Fade to Black
Title: Fade to Black
Prompt: Luminary
X X X
The brightest of all lights in this universe come in the form of children.
Laughter, love, and shining innocence grow into a solid, heated thrum of radiance as adulthood approaches. With steadfast courage and more than a little luck, that aged glow goes on for decades upon decades.
That’s a nice thought, isn’t it? It might even be true - this idea that a child burns bright and with experience comes a softness, a resoluteness, and a sense of patience.
It’s not the whole story, though.
The brightest of all lights in the universe come from those children who have had to burn hotter, move faster, and shine just to be seen. They blare out their rays in hopes that someone will see them. But as a society, they are ignored. They live uncommon lives that are too common among their kind - often moving from place to place with no real space of their own.
They illuminate the world around them for the brief time before they are picked up - their things thrown into a convenient sack or garbage bag. And those they leave behind feel the loss, yet are powerless to change the circumstance. Those that gain the wave upon wave of energy have become the blessed… until the light is once more moved again.
To the sadness of all.
Because after a time, people forget about that light; and instead of a steady glow that comes with maturity, it begins to sputter. Just a little at first. Yet with every disappointment, ache, and loss, it sputters a little harder, until the light within dims in such small amounts that no one notices.
Until it’s too late.
Because by the time people really see this once bright and shining star, it’s already begun its downward spiral.
From the sidelines, all we do is watch it fade to black.