• Counter-Guidance



    I had never walked this way before, I could see black spots everywhere, like holes in this world that didn't exist. I had to keep aware of not stepping in one or else I had no idea where I'd end up.

    "Well Jibril did say something about this only being a world of my memory", I had said out loud while cautiously relaxing. I must have come this way only by car, the holes being the things I had never looked at. Where am I heading? I wondered a bit sceptically, I never realized till I got there. My mother's job was at a restaurant; she was a waitress. I had only been in there a few times and as I opened the door I smelt the wonderful aroma of food. Looking around I was cautious, there were holes everywhere, it was a very unfamiliar place and one misplaced step could send me plummeting into the unknown. I bent down and stared into the darkness of one of the wholes and felt dizzy just standing over it, there didn't even seem to be a bottom, was it perhaps an illusion? I didn't know. I reached down to stick my hand in but stopped when I heard someone behind me.

    "I'd stay away from those if I were you sweetie, there's an endless purgatory down there. Fall and you'll never come out." The voice of an older women said from behind me. I spun around in an instant.

    "Mom!" I yelled hugging her for a moment. I had been half expecting to see her here since the moment I noticed where I was.

    "Sometimes if you listen you could hear people down there, so far away. I'd hate for something like that to happen to you, it's sorta like a trap for people who never went out and explored this wonderful planet; the less you've seen, the less there is" She said thoughtfully. It frightened me a little, the fate of someone blind was sealed from birth I suppose. How sad.

    "Dylan, why did you leave me for a damn mutt? After all I've sacrificed for you, this is how you repay me!" She shouted painfully as she changed her mood in an instance, I winced but kept my composure. I'd probably be unable to give a good answer if not for Sophie, but I learned a lot since my action to save that dog and I thought it was a good thing I did.

    "Yell at me all you want, but if I could I'd do it all over again... If I had a do over." I smiled unable to look at her face, such a painful expression.

    "What!? How could you say that? You'd leave me again, and for a dog?" She sat there in disbelief.

    "Yeah, if not just to teach you a lesson, but I made a promise with someone else that I would. Ha ha ha, it was a pinky promise", I laughed a bit while thinking back.

    "You're kidding me right? You left me and everyone else behind after all I've sacrificed for you." She was starting to sound repetitive, but it was something I was used to in life, she always tried to repeat whatever she thought sounded the worst over and over again just to get people to feel bad. I think after knowing her long enough it's stopped working on me. She really has sacrificed a lot for me though and now I've just disappeared. She worked without a single day off just to barley make it. I tried to never ask her for money, but there were always times when I did and even if it was her last cent she'd give it to me with a bit of yelling on the side. I loved making her happy even though she wasn't a lot of the time. Even so, I couldn't seem to remember a truly touching moment between us, just yelling, but I still loved my mom dearly. She's just been stressed out ever since my dad left, which was pretty much all of my teenage years and has been taking care of me and my brothers alone ever since.

    "What am I here just to listen to you cry? All of the other people I was drawn to taught me a lesson and said a fancy quote that touched my heart, but you-... you just sit here and lecture me about how I shouldn't have left you all alone. How could you say I left you all alone. I am what I am today because of all of your sacrifices, isn't that enough?" I told her while waving my hands around, like most Italians do when they're explaining things dramatically. She seemed to have been caught off guard.

    "Ah I see, no quote. Ha, then I guess it's my turn to say something magnificent now isn't it? You're always worried about me, and now you think I'm in a far off land where you'll never see me again, but that's not true. I'm not an English professor and I don't memorize things like quotes often but, I do on occasions memorize quotes that I think are saying something important. Now I never memorized who said this, but it sounded wise so I took it to heart. Come with me." I said while grabbing her arm and leading her outside. I then pointed at the sky, past the green lights to the heavens.

    "What do you see up there?" I asked, determined to hear the right answer.

    "Huh, what's this all about, there's just a bunch of stars up there." She was starting to get annoyed I could see, but I was confident that what I had to say was important.

    "Exactly. Take a look at those ones right there, those few that are really close to each other, ya see them" I pointed at a certain area of the sky.

    "Yeah, and?"

    "That's Orion's belt. For me it's always the easiest constellation to find ha, I have trouble even finding things like the big and little dipper, but that one I could find no matter what if its up there. So tell me mum, what do ya know about stars and how close they are to each other?" I asked. It was an awkward question that sounded pretty random. My mom seemed a bit more confused than annoyed now, which was good in a sense.

    "Uh, well they look pretty damn close to me, I mean you said yourself that they're close." She noted staring at me as if my explanation had better be good. I smiled though, she was always like this.

    "Ha, well you misinterpreted me then, I said they look close, not that they were. Its strange really, and here's where I demonstrate my quote see, 'Stars, they look so close together but in reality they are millions of miles away from each other'. We're both stars in the same sky mom, so no matter how far away from each other we are we'll always be able to see each other again when night comes around. It might be a bit far fetched, but I really feel like its true." I said, looking away and mumbling a bit at the end.

    "Dylan, that was corny as hell, It actually does make some sense though" She said, not exactly angry anymore, but more at an intersection between.

    "I hope you aren't going senile on me here, I was always a corny person. You raised a good boy mom, don't you ever forget it. My only regret is dying a virgin ha ha ha" I said sarcastically while scratching my head and walking away not quite paying attention. People in this world tend to walk away from conversations at random instances anyway, so I decided to pick up on the concept.

    "Dylan! Where are you going!?" She yelled behind me. I laughed.

    "We're like the stars mom, we're like the stars. Dawn comes at inconvenient times sometimes, but the dusk will always follow after sunset! It's a law of nature, try and pick up on it a bit" I yelled back without looking back at her. That was my final goodbye to my mother, the next time we'd meet would be my final greeting as well. Unfortunately I didn't see what was coming next, I was too busy trying to make an interesting exit and I wound up falling right into a blank hole.