When the Day Met the Night

In the beginning, before Earth’s creatures invaded space, there were only the celestial bodies, orbiting around each other. The moons lovingly orbited their planets, the planets orbited the sun, and the sun orbited nothing because the sun was the ruler of the Milky Way. The Earth’s young moon caught glimpses of the sun as she endlessly circled her planet. She smiled at the sun, and they always smiled back. As the months wore on, they grew closer and closer, until one day, the moon stood directly in front of the sun. They were breathtaking up close. Their golden hair flowed freely down to their waist. Sunspots dotted their sharp, angular face and they radiated a heat strong enough to scorch the Earth, but gentle enough to warm a weary traveler. And the moon felt drab and inadequate in their presence.

But the sun reached towards her with a gentle ray and stroked the moon’s pale face. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” they said. “I’ve seen you smiling from my seat in the center of the system, and I thought you were lovely.” The moon blushed and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” she said shyly. “I--” But the moon had been slowly moving in her orbit the entire time, and now it was time to drift past the sun and continue circling the Earth as it made its journey. “I’ll see you again,” she called to the sun. They smiled and blew her a kiss, continuing to sit still as they always had.

The moon and the sun shared quick smiles and soft words each time she passed them. They eagerly counted the days till the next eclipse, and when it came, they sat with their heads together and talked about everything and nothing. They exchanged a kiss before the moon had to continue on her way. And then, the countdown restarted. This pattern continued as the dinosaurs died, from the day man rose out of the earth and began a life for himself, to the day America finally broke from Britain’s tyranny to the rise of machines and unions and laws protecting children from the abuse of rich men and their schemes. The sun held their love close through two World Wars. They laughed through silent films and cheered as people marched through the streets to demand dignity and respect regardless of their skin color, who they loved, or what gender they were.

But as the ages wore on, the sun began to grow more and more distant. The moon often had to shout to get their attention, and even then she wasn’t in their gaze for long. She often saw Titan leaning towards the sun, and the sun smiling, their eyes sparkling. The moon kept quiet as she watched Titan creep closer to her love and the sun become absorbed with running their kingdom. She cried herself to sleep in the mornings and was cool as she passed the sun.

The sun wasn’t much better. They were worried about the humans invading their domain. Even worse, they could feel themself edging closer and closer to the day they’d explode and consume their kingdom. They loved the moon. Their heart warmed a degree every time they thought about that first eclipse. The moon was pale and lovely, her gray robes floating around her feet, smiling that shy, adorable smile. They loved the moon, and that was why they had to force themself to let her go. If they were nothing, the sun wouldn’t hurt the moon when they ultimately betrayed her. Titan was brash and flirtatious, and not nearly as pretty as the moon, but the sun didn’t love him, and that was what they needed.

And so, one day, about a month before the eclipse, the moon caught sight of the sun and Titan leaning closer and closer, eyes drifting closed. The moon closed her eyes as well, tears rolling down her face. Her sorrow filled the clouds to the brim and forced rain to continuously fall on the Earth for three days and three nights. She didn’t even look at the sun when she passed them the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. Both of their hearts grew heavier and heavier as the eclipse grew closer.

When the day finally arrived, the sun and the moon stared at each other silently. Neither could bear to say a word. The sun rubbed their tear-stained face and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” they whispered, their voice cracking slightly. The moon finally looked away, her heart shattering all over again. “Can we start over?” the sun begged. “Please?” Maybe, just maybe, they could fix everything. But the moon wouldn’t even look at them. At that moment, the sun knew it was hopeless but they had to try. They reached a ray toward the moon’s pale face. She shifted away. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” the sun said, a fresh bought of tears rising to their face. “I’ve seen you smiling from my seat in the center of the system, and I thought you were lovely.” The moon shook her head.

“No,” she said. Tears began to slide down the sun’s face. “This is the end.” The eclipse ended, and the moon left the sun to sob quietly to themself.

Eclipses were silent after that. Instead of looking at the sun, the moon looked at Earth and smiled. Earth smiled back but didn’t notice her the way the sun did. That was okay. Earth was precious and young and grew faster by the day. He glowed with the sun’s light, but that didn’t bother the moon as much as she thought it would. Earth turned that light into his own and used it to keep his inhabitants alive. She gave the Earth all her love and attention and never regretted it. It was a joy to see him navigating his life as best he could and she couldn’t be prouder of him.

And one day the moon realized, “Oh. This is love.”

It wasn’t what she and the sun had, but it was love, sweet and strong. And though losing the sun’s love had devastated her, the moon realized that if she lost the love of the Earth, she would shatter and fall into the void, ceasing to exist. So, she cherished the Earth for all he was and their bond grew stronger. The moon laughed and cried with the Earth as he grew sicker, then stronger, as his people destroyed each other and built each other back up. She kissed his forehead each morning before she fell asleep and every night as she woke. She gave him the tides and showed him the stars, helped him name the constellations, and helped trace their path. And she almost forgot about the sun.

And then, the day came for them to expand and consume the world.

The other celestial bodies cried and fought, but the sun couldn’t do anything to stop it. The moon threw her arms around the Earth and held him to her chest. She told him not to look, that everything would be okay. She buried her face in his hair to hide the tears that would’ve frightened him. He squeezed her back, gripping the back of her robes tightly.

“I love you,” he mumbled into her.

“I love you, too,” she whispered. “My brave boy. Never forget that.” She felt him nod into her chest and hugged him tighter.

Soon, she felt the sun’s scorching rays on her face and looked up long enough to see their face one last time and found tears in those beautiful obsidian eyes.

“I’m sorry,” they whispered. The moon looked away and kissed the Earth’s head for the final time, refusing to speak. She wasn’t a fool. The sun’s overwhelming heat consumed her. She silently squeezed the Earth tighter as he screamed with the voices of every organism he hosted. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as her tears turned to steam and her skin blackened and flaked off.

When all was done, the only thing left was the hole that love had once filled.