In Orbit
Written for: 
brigits_flame, May 2013, week 2
Prompt: Satellite
Words: 385
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
In Orbit
She had spent her entire life in orbit.
She had been a moth first, grey and unassuming. Maybe they wouldn’t notice her, fluttering madly at the lantern. She was the speck of darkness flittering across the light. They saw her, saw her wings beating desperately against the glass. They just didn’t care. The dust of her wings left a trace against the lantern; the heat from the lamp left burns on her wings.
Eventually, she learnt not to fly too closely. She kept her distance and no longer felt the fire of the flame.
She became a satellite then, high up but still close enough for her to breathe. A wandering dot in the dark sky. Some took her for a star, but she was just a cold lump of metal, sending signals to a distant earth. She drew her paths, round and round in slow circles. When they didn’t need her anymore, they gave her one moment to shine. She crashed down as a fireball. Her twisted remains were a sight for fish.
She was a succession of moons, orbiting various planets. It suited her. Gravity at her cold heart, keeping her motionless while she circled. They could see her details and map out her craters with their telescopes but she was out of their control. She tugged, quietly, and the water listened.
She thought about landing, sometimes. She had known how to, as a moth. She just couldn’t remember. Perhaps, she thought, orbiting wasn’t that bad. Landing would only bring pain.
For a while, she was a star. She had thought it would suit her, bringing light to her own planets and moons for once. She hated it. She was too big, too bright. They complained that she scorched them. Still she orbited, the slow motion of a galaxy spinning her around.
She became bitter. Her light had not been good enough. She longed for the obscure darkness she had held when she was a moon. She dreamt of power, of invisibility. She had sensed it before, far in the distance. Now she finally knew what she wanted.
She swallowed her first star, and then another. She swallowed sound, swallowed light. She consumed hopes, dreams and futures. All they could see of her was darkness. They spun around her. She devoured.
brigits_flame, May 2013, week 2
Prompt: Satellite
Words: 385
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
In Orbit
She had spent her entire life in orbit.
She had been a moth first, grey and unassuming. Maybe they wouldn’t notice her, fluttering madly at the lantern. She was the speck of darkness flittering across the light. They saw her, saw her wings beating desperately against the glass. They just didn’t care. The dust of her wings left a trace against the lantern; the heat from the lamp left burns on her wings.
Eventually, she learnt not to fly too closely. She kept her distance and no longer felt the fire of the flame.
She became a satellite then, high up but still close enough for her to breathe. A wandering dot in the dark sky. Some took her for a star, but she was just a cold lump of metal, sending signals to a distant earth. She drew her paths, round and round in slow circles. When they didn’t need her anymore, they gave her one moment to shine. She crashed down as a fireball. Her twisted remains were a sight for fish.
She was a succession of moons, orbiting various planets. It suited her. Gravity at her cold heart, keeping her motionless while she circled. They could see her details and map out her craters with their telescopes but she was out of their control. She tugged, quietly, and the water listened.
She thought about landing, sometimes. She had known how to, as a moth. She just couldn’t remember. Perhaps, she thought, orbiting wasn’t that bad. Landing would only bring pain.
For a while, she was a star. She had thought it would suit her, bringing light to her own planets and moons for once. She hated it. She was too big, too bright. They complained that she scorched them. Still she orbited, the slow motion of a galaxy spinning her around.
She became bitter. Her light had not been good enough. She longed for the obscure darkness she had held when she was a moon. She dreamt of power, of invisibility. She had sensed it before, far in the distance. Now she finally knew what she wanted.
She swallowed her first star, and then another. She swallowed sound, swallowed light. She consumed hopes, dreams and futures. All they could see of her was darkness. They spun around her. She devoured.