She told herself it wouldn't feel right to learn the kids who were hardly part of her life were dead, so she didn't look for there names among the list of the dead. Why would Miranda want to needlessly depress herself other kids she would never met again?

It would only bring more pain to her already painful life to acknowledge she would never understand them. She didn't want to have to deal with more pain. After the asteriod hit the moon, life was hard enough to cope with.

At least, that's what Miranda told herself. In reality, she didn't want to see his name. She had only seen him that one day two summers ago, at a summer camp in upstate New York. It was the last day of camp and she was sitting at the bus station, waiting. He sat next to her. The first thing she noticed was his eyes lit up the sky.

Noticing that she was staring, Miranda quickly looked down at her journal. For a while, she pretended to write, as she secretly sketched the boy in front of her. Unfortunately, she was a bad artist, so she immediately destroyed the picture and dropped it in the trash can.

She tried to keep herself occupied but her thoughts kept going to the person next to her. After mustering her courage, Miranda decided to speak to him.

Nervously, Miranda mummered, "Hi."

In an equally awkward manner, he replied, "Hello."

They sat their, awkwardly, waiting for something to happen. It was hardly visible in the light, and Miranda had to squint to see it, but his name tag read Alek Morales.

Somehow, they started off a conversation after that. She didn't remember what exactly they talked about, but Miranda remembered the glint in his eyes, his smile, the pride he had in his faith, his spot on the debate team.

The details where lost to her, but Miranda couldn't forget the boy who looked immortal that summer night.

She wished she kissed him that summer night, because to her he was the one outshone the stars.

He couldn't be dead. Alek couldn't be dead. She refused to believe it.

So she never checked the list for his name.

While scanning the list of the dead and the gone, Alex stopped and looked away when the names began to list those beyond New York City. He couldn't check for her name. He knew he couldn't take it anymore if she was dead.

Neither of the two ever checked the list to see if the other was dead. The pain would have been too much.