jupiter ward / d3 / (fin) cb

It’s 12 am and the stupid radio transmitter in his hand hasn’t buzzed yet.

Jupiter knows he should be back home by now or risk his elder sister’s wrath.

He doubts Celeste is lost to his whereabouts, though.

Every night, since their parents’ … untimely leave, Jupiter has been here – a hidden nook near the outskirts of the district where the gray landscape gives way to ankle-deep grasslands and there are no buildings reaching towards the sky.

And the sky; it’s beautiful, especially tonight.

He turns his head up to it and the stars glimmer in greeting, always they do. While the rest of Three cranes their heads down to tables, Jupiter's has always been skyward. While the rest wonders about their place in the dirt, Jupiter wonders about his in the stars. And then he wonders about the creatures that swim between each one.

His mother’s voice. ‘Aliens, we call them.’ She gestured broadly at the drawings she’d done, all depicting strange creatures who are far removed from humans yet appear curious-looking. Appear worth the studies, and the dreams.

‘We’re going to find them together,’ the memory of her hand on his empty shoulder, ‘me, you, Celeste, and your dad.’

He looks back up at the stars again.

Now, it’s just me.

The transmitter doesn’t buzz.

Now, it’s only me.