Aurora 2024

Madeline Davis

I am different but how could I not be? A child I was once, a brightly colored window, a reflection of the new but clear future. I once had so much life, so much ambition. Now, I am but a broken husk of a man; I am a walking collection of shattered glass, stumbling through lazily as I slip further and further into the distance until I will be nothing except a lone piece. And love had plagued me as well. I had loved many times, but there was one person in particular that came to mind when I thought of love. Her name was Rachel and I had felt for her what everybody spends their whole lives looking for. With her, everything was easy. There was no pressure, no spotlight for me to perform in. I had spent most of my life thinking that love was a losing game and there was no point in trying to make it last. Then it faded, it burned out, and sizzled like a firework on the 4th of July. I loved her like the sun relishes the flower in the very beginning of spring. On my darkest days, she was there. I would turn to her for comfort during these bleak times during the war. I would remember the warmth of her body, I had May in the midst of December. That is to say that I was never truly cold when she was in my thoughts. I was never truly lonely, not when I had her in my thoughts and my life. When the going got rough, I would remember how it felt to be with her, to hold and love her with all my being.

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