The Star That Spins Sideways | Short Story

For me, the classroom was a place where 'correctness' was forced upon me. Keep your back straight, face forward, and match the pace of the group. I was bad at all of those things, so before I knew it, I had been labeled as 'the weird kid' by those around me, separated by an invisible wall, and isolated.
For a long time, I had felt as if the axis running through my center was slightly misaligned with the world. The more I tried to stand straight, the more my vision distorted and my footing became unsteady. You were the one who spoke to me when I felt that way.
'Hey, did you know? They say Uranus spins on its side.'
Behind the school building, where the light from the streetlamps didn't reach, you suddenly shared that bit of trivia while looking up at the sky as the curtain of night began to fall. When I struggled to find a reply, you smiled mischievously and continued.
'Its rotational axis is tilted by ninety-eight degrees. While other planets spin like tops, Uranus orbits the sun as if it's rolling along.'
Your words felt as if you were seeing right through the distortion in my heart. I muttered quietly while staring at the gravel at my feet.
'If it spins like that, don't people think it's weird?'
'By whom?'
You tilted your head in wonder.
'There is no up, down, or sideways in space. Even if it spins sideways, a star is still a star. No one has any right to complain about it, and who knows, there might even be places that get more sunlight that way, right? Things like 'normal' or 'standard' don't mean anything at all.'
In that moment, something inside me clicked into place. Or perhaps, it finally snapped into the correct position. The unnecessary tension drained from my back—the back that had been desperate to remain vertical, bound by the gravity of 'normalcy'.
Uranus continues to maintain its orbit with dignity. Where in the world is there any star that would laugh at that?
'I see. It's okay to be sideways, then.'
'That's right. If anything, you might be able to see a wider view that way.'
When you smiled, the dark night sky looked kinder than usual. I felt as if the blue star shining in the distance was on my side.
The axis of my world is still tilted even now. But there is no need to force it straight. There are stars I can see precisely because of this angle, and there is you, whom I met precisely because of this angle. Seeing the world from a different angle than others is by no means a mistake.
I took a deep breath and, with my vision tilted just a little to the right, looked once more at the universe called tomorrow.

(End)

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