Shades of Blue

The sun was colouring the west sky pink before he retired to his oceanic bed and the moon peeped through the coconut trees and lingered behind the palms for a while. She knew sun would depart soon leaving the sky all to herself. Sun was always good to her whenever they met and she knew she wouldn’t look so pretty if not for his presence. But she would rather avoid the encounters if possible as she felt afraid of his ways at times.

She loved it when the sky was empty and dark with maybe a few giggling stars that always made nice companions. They would get together and share the gossips of the day and sometimes a few stray clouds will also join in to catch up. Sometimes they would just look on as the wind sang its songs from its many journeys around the world.

The world beneath looked prettier as the night approached, the lights twinkled with hope in porches waiting for their loved ones to return or the smoke escaped chimneys where mothers were cooking dinner. Then as the night progressed the lights went off one by one and world slept oblivious to her loneliness.

How she wished she had a family to come home to…

When the last rays faded from the westward skies she slowly drifted from her hiding looking around for the flicker of her mischievous friends. The sky was bare except for an occasional bat who was too busy going for its night duty, to notice her. She just waited wishing it was a cloudy day so she could have hidden behind a thick fluffy cloud and wept silently.

It was then she heard his voice…

”looking for someone?” the dark stranger asked as he glided towards her. It was a kite flying high in the sky with its frills fluttering in the wind. The darkness almost merged him with the night but she could make out the silhouette against the sky.

“I don’t have anyone to speak to today….would you care to hang around for a while?”.

He told her about children and their families and she told him about the sky and the ocean and they didn’t feel the time pass by.

“I have to go now…” he told her suddenly.

“But why?...don’t you like talking to me?” she uttered as her eyes welled with tears.

“I have a string attached and its pulling me back to earth…I have to return home to my master”.

“Can’t you cut it loose and fly to me?” her heart fluttered with hope.

“I would love to….but it will only make me crash to the ground” she heard him say as he slowly descended towards the unseen child who was tugging at the string of his kite.