• I know I would never forget. It was like a switch that brightened up a room which had always been dark. All it took was one moment, one dazzling glimpse of crystal-colored light, and you would never again be content with what you used to have.

    I was raised for a world of dull narrow streets and people’s hearts made of cold steel. There were several grey paths to take that only led to one destination: a place where you were no one if not the best, and nothing if not perfect. This was my world, the only one I had ever really known. At least it was, until I met Trey. The night we met was just another memory in his life, but it was the most unforgettable one in mine, one that would beggar description.

    I remember the place was dim, except for the crimson, gold and persimmon lights that spotted the walls and the dance floor; and I remember the music pulsing over the air like a heartbeat. I took a seat, my cupid pink T-shirt feeling childish and out-of-place among the crowd that was dressed in personality and confidence. I looked around and the scene graphed itself into my memory, like a camera film, never to be undone.

    “Trey!”

    I watched my best friend rush to embrace him in platonic greeting, while he laughingly said hello. He looked over at me, and he smiled. He smiled as if he knew exactly why the color was rising in my star-struck expression. Then he lightly and swiftly pulled my left cheek. “Enjoy the show,” he said gently. “I’ll see you later.”

    He took the dance floor, and I could swear I had never dreamed anything like it. Did he do this everyday? Was every step a choreography to him, as if dance came to him as naturally as breathing? That was what it seemed like. The life he lived was no comparison to mine; the meteors of my universe were the dust in the ground of his.

    I had not known that such a world even existed—a realm of jeweled lights and rainbow melodies, a place where you were somebody no matter what you did. This discovery was like a shooting star in my dark night sky. A blinding flash, a glimpse of perfection—and suddenly it was gone, and I would stare at the sky forever, waiting, in case I would ever see it again.