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“When will we see each other again?” the centaur had launched his question out towards the fox that gripped the stainless steel of the train’s handle. The handle that his childhood best friend would continue to grip as his yellow eyes gazed back at him. 

“College won’t be long, hopefully. It should take a couple of years and then I’ll be back! I’ll be back home and we will meet up just like old times, okay?” 

“Kay.” was all he could say as his eyes turned away as his friend took the fateful footsteps onto the train and fading from his view, probably sitting down in a comfy blue seat and reading his favorite book, one that he had always read while traveling. 

The years had passed and gone like the seasons changing. He had sent handwritten letters with swirly loops and doodled hearts in the corners of the pages, signing off with “love” and handing them off to his adoptive brother to mail them back; however, he never received any. 

He often heard the train come by, trotting in the distance, watching the train station, hoping one day his friend would step back into the limelight and pretend they had never been apart. That Maxwell never went off to college and the accident had never happened. 

He often thought about it. Quite a lot, to be frank. Sometimes he wrapped his mind around Maxwell and his vast knowledge in books while he sat and drew planets and made worlds, Maxwell would be reading to him as he never had a proper education. 

His parents were strict and devoted to their faith, something he had fallen out of love with the more and more he aged. He longed to see the stars instead of staying underground, hearing rumors and stories from those who have seen them. His parents had homeschooled him about their faith, taught him little to read and built him up for failure. 

“Hey Maxwell, what was that word you just read?” 

“Oh, you mean preposterous?” 

“Yes, that.” 

“Utterly ridiculous,” Maxwell would answer, feeling the corners of his book as the young centaur ran his hands through the fox’s fluffy, orange hair, something he wished he had instead of the sticky horse hair he had inherited from his father. His father was a well known Rabbi that went around, praying and saying prayers that his father would often ring a small bell that he could hear a mile away, meaning he was needed home. 

“Goodbye, Maxie. Meet you here tomorrow?” 

“I don’t see why not.” He shut his book, feeling the letterings on the cover as he adjusted his glasses, sprinting home. 

He recalled his friend’s laugh; warm like a thousand suns as he rested in the dark room, stars glittering on the ceiling as his daughter's chit chatted in the room over. He wished he could fill the empty space that seemed so prevalent with the way their eyes tried to search through the cracks of his almost closed door. His huffs pained as he grabbed a brochure he kept close to him, OakEbbot College: For The Talented & Full Of Wits. 

“Hey, Gali, can I ask you a question?” the fox slithered down from the tree branch that he often sat on when he wished to see the horizon and stood in front of the centaur that had reached the bark, kicking his hoofs to shake the grass out from underneath them. 

“Of course, Maxie. You can always ask any question you want.” 

“Have you ever thought about what you wanted to do…?” Maxwell trailed on. They were eighteen, not young children anymore, the lazy summers of reading and doodling seemed to cease as Maxwell didn’t show up on his treebranch to read to him; when he asked his adoptive brother where he had gone, the sillombre only shrugged and muttered, “he has a girlfriend.” 

“Well… Yes and no,” the centaur started as Maxwell handed him the brochure. He flipped through it before trying to hand it back, only for Maxwell to reflect it away from him.

“I want you to keep it when you get lonely and start thinking about me. I am going away for a while to be in my dream field,” his eyes shone the brightest he had ever seen them as he gave his arm a scratch. 

“That’s… amazing….” he paused, he watched Maxwell’s tail wag as he grabbed his backpack he never brought and handed him a wrapped present with glistening yellow wrapping paper. 

“I also wanted you to have this…” Maxwell gave a sheepish smile as a voice called from the bottom of the hill their lonely tree resided on. “That’s Camilla, gotta go.” he snapped his fingers, awkwardly scooting away from Galileo as he raced down the hill, his fluffy hair and his tail softly picking up the lushous flowers and the dew of the grass as his melancholy eyes watched him disappear out of view. He turned his attention down towards the yellow wrapping paper, slowly peeling the shimmering paper off gently, as if his life depended on saving every last piece. 

His eyes widened, clutching the space book that Maxwell had left him; one of Maxwell’s favorite space books. 

“Hey Dad,” his youngest daughter cracked open the door, peaking her light pink eyes in as she finished her sentence, “there is someone at the door… They wish to speak to you… Should I allow them to enter?” 

His oldest daughter, more bold and cold, peaked her head in and remarked, “you know I will chase them away Dad, you know I would.” 

“I know you would, my sweet Neptune; however, it is okay.” he heaved himself on his tired hoofs, his back pain increasing with each step as his eldest daughter went to protest, only for him to pass by her, give a prideful grin and open the door back up. It had been pouring intensely and there stood his childhood best friend, Maxwell. 

“I didn’t realize you were married… I wouldn’t have brought you something,” his friend gave an awkward laugh, something he did quite often as Galileo took the shimmering purple wrapped object. 

“I am not married. My daughter’s mother couldn’t stay around..” it was true; however, he didn’t want to go into the messy and very complicated love story he had developed when he met the strange goddess in the woods; her eyes shined bright like his youngest daughter’s. 

“Oh! How have you been, old friend?” the pouring rain had gathered on the fur of his childhood best friend as Galileo turned around to ask his daughter for something, only for a towel to be thrown at his face. His youngest daughter let out the sweetest laugh, her laugh was like music to his ears, music he could listen to all day. 

“Been good. Kids have kept me busy,” Maxwell flashed his hand, revealing a yellow ring around his left hand’s ring finger. “How about you?”

Galileo let out a cough, breathing into his elbow after he had finished coughing as Maxwell flattened his ears. “Ah, I see. You have gotten ‘it’?” It had been considered taboo for those who had this “sickness”. Galileo only gave a small nod as Twilight yelled from the kitchen, “want me to beat him up, Dad? Is he making you feel worse? Some people.” 

“No, my lil Neptune, it’s alright…” he called back, his voice whispy and weak. He gave Maxwell a sheepish smile as he realized he had been holding the towel. “My apologies.” 

“Don’t sweat it,” Maxwell reassured, giving a small smile as he crossed his arms out in front of him. “Are you going to open it?” 

“Oh, sorry! Forgetful…” 

“As always. Don’t worry, it isn’t preposterous as you may believe,” and gave a small wink in response. Galileo only gave a small horse snort, something he had always done when they grew older, when Maxwell would correct his grammar or how he used a word when Maxwell taught him how to write. Ah, he remembered his parents pissed beyond hell as he began scribbling complete sentences and watched his pads of paper seized out of his grip. 

“What did I tell you about writing? Writing takes you away from your religious studies!” 

“But Dad,” he pleaded, trying to take back the pen that Maxwell had given him. “I don’t want to be a Rabbi. I don’t want to do anything with religion. I want to be under the stars!” 

“What did I tell you about your silly dream of going up to the surface world - which is dangerous - and it isn’t something you should put all your eggs into your basket. Do you want to be reminded of how much your life sucks when you’re an astronomer, when older, when you could be a successful and beloved Rabbi?” 

“Gail???” Maxwell raised his voice sternly, snapping Galileo out of his daydream as Maxwell scratched the back of his head, “sorry, Dad habit came out, haha…” 

“Why did you come and visit me after all this time?” 

“To be frank, I wanted to see you.” 

“You never returned any of my letters.” 

“I never had received them, I am being serious.” 

“You never came to visit and you…” Maxwell rubbed his face on the soft towel as a car’s horn honked from his driveway. 

“I didn’t realize you had someone in the car..” 

“My wife, she is pregnant with our third child. She is impatient and yanno how it is…” Maxwell turned to leave, giving a small wave as Galileo reached for Maxwell’s tail, tugging it softly. 

“I missed you.” 

“I know. I missed you too…” and he jogged away from his doorstep, leaving the present he STILL hadn’t opened. He fingered the purple wrapping, taking the fragile tape off the corners and savoring the wrapping paper like his life depended on it. When he unraveled the gift, his eyes widened as his daughter stood behind him. 

“Yep. Want me to kill him?” 

“Nono,” he limped to his room, closing the door as he opened the old book, feeling what felt like ancient pages of his childhood world had been saved. From the species he made up “The Lilygoogans' ' to the ridiculous chocolate planet that the main characters had to eat their way out. He flipped pages here and there until he noticed handwriting that wasn’t his that wrote so elegantly, 

“Your world helped me through college”. 

Words: 1749