by Olivia Dean Guise 

He tells me from now on he only wants to go places he’s never been. I ask him where and he looks away. I name countries; Austria, Madagascar, Indonesia, Chile, but he shakes his head each time. The only thing he ever wanted was to fly in the air in a balloon, but higher than your average hot air balloon. He wants to be above the clouds, look down on the weather before it happens, see the thick raindrops form before they fall, feel the rumble of thunder in his chest and touch the explosion of electricity as it connects the sky to the ground below. I smile and name other places; the top of Mt. Everest, Saint Lucia Island, the Scotland Highlands, but he cuts me off and says he wants to feel the blackness that exists between the stars, let his entire being melt into an infinite nothing.

Olivia Dean Guise received her BA in English from Wesley College and is working toward a MFA in Creative Writing from Rosemont College. She is currently working on a novel and lives in the Philadelphia area.