It was dark, just like the night before, only it wasn't quite as late. He'd left his friends again to take a stroll on the beach, but tonight his motives were difference from the previous. As best he could, he scanned the dark beach, hopeful that he'd see her again. It was really too dark to see much of anything, yet he walked up and down the beach, still hopeful. Finally a movement caught his attention, and he looked up the beach just in time to see a familiar figure walk under one of the small lights that shone onto the sand. It was her, he knew it instantly. He watched her stop under the light to look at her watch, and then proceed onto the sand, stopping where they'd sat together last night. He quickly headed over, trying not to make it obvious how eager he was to see her again, but it was hard for him to contain. All day long, the only thing he'd been able to think about was her. She intrigued him; he'd never met anyone like her. There was something new to him about her, something mysterious yet appealing. As casually as he could he walked closer, and she heard him a lot sooner this time. She looked over to see him approaching, and to his delight a smile instantly lit up her face. He was still a few feet away, but he quickly closed the distance. "Hey," he smiled down at her. She smiled up at him for a moment before answering. "Out for another midnight stroll?" she asked. He let out a slight laugh and shrugged. "I guess," he replied, pausing momentarily to glance around. "It's really peaceful out here." She nodded. "It is," she agreed. There was a moment of silence between them, and he was worried because it felt slightly uncomfortable to him. He looked down at her, but she was staring out over the ocean again, so he took a deep breath and sat down on the sand next to her. When he did so, she turned her head and their eyes met. "I realized something today." He raised his eyebrows with interest. "What?" She let out a slow breath through her nose. "Happiness is something people take for granted." He looked over at her, a little surprised, but mostly confused. "What do you mean?" Her eyes locked with his. "People take little things for granted," she answered, then continued. "Like, have you ever known anyone depressed?" He shrugged and she nodded. "You should pay attention," she told him. "You might have a friend who is but you don't even know it." His eyebrows narrowed as he thought about what she had said. "Do you know what it's like?" he asked, softly. She looked back over at him, and the looked in her eyes told him more than he needed to know. There was another moment of uncomfortable silence between them, and he wished he'd never let his curiosity get the best of him. She continued to stare out at the ocean and the stars, sitting just inches away from him, and he watched her curiously. She had to know that he was staring at her, but either she didn't care or she wasn't paying attention. Either way, he was mesmerized by the look in her eyes, and once again he was struck by the pure beauty that radiated from her. "What makes you happy?" He'd blurted it out before he could even stop himself, and he was thankful it was dark out so that she couldn't see him blushing. She looked at him with a blank expression and he couldn't tell what she was thinking; whether he'd gone too far and freaked her out or not. But a smile slowly spread across her face, and he felt himself relax a little. "The stars," she told him, glancing upwards. "Looking up into the dark sky and seeing all the millions of stars up there." "Does that make you smile?" he asked. He knew his question sounded stupid, but he had this sudden urge to know. He'd only achieved this goal a few times so far, so he was still eager to know what it took to make her show that brilliant smile. She nodded her head a little as she lowered it from the sky and met his stare. "I've always dreamt of being an astronaut," she told him with a faint smile. "Just being up in the stars." He smiled. That was something kids always thought about being in elementary school, but he'd never heard of someone as old as they were who still wanted to do that. But he had to give her credit if that's what she wanted to do. It obviously made her happy judging by the far-off look she got when she looked up at the sky. She couldn't keep her eyes off of them for longer than a few seconds, it seemed. "That's cool," he said, not wanting to make her feel bad. She looked at him with a knowing smile. "It's okay," she told him. "You can laugh." "I never said I wanted to laugh." "But you do," she replied, staring at him with that same knowing smile. He finally lowered his head with a chuckle, surrendering. "I just haven't really heard of anyone actually wanting to be an astronaut," he admitted, glancing back up at her. "It's nothing personal." The look on her face told him that she understood entirely, and she kept her eyes locked with his for a moment before looking back up at the sky. "It's okay," she assured him. "I know it's a childish dream, but for some reason it's never left me." The smile on his face was unwavering as he watched her talk, her eyes staring up at the sky that she was so in love with. It made him sad, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to achieve her dreams, but then a thought occurred to him. "You'll have a lot better view of those stars pretty soon." There was a hesitation in her movements before she looked at him, her eyebrows narrowed. "In heaven," he explained, a friendly smile on his face. "You'll be a lot closer in heaven, and this may just be my wishful thinking, but I think when you get up there, you have the chance to fulfill all the dreams you never got to carry out here." She stared at him for a moment, pondering his words, almost in awe. It was amazing how the words he had just spoken mirrored her same beliefs. She'd never spoken them to anyone, but she'd written them down a few times, and she'd told herself that exact same thing over and over again in her head when she would get down about not having the chance to live a full life. "You're right," she told him, her voice sounding almost surprised. He was just glad she understood what he was trying to say. The last thing he'd wanted to do was insult her, and it comforted him greatly that he hadn't. It occurred to him that maybe, for the same unexplainable reason, their chance meeting here was helping her, too...just like it was helping him. "There's this song I know from church when I was younger," he told her, "and it made me realize how much we have to look forward to when we leave earth." He face was hard to read, and he wasn't sure what she was thinking until her face finally relaxed. "How does it go?" she asked. He looked at her cautiously, not sure how he should answer her question, but when he saw the look in her eyes - the excited but almost desperately needing look - he relaxed. A smile spread across his face before he took a deep breath and began to softly sing. "I've always heard there is a land Beyond the mortal dreams of man Where every tear is left behind But it must be another time There'll be an everlasting light Shining a purest holy white And every fear will be erased But it must be in another place So I'm waiting For another time and another place Where all my hopes and dreams Will be captured with one look at Jesus' face 'Cause my heart's been burning My soul keeps yearning Sometimes I can't even wait For that sweet, sweet someday When I'll be swept away To another time and another place" He stopped singing but the smile remained on his face. "It's a long song," he explained, "but that's the best part, I think." Her eyes were wide and she nodded her head. "That was beautiful," she told him, breaking into a smile. A smile of gratitude spread across his face, and even though he wasn't sure if she was complimenting the song or his voice, he didn't care. The look in her eyes was reward enough. "Have you ever been in love before?" The question surprised him. He looked over at her as she continued to still stare off into the sky. "Yeah," he finally answered. This time she looked at him, with her eyebrows raised with curiosity. "How do you know?" she asked. He looked slightly confused, both by the question and by the fact that she was asking him about something so personal. "What?" "How do you know when you're in love with someone?" He knitted his eyebrows together as he thought, then finally shrugged. "You just know," he replied. "I don't know how else to describe it." The confused look on her face made him laugh a little, and he sighed. "Okay, I'll try ..." A satisfied smile spread across her face, and he sighed again, resting his elbows on his knees. "When you're in love with someone, it's like the most god-awful feeling in the world, but at the same time, it's the most wonderful and exhilarating feeling you’ll ever experience," he explained. He looked at her and expected to see a confused look on her face, but was surprised to see that she was interested, taking in everything he was saying. A smile crept over his lips. "You think you could never want anything so bad," he continued, "and you find yourself unable to think about anything else but that one person. You go through your days counting the minutes until you can see them again and touch them again and tell them how much you love them, so you can see their amazing smile again." He paused momentarily as his smile grew even larger on his face, and she saw his eyes begin to dance as he shared his personal feelings with her. "And then, when you are with them, it's like everything that was ordinary in your life before becomes so much more...magical, just because they're part of it now. You get so engulfed with them, it's like you don't know where they start and you begin." He finished talking and there was a brief moment of silence between them; he seemed to be in awe with what he'd just shared and she was waiting to make sure he was finished. Finally she shook her head, letting out a small amount of air between her lips. "Wow." He laughed a little. "Yeah," he replied, a smile on his face. "That’s a good way to describe it." They were both silent, and he wasn't sure what to say. Her question had caught him completely off guard, but he didn't want to change the subject if there was more that she wanted to know. He felt like he owed it to her, for some reason. She was so young, and there were so many things she had yet to experience. He wasn't sure exactly how much longer she had to live, she hadn't told him anymore than it would be less than a year, but for all he knew it could be next week. The only thing he was concentrating on now was helping her understand the life she hadn't yet gotten to experience for herself. When he looked back over at her, he found her staring at him, with a familiar look on her face. He knew she had something else to say, but she was hesitating, and he wasn't sure why. Not wanting to push, he waited, until she finally opened her mouth to say what was on her mind, this time with more confidence. "Did she hurt you really bad?" His eyes widened a little at the question. "W-what?" he stammered. She looked at him with sympathetic eyes. "Did she hurt you," she repeated. "The girl you're talking about." The shock he was feeling was indescribable. How did she know? "Yeah, kind of," he admitted, not entirely sure himself why he was telling a perfect stranger all of this. "What did she do?" she asked. He sighed, surprised that he actually wanted to answer. "A lot of things," he replied, "but it ended right after she cheated on me." The silence between them returned, and his thoughts shifted to the past. "I remember everything about her still," he admitted. "I'm not sure if that's good or bad." She smiled at the weak grin on his face, wanting him to tell her more, which he sensed. "A part of me never wants to forget about her," he continued. "The feelings that have never gone away, the part of me that I left behind with her, but the other part of me wishes more than anything that I could just move on with my life." He paused, lowering his head briefly but raising it again, not wanting to show too much emotion. "Sometimes I tell myself that if I'd known it was going to be this tough, I never would have fallen so hard," he said, a weak smile on his face. A sigh escaped her lips. "I can't imagine what that's like," she admitted. He smiled, nodding his head. "You can't really understand it unless you've been there." She stared back at him. "Then tell me what it's like." "I just did." "No, not what it's like to be inve," she told him. "What's it like when it's over, and you know it's over?" He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "It's like someone rips your heart out and rolls it over with a steamroller," he replied. "It's like...God, it's like a part of you inside dies." She scrunched her face up in confusion. "Then why even bother falling into it?" she asked. "It doesn't seem worth it." A corner of his mouth rose in a half smile and he let out a small sigh. "Oh it's worth it," he assured her, a confident smile on his face. "It's worth it because of all the little things you share with each other. The way they smile when they see you, the way they say your name like no one else can or always tell you the same thing before you leave each other. The stupid little things that nobody else really thinks about. You remember the good things, and that's what makes it all worth it." There was another silence, and when he looked up, he saw the same confused look on her face as before, but this time it was mixed with sadness. He knew that she would probably never get the chance to feel the feelings he'd just described to her, and for the first time, he felt genuinely sorry for her. She deserved more than this, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. "Do you think you can fall in love with someone that you just met?" He thought for a moment. "I think you can know that there's something special about someone when you first meet them, like a premonition. Maybe you can see yourself falling in love with them," he answered. "But you can't truly love someone - completely - without knowing them completely, inside and out." She nodded, a frown on her face as she lowered her gaze to the sand in front of her. "I don't really have time for that." He wasn't sure what to say, but before he had a chance, she stood up from her spot on the sand and stare at the ocean for a moment before looking down at him. "I need to get going," she told him, regretfully. "My family noticed that I was out so late last night." He frowned, not wanting to get her in trouble. "All right," he replied, standing up and looking at her inquisitively. "They're pretty protective, aren't they?" She scoffed, as if it were a stupid question. "Just a little bit," she replied with sarcasm. He smiled. "They love you," he told her. "They just want to protect you." "Well there's not much to protect anymore," she replied. He frowned again. "It has to be hard for you to accept," he told her. "God, it's hard for me to accept and I've only known you for a day." He paused while they both smiled. "But there has to be a reason that you're in the position that you're in, and even if you can't think of anything, then know that you've touched me in a way nobody else has ever been able to." She was speechless, only able to stare at him in awe after the kind words he'd just shared with her, and so once again, they stood smiling at each other in silence, neither of them wanting to say goodbye to the other first. Their eyes met and they realized that they were both just avoiding the inevitable. He quickly stepped forward and drew her into a hug. It surprised her at first, but she relaxed and hugged him back, wrapping her arms around him. She felt him briefly tighten his arms that were around her before he let go, and she pulled away, stepping back with a shy smile. "Thanks," she said, looking up at him with a grateful smile. "I'm glad I ran into you again." He smiled in return. "So am I," he replied, hesitating. "Do you want me to walk you back?" he offered again, just like the night before. She laughed a little. "I can handle it," she replied. "Thanks though." He just nodded, taking a small step backwards. "Have a nice night then," he told her. She nodded. "I will," she replied. "Goodnight." He continued walking backwards, not taking his eyes off of her, until he raised his hand and waved to her. "Sweet dreams," he called, then turned around and disappeared into the darkness.

**Song: "Another Time, Another Place" by Sandi Patti & Wayne Watson