The Sky, My Friend

When I close my eyes as I stand on the edge of a cliff, I start to fly. And I let the wind take me up for a while, and let my hair whip around excitedly. My dress flies up with the wind, and my knees buckle a little from the cold. But it doesn’t matter, I kick my legs and fly upward more, into The Sky whose best friend The Sun is setting slowly tonight.

            The Sun waits to set tonight, so that I may see all I want as I continue to fly. I soar above the trees and through the soft cushion of the clouds, and downward again to see my neighborhood. As I fly I pass birds and hear planes roar in the distance, and swoop down next to my house, where I can hover outside and linger there to watch the world continue without me while I fly. I go back upwards into the blue and am free. I fly more and soar with heavenly winds and I am queen, and The Sky is mine for a while.

            I’ll kick my legs again to dash up through the clouds to the edge of the world, at the area of Earth where the blue sky ends and the darkness of space quickly enters through. And the world leaves my sight and gets farther and farther away. And the air feels colder suddenly, not at all like teachers would say. They would say that the Earth would get hot and fiery, but this isn’t what it feels like at all.

            Space is lonely and empty and cold. It must be, so far away from people, and the hearts of people who love and care. There is nothing in space but the planets, and no air and no sound and no light. Just the pitch black of dark, and the cold of loneliness.

            And I don’t like space so I twirl around fast and come back down to Earth. Back to the comforting skies I know exist above my world. Above the people I love and know are waiting for me at home, worried where I may be. Not knowing that The Sky has treated me well tonight, as it always has and will. But The Sun is tired now, and needs to sleep, so I hurriedly fly back to the cliff I began at, and as I fly faster and faster to beat the cold night, my heart begins to race. And my lungs are starting to ache with the pain of this quick pace. But as I close my eyes tightly, I suddenly stumble! I’m back on the cliff, back on the ground, back on the Earth.

            That’s the thing about the blue, blue sky. When you fly amongst its inhabitants and within its worlds, it can only be yours for a while. The ground and the land call you back home. For if people were supposed to fly and leave their homes for the sky, we’d all be born with wings.