things in the sky

I think I could have seen it from the road but I was already in the hill car park so I went down someone’s driveway and into their garden and sat on their wall. I tried climbing through the bramble thicket first, but it’s easier said than done as the brambles fast become a solid wall of coils about a foot taller than me, and it’s impenetrable unless you have a lot of time and some kind of defence. I couldn’t see in their windows, only bright reflection. Kate kept shifting around and looking at me. She wanted to know why I was sitting.

The air shone. Space was the colour of the inside of shells painted violent amber and light exploded out the edges of clouds. The sun burned low and fierce and washed the land with gold. It was all so still. Not asleep, but waking up. I think I felt it.

A tiny hole opened in the sky through which vivid light poured, brighter than the sun. It fell across the air leaving glittering trails, like an incision in space, but it fell slowly. It had the whole sky in the palm of its hand; it had as long as I watched it to dance. It was a while before the rest came but when they did there was almost a dome of their trails. I felt something grow in my chest, as if when I had blinked one of them had fallen right into me and replaced all my blood with light. I counted seven of them before I left.

When I reached the road I looked out to the horizon. It was all soft yellows and blues now, and they’d gone.