by Ucanthandleme » Sun Mar 16, 2025 10:29 am
fable name: Orion
prompt:
I wish, I wish upon a star
A fiery blaze which tainted the sky, its burning glory illuminated in the darkness of the night. A falling star. The hand around mine tightened as the mountain breeze stirred up a flurry of leaves, I looked over, your eyes connecting with mine. Those eyes, brighter than any shooting star in the sky, “Orion you have to close your eyes and make a wish” he spoke, shimmering eyes like the night sky. You then closed them piously as if this starlit wish was a serious endeavor, I looked then with quiet compliance closed my eyes too. ‘I wish, I wish, I…’
‘Bing bong!’, the clock rang out within the dreary study. My eyelashes fluttered, still reminiscent of the dream. I wished…I couldn't remember what I wished for. I gave a sneer standing up until I stood before the velvet curtains of red, I gripped tightly as I watched the stars and moon outside. “Wishing is for children” I said into the empty room, “Only children wish, only children dream, only children hope for the impossible.” I turned my head, my eyes gazing at your portrait. Immortalized, a moment immortalized in a painting, a face untouched by time, untouched by life, untouched.
“Even now you haunt my dreams, a children's wish of grandeur and gold now achieved but you who wished it could only watch through a painting, a wish unreceived,” and I, a man who willingly painted your wish was left, left without his wish. Pitiful, yes, the grandest Duke was a pitiful man who would never receive his wish. I left the study to wander in the garden where you lay moonlit roses on your grave. I stood, the patter of rain falling in my ears, droplets dried down my chin and nose, perhaps it seemed as if I was crying but I truly had no more tears.
I stood like a bending oak tree battered by the wind. I looked up between the mist of rain to see a shooting star, its burning body flying through the sky, a wish, I closed my eyes, I wish, I wish, I… “Orion!”, a loud voice broke me out of my rever, a small hand clasping my face, that face I knew all too well. “I decided on my wish, have you decided on yours?” I looked starstruck, surely this was another dream but this hand, voice, presence, all of it felt so real. I blinked but they were still here, “So what did you wish for”, they grinned through open teeth. I smiled, replying with three short words, “It's a secret”. Even if this was not real, a merely another dream I would take it, hold it closely to my heart. My impossible wish, a wish for another chance.