Page 74 of When the Sky Falls

“It’s been a few years now, and I’ve wondered where you are

Thought about the moments and the laughter we shared under the stars

I wanted to see it all through your eyes, see the world from way up high

Until I remembered that you’d left me behind.”

The screen behind them floods with images—stars, galaxies, paper pages dissolving into clouds. It’s cinematic and intimate all at once, like watching a dream unravel in slow motion.

I film with trembling fingers, the crowd around me a sea of lit-up faces and blurred eyes. Penelope mouths wow beside me, but I can’t look away. My gaze keeps drifting back.

To him.

To Fletch.

He’s barely moving behind the kit, shoulders tight, head bowed like he’s trying to disappear behind the crash of the hi-hats. He’s playing quieter now, restrained, like he doesn’t want to intrude on something too sacred.

But I see the muscle twitch in his jaw. The tight grip on his sticks.

I know that tension.

I know him.

And I know this song is hitting too close.

Thorin and Reese hit the chorus again, together now—two voices carrying the weight of the past between them.

“But I was so wrong to believe

That you’d stay and never leave

And I was so wrong to believe

That you’d always be there for me.”

A few sobs break out in the crowd. One girl nearby clutches her chest like she’s been personally gutted. I get it. God, do I get it.

The final verse rises like dawn.

“Time has passed, and we’re strangers now

I made it without you, somehow

And now I see the storm we were meant to be,

Why you meant so much to me

Because when two stars collide, so way up high,

They always crash and burn and fall in love,

When they’re under the same sky.”

The spotlight fades to soft blue. Their voices fade to nothing.

And for a beat, there’s silence. No applause. No screams.

Just feeling.