I met Amanda, the night before I left claremont.
She was supposed to be waiting inside the secret dome we once found across a creek in a rock, lying by a field full of lupine flowers. I reached and called out her name, she was there.

It was dark but a rift in the uppermost stones would let some light pass through it and we could see the stars.
We sat against the wall watching the space.

"It's dark" she said.

She had a distinct fragrance in her breaths, one that could not be captured. Unlike that of roses and lupines and dying promises.

"And what if all the stars collapse someday?", I asked.

She said as she ran her finger on mine,
"They are gone, much before they had to. it's just the light that remains.
light is a memory, the fragrance of their dying promises."

"Maybe, there is so much light that it would never get dark, but I am afraid of the fact that they are not there." I bowed down and kept my head in her lap.

For a while she ran her fingers through my hair and then whispered in my ear,

"You know Everett, they are just like you."

-