Adam Discovers Humanity's Future Home

There is always something new to find, and somewhere new to fall in love with

C.C. Rayne is a writer, musician, and actor based on the East Coast of the USA. An avid lover of all things weird, discontented, and out-of-place, C.C.'s work seeks to blend the magical with the mundane.

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Through the telescope, 
a world of glassy fire. 
Not a sphere. Made of barbs and shards and prongs,
lines that poke thorn-like out from angled sides. 
A snowflake planet, floating in blackness,
oh-so-far away.
Silent, lonely and still.
Its atmosphere a phoenix-burn of gilt-gold-grey clouds,
almost like storm clouds,
almost like Earth.
Do faraway worlds have rainy days too? 

Adam pulls his eyes away from the lens,
stands tiptoe on the planetarium ledge,
tugs on his mother’s sleeve,
but she’s not interested.
Her words are clipped and curt, condescending.
Her eyes stay fixed laser-tight to her phone.

Adam sulks the whole car ride back,
arms crossed, lips pouted to prove a point.
But that night, he whispers solemnly to his stuffed animals:
Look. Look up, into the depths of space.
There is something magical there.
A place no one knows about but me.

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