Work 1 : Winter Lanterns

 Winter Lanterns

 

The frosted winds are as aggressive as they’ve ever been. Deadly, I’d say. I’m not just saying this because of a certain dislike for the colder seasons but more because our society, the Lantern Society, face a real chance of dying when approaching such cold weather.

  Wait, I should probably explain the idea of the Lantern Society. Don’t worry about a long exposition, there’s not enough history I could care to explain that would be able to stretch it across several pages. For a quick explanation, we in the Lantern Society, in most of our composition, are simple human beings. I say most, because what makes us different and has us exists in our own part of society is what pulses in our chests.  There exists an idea that called that equates the heart and its emotions to a flickering flame. For us, this is a reality. As I speak, there’s a glass ball that occupies that left side of my chest, with a continuous flame within, said to grow with intense heat when in love, feeling passionate, feeling happy, feeling bliss and said to dim or cease to exist when one feels sad, heartbroken, betrayed, and ultimately die.

  With this in mind, I can say I’ve yet to feel the former over the latter. For all of my life, all I’ve known my chest to emit were lukewarm pulses with spikes of heat that even caught me by surprise. But they never lasted. Never. All around, I’ve seen flames that blazed so brightly, they shone through the jackets of the elderly couples that passed, created shadow puppets through the covered windows with the younger partners, and those that glowed like the Tokyo Dome when families gathered together. Must be nice, I always thought, to have that flame constantly flickering. I wished for it almost every day.

  But it’s December now and nothing has come yet in this journey of adulthood. My faith is fading faster than the sun over the mid-day horizon as I clock out of work and shut the door behind me. Taking a deep breath and feeling the chilly air fill my lungs, I wrap my scarf a little tighter than I’d typically do so. My feet crunch against the salted roads as I make my usual path home, shoving my hands in my pockets, and gritting my teeth.

 For the most part, I keep my usual dead-pan glare to the world, only paying mind to the things in motion, whether they be other people or vehicles looking to pass by. It wasn’t until I made it to the bridge that my expression changed. Not instantly, of course. Only when my eyes decided to wonder. The grassy lands beneath under the bridge on either side of the small river were usually empty and uneventful every time I glanced over. But this time, I saw something new.

  There, laying in the cold, is a body. A slender figure, only partially noticeable due to her bright jacket clothing illuminated by the street lights above and the flickering light from her exposed chest. A wave of concern came over me as I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, if anyone was making their way over, or even making calls to authorities to alert them of this stranger. There were none. They were all too concerned with themselves and their overwhelming flames.

  I should’ve began to weigh my options at this point, thinking logically and figuring out how I can assess the situation. But, as I noticed the rate of her extinguishing flame, my body decided to act without giving my mind those seconds to even consider another possibility.

  So, I ran as fast as I could across the bridge and slipped down the muddy hill, landing only feet from her. Taking her into my arms, I stripped myself of my coat and wrapped her in it. She was wet and cold, almost like a new corpse. She would soon be if I failed to relight that flame of hers.

  I panicked, only knowing one way to do so. Digging into my pocket and pulling off my shirt, I hastily pull out my handkerchief and carefully remove the cover of my own glass ball. A quick gust of wind sends causes my vision to momentarily vanish and my body to grow weaker. That’s why I said these winds were deadly. Why I was risking my life to save this girl, I can’t say. Perhaps I was drawn to her dying fire as well. Carefully covering my chest from any more winds, I inch my handkerchief towards my flame. Thankfully, it lights. Keeping the flame alive, I remove her glass cover and bring the flame to it.

  Unfortunately, nature had other plans as another strong gust of wind decided to swing by and blow the flame away.

“God damn it.”  I say, beginning to panic. We couldn’t last like this. We would die like this.

 In an act of desperation, I lift her and force our chests together, creating a union between our containers, hoping our flames might be able to do make something work.

“Please, please, please.” I beg over and over. 

  At first, nothing. After a few moments, still nothing. I was ready to lose my faith and call it quits by now. What stopped me from leaving, however, was a twitch I felt from her arm. It was subtle, something that could easily be mistaken for me accidentally moving her myself. I might’ve thought so as well if it hadn’t been for the fact that my quick idea had worked. Within our joined containers, I felt a heat I’ve never felt before, a great fire that restored the heat to each her limbs and raised mine more than I believed it could. Soon after, her eyes shot open and she drew her first full breath. It was time to detach, I decided, carefully laying her back down and closing her container as well as mine once again.

  This fire was something beautiful. I suddenly understood how many people felt in the world and why they could walk around as easily, as carefree, and as happy as they did. I enjoyed it so. But at the same time, I knew it would diminish shorty soon. Even thinking this, I could see it begin to fail. Such is the reality that I knew.

  A sudden touch took me by surprise. A hand belonging to the girl I just assisted, wrapping around my forearm. Her chest had a brilliant glow as she squeezed me.

“Thank you.” She said weakly.

The fire within me, the one I had just said I believed would go out, grew as well. Though it was sudden, unexpected, and unpredictable, perhaps this would be a connection worth holding now. Maybe we’ll be able to keep each other’s flames alight. Maybe things can be alright from now on.

 

-          - SunBoy