BLUE

from Wabi Sabi | Spring 2023

SIR MATTIUS ELSTON WARDZALA

It’s the way the fog creeps towards you, wrapping around your body like a cloak. You sigh, taking another breath of the chilly air. Staying up at night was a memory you shared. There were bad days, and there were good days. Only when the world was asleep were you at peace. The endless silence stretching miles into the woods, untouched by the city. You spoke once, wishing to be one in the dark. To live a life to its full, and not be trapped by standards that aren’t possible for those like you. You still do. You still want to. Yet there were things in the world created for people to get lost in. To fake the world you dream of. That is what gets those who follow those dreams into trouble. They wanted to get lost. You wanted to give to them what you couldn’t have.

“Hey.” They asked, opening the door to the patio. “Didn’t the doctor say not to stay up so late?”

“Old habits die hard…” You sigh, setting down your hand from in the sky. They smiled a bit. There was that smile that made you melt from within. The one that made you believe there was still some good in the world.

“Have you heard of Theseus?” You asked, eyes as big and round like the moon at its fullest.

“His story?” They looked over the fence and into the trees. It was midnight, so the neighboring houses were dark.

“The one version where he gets pushed off a cliff.” You take another breath, watching your exhale in the dim light. They hum. An owl hooted in the distance, breaking up the silence. “He’s still falling.”

“Perhaps he landed on an overhang.” You whisper. “He’s not dead yet right?”

“Hopefully not, think the current hangover is holding him just fine.” They watched the same owl fly off in the moonlight.

“What happens when there aren’t any more edges for him to hang on?” You turn to them, something close to worry written on your face.

“Then we have failed to do what we said we would.” They stare back.

The two look at each other for a while.

Sea blue begging celestial bronze to stop speaking in riddles. Yet, that’s what sea blue loved about celestial bronze. Their ability to take the world and turn the problems into sentences. Maybe that’s why you loved them so much.

Celestial bronze blinked, reading every emotion that surfaces in sea blue. There’s more than one at a time. Celestial bronze loved how open sea blue was with emotions small and large. Maybe that’s what made them trust you. Maybe that’s how it all started.