WISHING ENDLESSLY
Nathaniel
When everyone finished singing Happy Birthday, I glanced to my right where Maryah sat. She had participated, but seemed distracted.
“Thank you.” I closed my eyes, making a wish as I blew out the candles.
Faith knowingly smiled at me from a few seats down. I’d been wishing for the same miracle since I found out I had lost Maryah.
“It’s so great to be spending time with you, Nathan! We miss you.” Faith’s sweet sentiments always brought a smile to my face.
Louise sliced and handed out cake as the table stirred with conversation, but the only voice I longed to hear was—.
“Will Mary be here this weekend?” Maryah asked. The others didn’t hear her question. If they had, shock would have silenced them.
“Mary? ” I drew out the name, feeling its recent foreignness on my tongue.
“Your girlfriend.”
Her conversation with Carson flooded back to me. “Right. Carson mentioned you saw her photograph.”
Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t snooping through your room or anything. Carson asked me to help him find a DVD.”
“No one suspects you of being a snoop.” Little did she know that I—and everything I possessed—was hers for the taking.
She probed her cake with her fork. “You must miss her.”
“More than words can say.” I looked at my own plate, trying to make sense of the fact that we were having this conversation. “Yet as much as I loved her, she chose to leave me.”
“What?” Maryah gasped. “She broke up with you?”
I tilted my head, raising my eyes to meet hers. “That’s one way to summarize what transpired between us.”
“Are you okay?”
The genuineness of her concern allayed my pain. “Let’s just say I am enduring the pain, in hopes that someday…I may find love again.”
She nodded like she understood, but she couldn’t begin to grasp the gravity of my words.
“Nathan, what time do you have to leave us?” Louise asked.
I cleared my throat. “I planned on attending this evening’s events with you.”
Maryah sat up straight.
“Yay!” Faith cheered, throwing her arms over her head. “Now it’s a party!”
Almost everyone seemed pleased, except Maryah. She continued to absentmindedly push her cake around her plate. She was where she belonged, by my side, but not in the way I wanted and needed.
Sitting at the head of a table made me uncomfortable. I looked at Anthony who sat quiet but confident at the opposite end. He disfavored rectangular tables as well. We all did. Regardless of the order we were initiated into our kindrily, no ruler or chief sat in higher regard than the rest of us. Even Carson, young and inexperienced as he was, we considered an equal.
As painful as this life had been without my soul mate, it had also been an amazing bonding experience for our kindrily. Our union was never stronger throughout our existence. In the past, small groups of us lived near each other and we’d gather for special events. Our get-togethers became more frequent as technology and transportation evolved, but this life was exceptional. Never before had every member of our kindrily lived in America.
It had been Mary’s plan. In our last life, she had an overwhelming worry that something tragic would happen. She made everyone agree that if it did, we would all gather in Sedona. She referred to it as her Hail Mary play. And here we all were, hailing Maryah.
“The Night Glow will be starting soon,” Louise said. “Should we freshen up and head over to the park?”
“Sounds good.” Anthony rose from his seat. “Everyone ready?”
We designated a time to gather before driving to the park then we dispersed to our rooms. Maryah’s hair bounced against her shoulders as she walked down the hallway. I relished watching her every move, until she disappeared into her room.
“Big step for you my man!” Shiloh sang, closing our door behind him.
“Hardly a big step. I only want to see her reaction to the lights in the sky.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but Shiloh continued grinning.
He pushed Carson toward me. “That’s your cue.”
“I told you they don’t work,” Carson mumbled to Shiloh.
“Maybe not for you,” Shiloh argued. “You’re a newbie, but they might work for Nate.”
I knew they were referring to the stargazing glasses Carson had been creating, but I let the two of them squabble.
“I may be a newbie,” Carson said, “but I’m the only Scion in this kindrily.”
Dakota rolled his eyes. “Don’t get cocky, Car.”
“Stay out of it, epic-wannabe. You’re just jealous that I have three abilities and you have none.” He shoved Dakota.
Dakota stumbled backward onto the bed, but recovered quickly and didn’t back down. “I can’t argue with your speed and strength, but you couldn’t even make those glasses work. Maybe you aren’t as smart as you think.”
Shiloh intervened. “Cool it, you two. Just give Nathan the glasses so he can try them.”
Carson rifled through his suitcase and reluctantly handed me a heavy contraption that looked like a blend of glasses and binoculars. The lime green lenses glinted as if a light shone behind them.
“Let’s go outside and give them a test run,” Shiloh insisted.
Carson’s face spoke volumes. He didn’t believe they would work. I wanted to tell him I never expected him to successfully create miracle glasses. I never believed in Shiloh’s impossible theory.
I set the apparatus on the desk. “We’ll test it later. Right now, we have to meet the others.”
Shiloh’s eager grin disappeared, but Carson nodded, looking relieved.
I was relieved too. I wanted one more night of staring at the sky and believing—no matter how ridiculous—that somewhere, Maryah’s star might exist, and that it, and our love, was waiting to be rekindled.
∞
We all gathered on the launch field, watching balloons light up the sky.
Maryah used to have the most expressive face. One of my favorite pastimes was watching her delicate features twist and dance as thoughts ran through her mind. Tonight, her expressions gave nothing away, so I focused on her eyes. They were devoid of all light—like gazing upon the Black Hole. They used to sparkle like emeralds. My emeralds, my treasure, then, now and eternally .
What I wouldn’t give to hear her speak those words again.
The crowd whooped and whistled as more balloons took to the sky. Faith excitedly pinched Maryah’s hip. The “All Burns” tradition began. Every burner ignited as orbs of color floated across the sky.
Finally, Maryah’s eyes twinkled.
For a few sacred moments, joy flooded through her. I couldn’t look away. Even as an almost empty shell of a being, she was stunning. She lowered her chin and turned toward me. Alas, she smiled. Not a false or uncomfortable smile like she exhibited throughout the day, but a genuine smile. I took my place by her side.
“It’s breathtaking,” she whispered.
The breeze blew strands of hair across her face. I resisted the urge to push them away. “Indeed, it is.”
“You get to see this every year?”
“Almost every year since the festival began.” I felt safe saying it. She had no knowledge of the length of the festival’s history, or that she’d been here before.
We stood together, watching hundreds of glowing balloons. It felt as if Maryah and I were the only two souls on Earth. At last, I admired the sky with the one soul whose beauty easily surpassed the heavens we looked upon.
I wanted to stay with her in that moment forever, but the first loud booms of fireworks erupted. It startled her, but she smiled when the explosion of color burst through the darkness.
“All this fuss for you and your birthday?” Maryah teased through chattering teeth.
I removed my jacket and wrapped it around her. “I assure you, all of this is about much more than me.”
