by Lucie Pereira

“It’s like we were destined to be here!” At the crosswalk we overhear a boy proclaim this to his mother on the occasion of this small miracle: the walk sign blinks white at the moment the pair of them reach the curb, and their journey continues uninterrupted. Stardust sparkles in the pavement, winking at the impossibility of us. 370 million years ago, a fish made the questionable choice to risk it all for a taste of fresh air and now here we are. Forever looking back to the sea. Aligned on some improbable axis. Who knows what timelines have rearranged themselves like railroad tracks, sent us hurtling into a fate we never saw coming. Bright light in the tunnel, solid as matter. When we first met, there were only 16 blocks between our beds. You ask for something and the universe delivers it to your doorstep like some cosmic online retailer. You say there’s no such thing as coincidence and it’s a hard truth to swallow in a world that seems so senseless. But maybe this is how we make a new world. Clinging to the conviction that we are all of us messiahs sent to inch the needle toward salvation. The ocean beckons. One step toward sand. A surreal combination of atoms. It’s like we were destined to be here.

Photo by Magda Ehlers via Pexels