Tryst is driven to make connections, even taking risks in order to find meaningful interactions, but they never last.
Her search includes leaving a poetic post on an online bulletin board, hoping that someone’s reply will match her vibe and maybe turn into something deeper.
She gets the response she hoped for; enigmatic, fascinating, engaging—and anonymous. Tryst gives them the name Fo, based on a reference that they made about Fomalhaut, the Loneliest Star. The pair slowly build a rapport through emails, then connection via a private app.
One night during a dangerous storm, Fo abruptly disappears from their chat and does not return. The events that lead from that night introduce Tryst to a world she’d never imagined: a rich, lawless family, unethical experiments, and a terrible betrayal. Worst of all, she learns that Fo isn’t who she thought. Or is he?
I’m lost in the echoing city streets, but the woods still call my name. Looking for someone who remembers glassphalt and thought it enchanting, which is why we don’t have it anymore, right? Nothing magical stays around here but us, wandering and wondering why we’re so alone.
Extra points for listening to music when you should be sleeping, staring out windows hoping for a glimpse of something unexpected, or being the one that people bring the pretty rocks and feathers to show.
It took a week to get a response that wasn’t nonsense. Sandwiched between emails with titles like “I know what you really need” and “Let’s meet up and play!” was a response that just had “Fomalhaut” in the subject line.
I didn’t recognize the word at first, so I looked it up online and read everything I could find on the subject. Known as the Loneliest Star, it was the kind of reference I immediately related to, and obscure enough that it felt clever. Now to see if the attached message lived up to that opening.
From the Author’s Notes:
This is a story about relationships, and what we look for in them, and how we can be manipulated by them too. It’s also about what happens when we tamper with our brains, and who can be trusted to do so. And it looks at what makes us who we are, and who we might be if circumstances are slightly changed.
This is also a story that talks about hubris, and what we sacrifice in the name of progress, and what happens when ambition isn’t tempered with empathy and a desire to do what’s best for humanity.
Listen along to the A Small Light in the Darkness Soundtrack!
Tracks that Tryst and Fo share with each other, along with music that comes from Tryst’s radio show and expands the atmosphere of the story; fully streamable on Tidal.
https://tidal.com/playlist/25cd7cff-9375-446c-86b5-2a06cf469221
