Futurism logo

Earth in Love

Creation in Sorrow

By Courtney PetterssonPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
1
Earth in Love
Photo by Andrew Russian on Unsplash

The Earth was young. Every century it was discovering new things about itself. One year it was covered in water, then almost suddenly there were islands popping up and growing together as they emerged from the blue. Soon it saw a flush of green, followed by various forms of life exploring its surface.

Completely fascinated by itself, Earth never bothered to look out into darkness of space. What with how beautiful and entertaining each day was, there never seemed to be a need to turn it’s gaze upward. Several millennia passed before it finally noticed her.

The sky was dark on this side of the small planet, but not all of its creatures slept. Earth stayed awake to watch them, enthralled. They had grown so much and developed such unique talents for survival, though all their lives were incredibly brief. A flying creature was gliding silently through the air when the Earth finally noticed the glow on the creature’s white wings.

Curious, it looked up.

The clouds, parting theatrically, revealed a luminous white sphere hanging in the darkness. Had that always been there? It was certainly beautiful and offered a soft light, helping to illuminate the planet’s surface.

Unsure if it should say something, the Earth stayed silent and simply observed, just as it had observed itself.

Night finally ended there, so Earth followed the white sphere to its other side where it spent another night just watching.

A month went by and the Earth was captivated. It panicked the first time the sphere waned, then rejoiced during her waxing. For decades it watched this beautiful object, reveling in each new occasion. Sometimes she would change colors while other times she would disappear completely from the sky, only to reappear again that same night!

The Earth was enamored, and after years of consideration, it decided to call her Moon.

Pleased with its choice in name, the Earth figured it would finally say hello. Excited and nervous, Earth prepared to call out to her – then stopped as it noticed something strange. In the same, captivated way it had always gazed at her, she was now gazing at something just beyond it.

Earth turned its attention to the other side of itself to find what had her so captivated.

To its dismay it found the Sun.

The Earth was definitely familiar with the Sun as they had been together almost since the beginning. It was because of the Sun that life was able to thrive on Earth’s surface. Some of Earth’s creatures had even recently begun to take notice of the Sun, giving him their praises each time his light fell on them again.

And the Sun was gazing right back at Earth’s beautiful silver Moon with the same look of adoration.

After so many millennia of enjoying its own company, for the first time it could remember, the Earth felt alone.

The unexpected pain that came with this new feeling consumed the Earth, and it wept. As it wept it shook violently, causing fissures to form and volcanos to erupt, both above and below the sea. Time passed and its heated surface turned cold, freezing many of Earth’s living inhabitants.

Still his Moon looked lovingly at the Sun.

Finally accepting it would never know the bliss of her affection, the Earth wept again, softly this time. As it did so, the water from its tears carved out a vast canyon in its northern hemisphere.

To this day that grand canyon serves as a reminder of the Earth’s greatest sorrow.

~

Thank you so much for reading my story! If you enjoyed it I hope you'll consider leaving me a tip!

I wrote this and several other stories using prompts I found online. A couple years ago I was hoping to rekindle my love of writing but only made it a few days in (you know how New Years resolutions go). Perhaps after some positive feedback I'll know I do actually have a little talent and will find the motivation to stick with it. Maybe I'll even finish the novel I started then gave up on.

The prompt for this story asked for the origin of the Grand Canyon.

fantasy
1

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.