I’m dreaming again and I know it. I’m in a field this time, surrounded by the scent of hundreds of tulips. The wind whispers past, bringing the petal of a tulip to fall on my nose. I giggle as I brush it off. It’s midnight and the moon is shining bright which seems to make my dream all the more beautiful.
Far in the distance, I see a glow. A glow that begins to fill the sky. The dark and the light fight for space, battling in an ongoing war. Dark is pushed away as a figure is seen in the distance. The silhouette comes closer, crossing the field as the sun lights her way. A girl with skin the color of melted chocolate and hair like the midnight sky comes and sits across from me as I look to the sky, wondering where my night has gone.
“Grae,” she whispers, her voice almost song-like. I look back at her, confused of her knowledge of my name. She meets my gaze with eyes of blue, adorned by flecks of gold. “I am here to warn you about an aspect of the night, the stars.”
“Stars will not guide, they will mislead and betray like darkness of night.” I start to object when she says, “Trust the light. It will guide you to safety.”
At that point, the cover of night took over once again, extinguishing the light in the sky. I was beginning to feel more at ease until I sensed something was missing, the moon.
Although with no moon, stars littered the night sky, shining brightly and giving a sense of security. The girl beside me shifted uneasily, distrust evident in her eyes. Up in the sky, the stars started to spin. Around and around like a ferris wheel they spun. They seemed to come closer and closer until they almost seemed close enough to touch.
Suddenly, a boy appeared beside me. With eyes of blue with copper shrapnel embedded into the iris, he turned to me and reached to the sky to grab a star. The girl looked at me, took my hand, and started to run. I grew confused and something in the back of my head told me that I need to stay by his side. I pry her vice-like grip off my hand and start to slowly walk back to the boy. She let go and stared in disbelief as I walked back to the boy who controls the stars.
Somewhere in my mind I knew that I had seen him somewhere, but I didn’t know where. I felt a pull to him, not an attraction, but almost a duty to stand by his side and support his decisions. I reached the boy everything seemed to stop around us. The wind was silenced, tulip petals froze in mid-air, and time seemed to be suspended for one moment.
The boy looked at me with surprise and said, “Well then, guess we need to stick together then.”
He reached for my wrist and whispered, “Sorry Grae Bear, but this is for your own good.” He slammed his hand into my wrist and I screamed. It hurt so bad. Little tendrils of pain snaked up my arm and seemed to infuse itself into my veins. I could feel the foreign substance take over everything in my body and my heart felt as if it were being ripped into shreds and set on fire. Pain is all I can feel and I try everything in my power to rip my arm from his grasp, but all I can do is collapse to the ground. He remained firm, letting something mold into my skin. Out of the chaos and pain, I heard his hoarse voice as he spoke softly, “With this mark, you are now mine.”
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My face is wet with tears and sweat burns my eyes as I look to my wrist. An angry red blister in the form of a star is now on my right wrist and it burns like a pain I’ve never felt before. I cry out in pain and lay on the ground, just wanting this dream to be over.
The girl is now over me, breathing hard with her smooth black hair sticking to her face. She wears a look of horror and whispers something under her breath. “Grae, I know you’re hurt, but you need to follow me.” Her blue eyes are frantic and she takes my hand, my blistered hand. I shriek again and I feel nothing but pain. Words pass through my ears, but I can’t understand them. I try to close my eyes, but my eyes feel almost like they’re being held open by an invisible string.
The girl picks me up and she starts to run, or at least attempt to. She stumbles and falls on the ground, somehow protecting me from the fall. She stands back up, turns around, and then her eyes fill with terror. I follow her gaze and I see the boy. He grabs stars from the ever-darkening night sky and starts to spin them in a circle. The stars race around like a dog chasing his tail and the boy throws the circling stars into the sky. My jaw drops at this magnificent display and I hear the frightened whisper, “It’s too late.”
Stars began to fall from the heavens. It would have been a beautiful sight if I never saw the afterfect. As the stars collided with the earth, they exploded and made the once peaceful field end in utter destruction. I almost couldn’t believe it. It seemed to have instantaneously turned into the Devil’s realm. The once beautiful flowers had erupted into flames, the ground seemed to be launching itself into the air, almost like some child was using it as an old trampoline. An old trampoline that was fraying and splitting to the point where the whole trampoline crashes to the ground.
The girl looked at me and shouted to me with panic evident in her voice, “Eidda, that’s my name. Remember that.” She turned to run when a star bursted and hit her in the leg like shrapnel and her screams were deafening as she hit the ground. The world spun as destruction and Eidda’s screams filled my surroundings, I threw up into the grass beside me.
The boy looks over me and states calmly, “You see, look at what the stars can do in the most terrifying circumstance. They can destroy, they can hurt, they can betray. But stars do not always lead astray. They can bring light, hope, and happiness. They lead the way in the darkness of the night. Grae, join me and we will be together as the moon with her stars. If you see reason, you’ll know where to find me.”
He turned and took a step, but he turned back. “Please,” he whispered as his eyes filled with longing and regret. “Come back and please help me rule, like it used to be.” He turned and continued to walk away. As he left, Eidda’s blood-curdling screams filled my ears and all goes black.