The Dipper

Emily Coates

He stares at the beautiful night sky. Same place every night, he’d been going for years. He sat on the cold grainy rock as the tiny pebbles slid beneath his feet. A cold shaky hand reached for his arm and clasped their arms together. A head laid on his shoulder and he took a deep breath with ease. “There’s the big dipper,” she said with a soft voice. Her left arm raised steadily and her finger, nails painted baby blue,  pointed at the stars in the night sky. “See,” She said. He looked up at the sky, eyes directed towards the dipper but only focused on her presence. 

“Yeah, I see it,” He said in a low-toned voice. She lowered her arm slowly and sighed. “When are you going to realize, I’m not here Mac, I’m gone.” He whipped his head to the side and she was not there, she was in fact gone and there was nothing he could do to change that. Slowly turning his head back to the night sky, he grabbed his hood on the back of his sweater and gently swung it over his head. He looked up at the sky once again as a singular teardrop trickled down his cheek. 

“There’s the big dipper.” He said to himself in a soft voice. He raised his hand exactly how she used to. Tons and tons of tears rolling down his face. His hand levitated above as he pointed his finger at the night sky. He sniffled, “See.” His hand jerked back down, tucked under his arm, feeling for a hand that was no longer there. He turned his head to the side one last time to make sure this was reality and it was indeed, she was no longer beside him as she had been for years. Hood on, arms crossed, and legs pulled towards his body he sat there and cried, he cried so much his tears could have filled a 6-foot pool to the rim. Unfortunately, this was his reality, a reality he tried so hard to block out but could not. He couldn’t reverse the death of his best friend nor could he bear the raw truth that she was gone forever.