The Celestial Banquet I Missed

A few notes about this short story. It's sort of based on a real life experience. No, I didn't eat mushrooms and fly with the clouds. It is, however, the result of leaving a little social gathering and going out to a field and staring a most beautiful night sky and letting my imagination run with it. The first paragraph and parts of the second are more of a narration, and the story part just sort of weaves into it. The person described in the third paragraph is a girl I care[d] for very much [A█████ W█████████]. A friend pointed out that this story didn't have much of a conflict, which is true. I guess I just wasn't aiming to make a story, just paint an image of floating with the clouds on a clear night, a fantasy I've always wished I could fulfill. Hope you like it.

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The Celestial Banquet I Missed
by M███

I stepped out into the night and it was one of those nights that you're glad you have a sweatshirt, but even if you didn't you would probably be fine as long as you walk fast. I don't remember being cold, because the lights back inside the hall were colorful and they shined in your face and made you feel warm. It's a kind of warm that sticks with you after you go outside, and if you have an emotion going into that place it just amplifies it. It's just something about the colored lights in your face; It's probably why they use them for musical performances. I didn't want to be in that place though - there were too many people and the lights were playing at my emotions. I made for the door, quickly explained my reasoning to a good friend along the way, and stepped out into the night. Back to square one.

I was planning on just going back to my room to sulk or read or some other lonely task, but I got a glimpse of the sky and decided that it were more important than my sulking or my books, and so I went to a place where the sky and I could be alone for a while. It still wasn't that cold, I doubt I could see my breath, but I don't remember. The moon had had a busy night painting those clouds, so I didn't blame her for hiding behind them for a while. I still knew she was there, and her work was displayed beautifully on the clouds which I'm sure they appreciated. It had been a long time since I had joined the clouds for a flight over the trees, over the beach, over the lights of distant cities. The sky was clearer than you'd expect with all those clouds up there, but the clouds were all low and moving slowly all at the same level so the stars could also say hi. I believe they were having a banquet without me, not that I wasn't invited, but I just hadn't checked my mail that day so I assumed I just didn't get the invite. They didn't seem too surprised to see me, the stars, so they must have been expecting me.

I was frustrated at gravity for holding me so tightly. The clouds were definitely low enough that I could have floated for a short time and joined them for the last hour before I'd be turning in for the night. I reasoned with gravity, but gravity is very strict and stubborn and hadn't allowed me to go out with the clouds for quite some time. I was told to obey those who governed over me, so I didn't protest. Gravity took notice of me and my obedience and told me that I could go up for an hour. I thanked gravity and hurried on my way but stopped for a moment, wondering whether or not to go back in and get you, as I'm sure you'd also enjoy the journey. I decided against it, you were already having a good time and an hour isn't very long. Not long enough for your first time. Gravity let me go and I sailed upwards. The clouds welcomed me and I told them I had missed them and that I wouldn't let myself be gone for that long again. Gravity didn't hear that part.

From the plains of clouds I could see the stars better now, and they were definitely enjoying themselves. I didn't stop to join them, I had already supped full during dinner and didn't need a celestial banquet at the moment, although they always do have the best of foods. If I was going to spend my night with the clouds I needed to go with them right then. We started above the field I had been standing in, and I could see now all the lights from the city. The mountains stood in the distance, just a little lower than us and the great forests of pines ran wide. The moon had painted them all earlier also, a very pretty white and blue that she had used on the clouds. We kept moving and gently glided over the water. The ocean looks and sounds different from up there, more distant, more sleepy. The stars saw us move over the water, as they had finished eating and were relaxing and talking to one another, watching the small ones carousing at their feet. The distant lights from other cities shone dimly, but were a remarkable spectacle all the same.

The clouds told me that my time was almost up, I didn't want to be late for sleep. The stars bid me farewell and I drank from their pools in order to quiet my mind. The moon took my hand and gravity beckoned me back down gently as I said goodnight to my elysian friends. It was a perfect end for any night, and I serenely thanked gravity for allowing me to go out. As I walked back to my room, the water from the pools of the stars started to prevail on me and I settled into bed and fell into a deep sleep to join my friends as a star in the sky, hiding under the veil of night and riding the wings of dawn into morning.