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At sundown he’d wait, knees held into his chest as he sat by the window, longing for the wave of his love once more. Each night she’d appear with that same captivating glow that had entranced him from the moment he’d laid eyes on her - slightly different in shape, a fact he’d observed and adored.
Once an innocent boy, wronged by the world, counted on her for sanctuary. For peace in his troubles. As fights between parents ensued over the dinner table, struggling portions on their plates growing cold, the boy would walk to the window and she’d wait for him; she’d listen and she’d care and she’d understand in a way that nobody else ever could.
Others must’ve confided in her, he thought. How could one not trust her? For when he moved she followed and though they had to say goodbye every sunrise, it’d be sure he'd see her again soon enough. He knew he wasn't the first to appreciate her beauty, but he intended to be the last. Their bond was too strong for it to have been felt the same by others. They understood one another.
At the most difficult of times she’d help him drift away with sweet lullabies of twilight and he’d tell her stories he’d heard among the whispers of the world around him. Through the messy heartbreaks and struggles of humanity she’d always come back for him, every night - something no other had ever done.
The boy, the now man, had fallen for his Moon.
When the sun came out to play, burning hues penetrating the land, the man would wonder what his love was thinking. Did she long for him the way he did her? Did she write him letters knowing he’d never receive them? He kept his in a box, wooden and tattered on the top shelf of his book case.
My love,
What do you do during the day? When I can't see you, are you still there? I hope you think about me. I think of you all the time.
You’ve helped more than anyone I've ever known, don't you understand? I wish I could be with you properly. I envy the darkness.
I envy the darkness that selfishly surrounds you, taunting and mocking me knowing they have you and I don't. I want to be the darkness, the stars, everything around you.
Do you miss me during the day?
People would call him crazy, he knew that. He knew that no one would understand and that was why he needed her. Because she did understand. Because for billions of years she’d seen the highs and the lows of the Earth, the rises and the falls of humanity and she'd witnessed countless conflicts and travesties and she understood pain. She understood grief. She understood despair. She understood that deep down the man was not meant for this Earth.
In his most wretched hours, he feared she’d never appear that night. How he longed to build a rocket just to reach her, to touch her. It is truly dangerous to fall for another before ever touching their skin. He envied those who'd managed to reach her before him.
Those ‘astronauts’ who claimed to know and understand his love. He laughed at their stupidity. No one understood her like him.
Limping along that quiet path, towering trees looming over him as he stumbled to the ground, he accepted his fate. Stars twinkled brightly as his love, waxing full, shone down onto him with a calming smile of affection, nodding him into rest. The car had hit him bad, he knew it.
It wasn’t long now.
Crimson blood spilled from his injuries as his shaky breaths slowed and he thought about his regrets - he had none. Everything he had ever done had been for her. So as he took his final moments, he felt no fear, despair or sadness, he felt contentment that he’d finally feel what it was like to be so close to love.
With one last breath he glanced up to the sky, “I’ll be home soon, my darling.” and the darkness he’d once envied so deeply, enveloped him into the arms of his Moon.