the warmth of his breath

Against her cheek again.

Or was that just the wind's fingers

Pushing her ahead?

Looking down, she felt calm.

Maybe if I show him that I could fly,

He won't think I was so affected by him leaving.

She looked up,

Kept her eyes on the stars.

"There, the Orion belt" he told her one night.

They lay together on the grass

A young girl in her white summer dress

A young man in shirt and jeans.

"Keep your eyes on that star," he told her.

"Okay," she whispered.

Leaning over, he kissed her

And her sight on that star disappeared.

If there was one thing she owed to him,

Him who left her like this,

It was that she had something to keep her eyes on,

As she flew.

"Keep your eyes on that star."

Dirt against white wood.

Lowering down.

Rose petals.

Black dresses.

A boy in a black suit.

A man in a white cloak.

A girl in a white dress.

Keep your eyes on that star, my dear.

Okay, she whispered.

I always will.