The Bridge Where Stars Fell

There was a bridge at the edge of the city where no cars ever crossed. It stretched over a dry riverbed now filled with wild grass and forgotten dreams. People said the bridge was cursed because every few years someone claimed to see lights falling from the sky onto it like silent fireworks. But no one ever found anything there afterward.

Mira first saw the bridge on a night she could not sleep. The city was restless with noise so she walked without direction until she reached the outskirts where silence waited. The moon was full and the air smelled of rust and rain. When she stepped onto the bridge she heard music faint and distant like an old lullaby carried by the wind.

At the center of the bridge stood a man leaning on the railing. He wore a coat too thin for the cold and his hair glimmered faintly as if holding pieces of starlight.

You should not be here so late he said turning toward her.

Neither should you she replied.

He smiled slightly. I suppose we are both lost.

They talked for a while about nothing that made sense. He said his name was Cael. He told her he came to the bridge whenever the stars fell because that was the only time he felt real. She laughed softly thinking he was poetic or mad or both.

When she left he said See you when the stars fall again.

The next night she returned. And the night after that. Cael was always there standing at the center of the bridge waiting. They spoke about everything the world had forgotten the taste of rain the sound of snow falling on glass the way silence could be beautiful if you listened long enough.

Mira told him she worked as an astronomer at the city observatory. Her job was to look for light that had died millions of years ago. Sometimes she said I wonder if what we see in the sky are just ghosts pretending to still exist.

Then maybe I am one of them he replied smiling.

As days turned into weeks the stars began to fall again small streaks of silver across the sky. She asked him once where he went when he was not on the bridge. He looked at her with eyes that reflected constellations and said Somewhere you cannot follow yet.

One evening the wind rose strong and she almost stayed home. But something pulled her toward the bridge. When she arrived Cael was standing in the middle surrounded by light falling like rain. It was beautiful and terrifying.

Mira stepped forward shouting his name but her voice vanished in the soundless glow. He turned to her his face calm. The stars are calling me he said.

What are you she whispered.

I am what falls when wishes are forgotten he said. But you made one without knowing. You wished not to be alone.

The lights swirled around them. She reached out and felt warmth instead of cold. For a moment she saw through him a sky full of memories rushing like waves.

Stay she begged.

He shook his head gently. I cannot. But I can leave something behind.

He touched her forehead and the world exploded into light. When she opened her eyes the bridge was empty. The riverbed below glowed faintly as if the stars had melted into the earth.

In her palm she found a small fragment of crystal pulsing softly.

From that night on she began to see him in her dreams. Sometimes he stood on the bridge watching her through falling light. Sometimes he whispered words she could not fully hear. She started painting the stars as she saw them in her dreams and her art soon filled the observatory walls. People said her paintings looked alive as if they could breathe.

One night after finishing her work she noticed the crystal glowing brighter. She followed its light to the bridge. The sky above was clear the stars sharp as silver needles. She stood at the center where they had once met and whispered his name.

The wind shifted. For a heartbeat she felt his presence behind her his voice like a memory.

Mira do you still look for ghosts

Only the ones that still love she answered.

The stars shimmered in response. A single light fell slowly landing at her feet. She picked it up and found another crystal warm against her skin.

She smiled knowing what it meant. He was still there not gone just changed.

Years later when the city rebuilt the bridge people found a plaque at its center. It read

When stars fall here they do not die. They return home.

On clear nights some still claim to see a woman standing at the middle of the bridge holding a glowing crystal whispering to someone the wind refuses to forget.

They say the stars fall because love once walked there and refused to end.