When night falls, it's as if the sun has turned off; everything becomes dark, yet the sky remains magnificent and visible: it's like looking at a completely black canvas, with some lighter shades, full of bright white dots.

I often can't sleep, so I lie down on the grass in the yard behind my house: the grass isn't very tall and is soft, so it's not too uncomfortable, though I prefer to put a sheet down. I often do this in the summer because the air inside the house is warm; in winter, however, it's harder because it tends to snow a lot. It's become a routine for me to go to that place, calm, dark, silent, and start admiring the sky. Usually, I'm alone while I do this, but sometimes, I have company. The person I spend the most time with in my special spot is my girlfriend, Frieda; we don't get to see each other much during the day, so we meet there and relax.

"Frieda, do you ever think about the future?" I ask everyone this question; I still haven't decided what to do with myself, so I often discuss it with others.

"What do you mean, Dominik?"

"I mean, do you ever think about what you'll do when you grow up?" 

"Are you planning to leave me?" she says, giggling, "You know if you ask me this question out of the blue, it's obvious I'd think you're planning to leave me."

Before I can explain the misunderstanding, she takes my hand and looks me straight in the eyes; I can barely see her because of the darkness, "When I grow up, I want to become your wife, marry you, have children, take care of them, cook for all of you, and live a serene and happy life," as she says this, a tear rolls down her cheek, "That's what I want to do when I grow up, Dominik."

I stare at her, motionless, for a few seconds, then smile to comfort her, "I want the same thing."

Other times, I have fun imagining fake figures by connecting the stars with my brother and sister. 

"Look! If you connect those stars there, you see a horse!" When I see Emma smile, I can't help but smile too; her smile is so contagious. 

"Well, I see your imagination is still strong, Emma."

Often, when looking at the sky, I stop talking and lose myself in the beauty of space: what must it be like out there? Other times, I think about the past: have the stars changed over time or not? Did our ancestors see the same stars we see? Who knows.

"What are you thinking about tonight, Dominik?" Alex asks me.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I don't know, you've seemed very distracted lately," he's right; I get lost in that darkness so deep it gives me vertigo. Plus, the future scares me. It frightens me, a lot. I need to learn to enjoy the present, as my father once told me. I don't have many memories of him; from what I've been told, he left for the city to seek his fortune. I don't know if or when he'll come back.

Since I was born, I've lived in a remote village in the Austrian mountains with my mother, brother, and sister. Alex and I spend our days working in the fields and watching over the animals. The day starts early with the rooster crowing in the garden and then a family breakfast. After the meal, I rush to the garden to grab the best hoe; as always, I win, so Alex has to use the broken one.

"Damn it! You always win."

"If you stopped eating like a pig, you'd be able to keep up with me." Am I too hard on him? I don't think so; after all, he always hits me back, and besides, he needs to go on a diet; otherwise, how does he expect to find a wife?

Time flies in this environment; it feels like just yesterday we bought our first sheep, and now we have dozens. During the winter days, I love spending hours in the barn with the flock, though I sometimes confuse my sister for one of them.

"Emma, you should cut your hair; don't you think it's too long?"

"What do you know about fashion?" I didn't know the fashion among girls today was to dress up like sheep.

"Oh! Look who's here, my favorite sheep!"

"Are you joining in now too, Alex?"

"It's not my fault; if you lie down on the hay, it's only natural I'd confuse you for one of them." It's so much fun to make our sister huff; I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

After every winter, summer hits our countryside village hard. The heat becomes unbearable inside the house, while outside, there's a cool breeze that helps me get through the day. Lately, I've been worried about my mother: usually, during this time, she loves spending her time on the bench in our garden, as it's under a big tree that cools the area with its shade. But since this summer, she's stopped doing that; she spends her days indoors, lying in her bed, and I don't understand why.

Every day is the same as the one before, though sometimes, especially in the fall, mom asks us to go to the market. Every time, it's an exciting experience to go there; it's in a much larger village than ours and not far from here. We often find transportation to get there quickly, but this time we weren't so lucky, though after several hours of walking, we managed to arrive. That place was indescribable; compared to this, our little village seemed like a dried-up, wrinkled, uninhabited log. The roads were made of hard, flat stones, perfect for transport carts, and were full of people. I saw all kinds of people, farmers with their crops, men in strange black clothes with top hats, joyful children running around, and beautiful women.

Because of the long journey, the sun was already setting, so Alex and I decided to go to an inn for the night. As soon as I entered, I noticed it wasn't a "normal" place; the tables were occupied by several men in those strange black outfits, some of them even had canes. "Are they lame?" The customers were served by young girls dressed in provocative clothes. "What kind of place is this?", "Don't worry, Dominik, I know the owner, he'll give us a discount." 

 We reached the counter, got the key, and I headed to the room. "Oh yes, Dominik, you go on ahead, I have... some business to finish here, if you know what I mean.", "Sure, go ahead." The only thing I want to think about right now is going to bed; I'm exhausted. As soon as I entered the room, I collapsed immediately.

The next morning, I woke up even more tired than the day before. I got out of bed and reached the inn's entrance, "Looking for Alexander?" I turned around, it was the owner. 

"Do you know my brother?"

"Yes, he comes here from time to time," I sighed and continued.

"Yes, I'm looking for him, have you seen him by any chance?"

"Yesterday, he had a rough time with some jerk in a suit and tie; apparently, he didn't pay a prostitute." Are you serious? My God.

"Do you know where he is now?"

"Unfortunately, I haven't seen him since last night, but you can check in the street." Luckily, I kept the money with me last night; otherwise, we wouldn't even be able to buy supplies. Why does my brother always have to do this?

As I walked out of the inn, I heard strange noises coming from a pile of trash.

"Alex, is that you?"

"D-Dominik... it's not what it looks like, I swear." While he was talking, he tried to stand up but failed.

"Seriously, do you have to do this even while we're out shopping for mom? Unbelievable." 

 "Listen, shut up, asshole, if you don't want me to break your nose." Arguing with him while he's still drunk won't lead anywhere.

I helped him up and cleaned up his dirty clothes before we headed to the market.

We come to this place every year, and it still manages to amaze me as if it were the first time; in fact, as soon as we arrived, we were greeted by streets full of stalls, people in colorful and strange clothes. That place was a total hustle and bustle; it was hard to understand anything because there was little space to move around. Every year, many traders from the region come here to buy and sell.

"Alex, stay close to me, or we'll get lost in the crowd."

"I'm the older one here, you follow me."

"Let me remind you, you're still hungover."

As we talked and walked through the crowd, I caught sight of a strange flower vendor; he wasn't local, you could tell, his clothes were very unusual. He was dressed in a strange blue-green suit, I'd never seen that color before, it seemed green but at the same time blue. The upper part, and to a lesser extent, the lower part, was adorned with golden yellow patterns; I don't think they were really gold, it would be risky to carry them around. Finally, he wore a short red top hat, shorter than those of the men in black, which ended in a sort of tail that was also blue-green.

The man spotted us right away and approached us.

"Hey boys, would you like some flowers? They're perfect for girlfriends, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, the living, the dead, and anyone else you can think of."

"No, thanks, we have more important things to do right now."

"Wait, Alex, we could bring some gifts for mom and Emma." I looked at the man curiously.

"Do you have any special flowers?"

"You said you wanted a flower for your mother? I have a wide selection: I have azaleas, classic roses, potentilla..." While he continued listing his catalog, I scanned all the plants until one of them caught my eye.

"What's that one called?"

"Oh, that's a chrysanthemum, it's usually used..." That flower was hypnotizing me, it was... it was... so... beautiful, I don't know how to describe it.

"I want that one, it'll be perfect for mom."

"Boy, were you listening to me while I was talking?" 

"Oh no, sorry, I was lost in thought." 

"It's okay, I'll prepare one for you. Did you want anything else?" 

"Yes, one for our sister, she loves red roses." 

"Good choice, I'll prepare that too. Anyway, boys, I warn you, this place isn't as safe as it seems, in fact, crowded places usually bring discontent. I like you guys; if you want, I can help you with your errands; I just need to finish packing up my things." 

"Alright, thank you, we'd be very grateful for your help, sir."

After finishing packing his belongings, the man spent a few hours with us, helping us buy the supplies. The only strange thing about all this was Alex; he was silent the whole time, a rare event. Fortunately, at the end of the day, the same man offered to take us home since he was passing by, thanks to which we got to know each other better.

"Boys, with all the commotion earlier, we didn't even introduce ourselves, my name is Hakan, and you are?"

"Alexander."

"Dominik." 

"Wow, unique names for Austrians. You said you live in the mountains, right? What's it like up there? Should I prepare a blanket?" He chuckled.

"This time of year, it's nice, though the cold should start soon. Where do you live, anyway?" 

 "Long story, I was born in a border village between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire, Trgovište, when it was still under Turkish control. I fought in the Balkan Wars with my father. It was there..." He looked up at the sky.

"It was there that I lost everything. My family, my friends, my home." He lowered his tear-filled gaze toward us.

"I've done many horrible things in life, and it pains me that I don't regret any of it. I will never be forgiven, but you, boys, never go to war, think of your families and live happily." I looked at him, confused.

"Why would we go to war?" He returned my puzzled look.

"Because there's been a war going on for months now, didn't you know?" Alex and I exchanged shocked glances, then turned back to him.

"Seriously??"

"Yes, boys, that's why the market was so full; supplies are running low." Are you serious? A war?? Since when??? Will they send us to fight? Okay, Dom, stay calm, stay calm, they're just paranoid thoughts, right? Months have passed, no? They haven't called us yet, maybe they won't, or maybe it'll end before that happens, stay calm. 

Alex and I remained silent for the rest of the trip, reflecting on his words.

When we reached the village, Mr. Hakan said goodbye, "Have a good life, kids!" and drove off with his cart. I wonder if we'll ever see him again.