Page 54 of Sweet Nightmare
The snow glows all around us as we walk.
“Every night, she lights a different piece of his path.”
“How so?”
“Well…” Mom smiles looking delighted. “She lit a bridge one night. A river the next. A mountain pass after that.”
Wow…
“So he follows her?”
“He does.”
“Every day?”
“Yes. Every winter, every storm, and every impossible road.”
Mom’s voice grows softer.
“And one day, he finally reaches home.”
I blink.
“He does?”
She laughs and nods.
“The wanderer eventually realizes something.”
“What?”
Mom taps my nose lightly.
“He thinks he’s searching for a home, but really…” Her eyes lift to the moon again.“...home had been searching for him too.”
For some reason, that makes my chest feel warm.
“What happens to the Moon?” I ask.
For a moment, Mom seems far away, as though she’s remembering something sad.
“Some versions say she returns to the heavens.”
I frown.
“I don’t like that version. It’s sad.”
She laughs.
“You don’t?”
“No, I don’t.”
“What ending would you give it?”
I think hard.
Really, really hard.
