Once upon a time, a girl bought a bunch of glow-in-the-dark stars. She took half and put them on the ceiling above my bed. As I helped her down from the bed, we nearly had our first kiss. The other half she put in her room , also above her bed.

Every night before I slept I would count the stars, just to make sure none of them dropped off. It was the last thing we both saw before we fell asleep, dreaming of each other. Sometimes, we even had the same exact dreams.

When we broke up, she took down all the stars from her room. All except one, which was all the hope that things would be better between us. But that was not to be, and she finally took the last one down. The last time I spoke to her was when she slammed the door of my car and walked out of my life.

Years later I met her at a club. We were worlds apart by then.

I went home and looked at the stars, still on the ceiling. The irony is that it is now my brother’s room, and he has no idea where the stars came from.

Today I was cleaning my room and found her old letters. I sent her a message “I took down the stars. sorry about everything, and thank you”.

Tomorrow, I’ll put the stars in my room, above my bed. Just to remind myself that I wasn’t always this cynical. I won’t always make the same mistakes. And hope, maybe, for me to be a better man someday.