Moonharbor

I sit on the cliff that hangs off of Moonharbor counting the stars. My mom is working late again like usual, and my dad passed away when I was young. After he passed I felt separate from the world. Like someone who watches the world instead of being part of it. I spend days wishing someone would sit beside me, watching the stars, just like me and my father used to. I feel the wind brush my cheek, and play with my hair. The salt of the ocean falls on my tongue, as the dark night silences all emotions. I watch the waves hit the rocks, and admire the moonlight reflecting off the water. I feel a heaviness in my chest, like a stone sitting on my ribs making it hard to breath as I sit with the stars as my only company. I notice the moon is lower than usual, that's strange but we are not too different both lonely in the dark of the night.

Suddenly the wind stops, the waves quiet, and the air warms. I feel a flutter in my stomach, the type you feel when you get too close to a crush. The pressure in my eyes makes me shut them tight, and when they open. Something is different. The moon lowered even more, like it’s losing strength. I watch as it flickers three times like an SOS for help. I should be scared but I'm not. It feels like it's looking back at me, asking for my company. That's when I hear my name called in the night. Its the first time in years someone has said my name gently, with touch and love instead of hurt.

I hear the voice again, this time it feels as it vibrates though my chest. Giving me warmth through my ribs, and my voice is called again. The tide pulls back, the air thickens, the cliff feels alive beneath me. I whisper back to the sky, hoping to meet my new admirer.

Im stunned, as I step closer to the cliff reaching out. My heart must have reached two hundred ready to burst out of my chest. I'm confused how this can be? She’s beautiful with a golden mist around her, as she brightens and lowers again. I feel a wave of warmth come through me and she brightens like she’s smiling at me. I feel a pull toward it, something that's bigger than myself. For the first time, I feel seen again and alive. “I heard you moon, speak back to me, be my company on this lonely night”

She speaks back not with words but with memories. Images of ancient oceans, memories of wars, lonely nights, a feeling of longing. She doesn’t talk but she shows what she’s feeling. She shows me the most beautiful pictures the land can offer. She shows me how long she’s been alone and how she longed for someone’s company. She shows me the memory of losing her favorite stars. Her watching families from afar longing to be like them. My knees weaken, and my chest tightens. She’s offering to be my friend, she’s just like me. I tell her all about Moonharbor, the lonely nights, the feeling of not being seen and she understands. But she has a secret and she needs me to survive.

Maybe her secret will be she wants a friend, and she’s risking it to be down here with me. That she’s tired of bearing the loneliness and chooses me. That's not the case. The moon is dimming, her light fading, she’s dying. She tells me how every celestial body has a “keeper”, someone on earth who can anchor her light. The last keeper died centuries ago, and she’s survived all this time. She needs someone new. Her light is dimming, and any day now she might fall. She begs me to save her. I realize what she has come down to see me for. Not to become my friend, or quench her loneliness. She wants me to become her new keeper, to save her life. Though to save her it comes with a price, a price I can never pay back.

To save her I must give up something of my own. Give up my life, my memories or my voice, each with their own consequences. I think over what she said, I only have at most a few hours to decide. I think of my mom how she will bear the news. I think of the life I dreamed for, the life I might never be able to live. I think hard about the family, I might miss out on because of this request. I think about losing my memory, all the trips to the cliffs with my father, all the memories when my mom was happy. I think of losing my voice, never being able to tell mother I love her again, never being able to describe my emotion. I realize these options are worse than death. She hasn't come back down so I can speak to her. She’s becoming too weak, and can barely rise in the nighttime. Finally when night strikes a storm hits Moonharbor. Floods fill through the streets, children running, houses falling. Everyone is panicking, the moon is flickering, dimming, falling into the ocean. I know what I have to do. I flee to the cliffs, I watch as the moon falls ever slowly. I must save her, for others may still enjoy her light. She glows brighter when she sees me, like she knows what I'm about to do.

My mother will be devastated but will understand, I left a note just in case it comes to this. For the last time I stare at the stars and think of the life I wanted, the one I’ll never have. I made my decision. I'm coming to join you Dad. I give my life. I fall, but before the rocks can meet me my body turns into stardust. The flood stops, the moon rises to the sky, bright as ever. The moon gives out a cry of light, as thanking me for my service.

At that moment the whole town sees a shooting star flying to the heavens, his wish finally came true, to become one of the stars.