The curvy road was running ahead of them, and in the darkness of the car two moonshine girls sat side by side. The older had her bright blue flip flops in her lap and was driving barefoot, even though her father was always telling her not to. She had a song in her mouth and in her head, bright in the shock of her eyes, tapping a beat on the steering wheel with pink seashell nails.

"What a night," she said. "It's all changing now. I can feel it." She glanced over at her younger sister, who was sitting quietly with her legs crossed, stripy with starlight. "What's the matter? Come on, out with it. You can tell me."

"I know."

The older girl waited, but her sister didn't offer anything more.

"Lina," she implored, using the nickname she'd fashioned for her long ago, "Come on."
"Nothing's wrong. It's just…I'm glad you're here."

Juliet sighed and took a left turn, headlights illuminating the empty road beyond the windshield. The black specters of trees swayed slightly, tangling the lights in the sky in the reaching branches. "You heard them," she guessed. "They said I was going away."

"Are you?"

The car turned again. Loneliness clung to the cracked road. They must have been the only ones driving for miles; the vacant skyline reached for infinity.

"You know, neither of us can stay forever."

Carolina ducked her head, swallowed. "I know."

"I know you know. I know."

Then: "You're my best friend—you know that, right?"

Juliet's eyes softened, a sadness spreading through their shared soul. Her reply was gentle, their promise to each other, an understanding: "I know."

For a long time there were no words spoken, the world passing like a ghost beyond the windows, everything aged silver beneath the night. There was so much time in every second that passed, too much time for any of them to be just seconds. There were so many things that could have been said, a hundred ways that fate could have branched out and bloomed.

"Are you ever afraid?" Carolina asked at last, and it was sealed, a whole new sort of destiny decided as she spoke up. "Of what comes next?"

"Of course. But I never think about turning back. Every decision, every fear, every fiber of me has brought me to this moment, to me and you. Just as we are. And I am so grateful that you are here beside me."

The sisters, bathed in moonlight, sewn with the stars, hurtled on towards fate, towards an entangled destiny, towards whatever waited—there was no knowing. There was only trusting.

"It's a long road," Juliet said finally, and they continued on, together, towards the single bright light at the end.

The End.