Supernova

Avatar Author: falconesse This space, like many of my ficlets, is a work in progress. Read Bio

You haven’t come home since the supernova.

I can’t say I’m surprised.

In our living room, the contents of our storage boxes radiate out around me in my own shabby reenactment of the event, books and decorations strewn about like stellar debris. I might have grown a bit frantic, looking for the star chart; the telescope was a casualty of my search.

We don’t need it anymore, anyway.

Our star hangs low in the sky, brighter than the moon. I could take our wedding vows out of their silver frame and read them by its light.

On the tv, newscasters natter on about the Chandrasekhar limit, pretending they understand what little science they cram into their heads during commercial breaks.

All that matters to me is the name of our star, the one I wished on ten years ago, asking the heavens to make you love me.

Stars get new names when they go supernova. Did you know that?

I wonder if the shock wave is comprised of broken wishes, if nebulae are the stuff of dead dreams.

It’s been three days. I wish you’d call.

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Comments (3 so far!)

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  1. Avatar Mayra P.

    What a sight a supernova would be…

    I love the symbolism and the mood here.

  2. Avatar falconesse

    I struggled with the voice on this one. I tried telling it from several different points of view and in different tenses, but I kept returning to variations on the opening line.

    It’s not quite perfect, I don’t think. I’ll step away for a bit and reexamine it in a few days, see if I can put my finger on what needs fixing.

  3. Avatar jesteram

    Wow, this is really great. The dual imagery of the metamorphosed star and relationship is so tightly entwined.

    “Stars get new names when they go supernova” is such a sad line in light of the implications, the scale of what truly matters to this narrator.

    I can’t think of anything to revise. If pressed, I’d say the use of the word “decorations” makes me think this happened over a holiday, like Christmas, though I think you’re just describing wall art, etc. And that certainly doesn’t detract from the story.

    Bravo.

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