Miguel recalled what happened earlier that day.
He had just woken up when he accidentally heard Memory speaking with Thera. Recently, they shared Memory’s interior as one big room. There were no more walls to separate them from each other.
“Already?” Thera complained. “But I have just gotten to know what it’s like.”
“A promise is a promise,” Memory reminded her. Thera tried to appeal but she knew Memory was right. “I’ll change my course this instant. I just want you to be the first to know.”
Miguel didn’t notice when Thera approached him. She knelt down beside him and gently woke him up, not knowing he was already awake. “Miguel,” her voice was low-spirited, “Memory and I have already decided to return you to Earth.”
He didn’t understand why they changed their mind so suddenly but he was a bit happy. He strolled inside Memory when something caught his eye. He walked over to it and picked it up. It was the ring Thera tried to give him. Even though it gave him painful memories, he was not affected by them anymore. Instead, he discovered the beauty that the ring hid.
The black gem revealed tiny fragments inside that glittered like stars. In fact, the gem itself looked like a live miniature model of the whole universe, with real live comets blazing the void, planets revolving around the sun, distant stars being born and dying, and the flowery images atmospheric clouds make up. The Universe, he called it.
He looked at the Shooting Star, the ring he bought for Mia, and gently took it off. He then replaced it with The Universe, as he placed the Shooting Star back in its box.
He thought about what will happen as soon as he gets back to Earth and reflected on the things that he would miss on this adventure. He pulled out a piece of scratch paper from his wallet and neatly wrote on it using a pen provided by Memory’s catering services.
There will come a point in your life when you’ll get tired of chasing everyone, trying to fix everything. It’s not giving up; it’s a realization that you don’t need all those you went after because what you need are those who stood by you even if you never needed them.
Anonymous