stars and satellites

**In memory of a dear companion that passed on recently**

8.00 pm

A nightclub in Bangkok

There’s deafening sounds reverberating through every crack in the walls. Darkness takes order in the room. This is the night they’ve all been waiting for. Pills are scattered across the room with a promise of ecstasy and unprecedented bliss. As the music starts, everybody goes into a trance and drowns with whatever is left of reality.
A man is sitting at the bar, popping pill after pill and washing them down with Coke. The pills take effect almost immediately. Where am I..? He feels dizzy and starts shoving everybody as he makes his way to the exit. Seconds later, foam forms in his mouth and he collapses into a state of shock on that cold, cold street.


A housing area in Anbar

A wedding ceremony is taking place. The bride is wearing a resplendent white gown and holding a bouquet of roses. Relatives and friends gather around and do the traditional dance. The bridegroom is hoisted up in the air like a newly crowned king. Children are running and laughing. This is one of their better days.
This isn’t the nicer side of town. In the background, there are crumbled walls which once made up a house. The streets are lined up with abandoned cable cars and death looms in the air.
As one of the relatives makes a speech, the sound of siren is heard. At first, it sounded like the patrol making their rounds. But they know better. A missile is coming. Everybody starts running for shelter. A father and son hide in a drain while holding each other. They start reciting a prayer as they wait for the inevitable.



A gas station in Ohio

After finishing her afternoon shift at the hospital, she stops by at the gas station to fill up. Hmm…Is Josh asleep already? I hope I can get home in time to kiss him goodnight. Josh is 9 years old and has cancer. She is a single mother who has to work double shifts just to pay the medical bills.
She enters the convenient store and heads for the refrigerator located at the farthest end of the store. The cashier is humming to the background music while chewing a gum. Another guy is busy browsing through a Playboy magazine.
Moments later, a man armed with a rifle storms through the door. He shoots randomly and at any living thing. There is no time to run. She sees the cashier’s eyes as he falls to the ground. She tries to keep silent as she hides under the rack. Then, a pair of legs approaches.



*These stories are not written to instill disgust or fear about death. They simply tell us that life is fragile and short. But it doesn’t mean that we should waste our moment and stop living.

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. --Konrad Adenauer