Chasing Starlet

Chapter 1- Chasing Dreams

I’m running and running, although my feet feel like they are being weighed down by bricks. I can’t go fast enough. I run frantically through the dark, moonlit woods, searching, searching with all my might for her. I have not the faintest clue as to who she is. I catch brief glimpses of her. Her hair seems to be silvery in the faint light and she's wearing a dress, though I can’t make out the color or design. 
I slip and fall over a root and land in a small clearing but she’s gone, and, for some reason, I feel a spike of dread shoot through me. I look up at the stars, watching, as if they might give me some sign that everything will be alright. Some small sign that I will find the phantom girl who always escapes. She always disappears in the woods. She's always just out of reach of my grasps, yet visible from time to time. I went to stand back up but my muddy bare feet stepped on something sharp and I jolted back awake. 
I sat up in my bed and looked out the window, watching the moon light filter in and the wind softly whip my curtains. The navy fabric cast a shadow on the far side of my room. I followed the shadow with my eyes, just as my stomach growled a deep grumble. 
I had gone straight to sleep the previous night, leaving me having no food all day. Three years ago, when I was eighteen, my parents had insisted I stay with them for a while until I got my bearings and figured the world out but, me being me, I chose to go and get a little two bedroom cottage  and start my own journey. I had been in Alma, a small village in New Brunswick, after moving from Maine in the United states. 
I pulled myself upright and went to the little rustic kitchen in my cottage to look for a midnight snack. On the way to the refrigerator, I looked at the little clock on the stove. It read 3:49 in dull green numbers. Okay, maybe not midnight but I was still starving no matter what time it was. I opened the fridge, grabbed an apple and went back to my room. While I was crunching on the apple, I tried to think if anything was different with the dream than it had been the previous time. A very slight difference. I could see her ever so slightly closer. Just a little further and maybe I would reach her. She lit a spark in me that I had never felt with any other girl I had ever seen or known. I chucked the applecore into the trashcan next to my bedside table, swung my legs back on the bed, covered myself up with my white and navy comforter, and curled on my side to go back to sleep. I felt something cold on my bare back and sat up. Right where my back had just been lay vwda beautiful chrystal five point star on a thin gold chain. 
I set it gently on my bedside table to deal with it when I figured out what to do with something such as that. I always could give it to Avery, my older sister, except I have not seen her in over five years. I rolled back over and curled up again to go back to sleep. 
I was running again. This time something was vastly different. I was running barefoot again but there was a difference in the lighting. It wasn’t the moonlight I was used to. It was a more vibrant green flickering light cascaded over the ground and trees. I also didn’t feel the desperation plus there was not the girl. There was no flash of silvery hair. I just walked and kept looking for some sign as to what I was supposed to do. I walked around until I felt the need to stop, then did so. I looked up at the sky and saw where the light was coming from. It was the aurora boreali. There were greens wavering in the sky. It lit up the trees and ground and even a pond I hadn't noticed previously.  I watched the lights for a moment then decided to go walk some more. I eventually knew I was going in circles when I passed a tree with a five point star on it. I decided to just sit by the tree for a while. That's when I saw the first real glimpse of her. 
She was average high with a thin build and pale skin. She also had waist length silvery blond straight hair and a white dress with thin braided straps and a thin braided belt. The end of it had a braided edge and it loosely ended a little above the knee. She was also wearing a pair of braided white sandals, not at all ideal for walking through the woods, but compared to my cutoff sweatpants shorts and bare chest and feet, it was far better. I went to walk to her then everything shifted. She looked at me with a fearful look in her bright blue eyes then ran. She took off faster than I would have thought someone in sandals could run. Then the desperation started coursing through me. I have to find this girl. She is special. I absolutely have to find her. I wound through the trees in search of any hint of her. I passed a large tree then stopped. From behind the tree I heard a sharp intake of breath. I peered around the tree and saw her. She was looking behind me, a look of terror written clearly on her face. I whirled around and stood in front of her to protect her from the cause of her terror. Behind me was nothing but blackness. The whole wooded area was disappearing. I grabbed her arm and pulled. It took very little time to get her running, then we were sprinting through the trees, branches snapping past us, thorns and other brush digging in my legs. 
We came to the edge of the woods and it ended in blackness. I felt us being swallowed by the blackness but I saw nothing. The world was black and silent. I could feel her hand still in mine though I could see or hear nothing. 
I jolted up right, panting, and searched frantically around my surroundings. Everything was the same, the same room I had slept in for a while now. The same sunlight. The same necklace on the bedside table as early this morning. I stood out of my sweat drenched bedding and walked to the window. I looked over the familiar landscape. No blackness in sight. I decided I needed to do something to shake the nightmare from my system. I went out in my kitchen and there leaning up against my cabinets was a familiar face I had yet to see in years. There stood Avery. Dark silky black hair with a slight curl or wave. I wasn’t sure. Maybe both. She wore a simple pair of dark denim jeans and a pale gray t-shirt with a black jacket over top. She wore a pair of old tennis shoes to finish it off. 
“Avery! You scared me half to death! How did you get here? How did you get in?” I questioned, my voice several octaves higher than I wished, due to the sudden unexpected guest leaning on my counter.
“I wanted to visit. Is that a crime? Oh, and you really should lock your doors if you don’t want any visitors," she stated with an obvious eye roll. "You mind another visitor?" She peered around the corner towards the backdoor. 
Out walk a really beautiful girl that I recognized instantly. The girl from the dreams that had plagued me. She had her silver blond hair in a high tail this time. It was streaked with dirt as was her face and clothes. She wore similar clothes to Avery, just more torn up and a black shirt and white jacket, though the jacket was no longer white except in patches. It was frayed and falling to shreds. Her eyes were clear as ever.
I glanced at her then back at Avery. I could believe my eyes. Here, standing in my kitchen, where I was shirtless and barefoot, stood the most beautiful, even through all the dirt and grim, girl I had ever seen. I was in a state of shock. 
I glance over at my sister to see she has already moved onto digging through the cabinets for food. I went to join her in her quest for food and grabbed the fresh loaf of bread out of the little container I kept it in. 
My sister looked at me and busted out laughing, "Since when do you, you as in you, Connor that never left his room other to do anything in the house back home, actually cook anything?" She asked and sniffed the bread to test if it might actually be good.
I glared at her. "I just made it yesterday, and I'll have you know that once you left I took over taking care of the house. Now Mom and Dad have an in-home caregiver. I like Clair; she treats them really well," I finished off as smugly as I could manage, without glancing at my dream girl. 
Now though I turned and walked to the fridge, which she was standing right beside. I glanced over the door at her and she looked away quickly. She must be shy. Her shyness was making me curious. Who was she and where did she come from? What was her life story? What would her life come to be? My dreams must mean something, though I have no idea what it might be. Maybe me and her were destined to run into each other. Maybe there was more to my dreams and they were trying to tell me something that I needed to know. I gave up on trying to figure it out. It was making my head hurt. 
I just then realized that Avery was talking. "Earth to Conner," she hollered, waving her hand in front of my face. I didn't even hear her come up behind me. "What, are you daydreaming about Starlet?" She laughed out, as if she thought there were no way. Little did she know, Starlet, as she called her, had been in my dreams and daydreams for a long while now. 
"Oh, umm, sorry. What did you need?" I tried to refocus, only succeeding enough to for a response and listen to hers. Starlet on my mind the whole while. 
"If you would have been listening instead of daydreaming about Star, you would have heard me. I told you that me and Star here need to clean up. We already have extra clothes but only one set. I was wondering if we could stay here for a while. We'd been wandering in those woods for weeks, trying to get here, and only stopping to get food in towns and villages along the way. It was a long walk." She finished and I had already known they had been through the loop just from how covered in dirt they were.
"Stay here as long as you want so long as you find a way to help pay for the resources you're using. I have a spare bedroom and I have a futon in the finished basement. Figure out who gets what peacefully please. Now I'm going to go out and go shopping so we have enough food." With that I went back to my room to change into something appropriate. 
With a black t-shirt and jeans as well as my everyday tennis shoes on, off I went. It was a particularly sunny day, though there were a few clouds drifting across the sky. Maybe I would go for a little walk around my ponds. 
About half an hour later, I was walking out of the last shop I had planned to go to. Once home, I started putting away groceries. I remember how odd it had been when I had first moved here. It kind of startled me how quickly I have grown into this life in this different country. I still kept up on the news from the United States, but I didn't put much thought into it because that wasn't my home anymore. Alma was my home with my bookshop in the village center and my little cottage with my little hidden pond, only visible from the house through a little gap in the trees. I still used American terminology and everything but my life ran smoother here than anywhere else. 
I jumped when I heard the sink turn on, but continued on with what I was doing. I was a little surprised when I felt a tentative, little tap on my back. Turning around, I looked at the tapper. She had her hair down now and was wearing a white shirt with a pair of jeans. She looked even more like the girl in my dreams. 
"Sorry to disturb you but your sister took the spare bedroom so I was wondering if I could get some blankets for the basement. Might I also be able to rearrange things a bit to make it more convenient because I kind of want to get something to put my clothes in, well that is once I get more. Oh, and do you think I can borrow some clothes of yours and maybe a little money to be able to get an outfit to use for work. I want to go get a job tomorrow but I'm not sure where. Somewhere where there wouldn't be a lot of talking," she finished, almost too quiet to hear, her voice weaving in a low, feminine melody perfectly suited to her looks and personality. 
"Yeah. Just come with me and I'll get you some of my clothes that are a bit too small. And I'll give you some money. I also might have somewhere for you to work too. I own a bookstore down in the village. You can come in to help with reorganizing and once it's reorganized, if you'd like, you can keep them reorganized for me. We'd figure out pay later. It would also depend on how long you and Aves stay," I trailed off. She looked hopeful. 
She followed me to my room, talking a little about how grateful she was. She was really quiet. I wondered if maybe once she gets a little more comfortable, if she would come out of her shell. By the time we had reached my room, which took maybe thirty seconds, she was already silent again. I went to my dresser and pulled out a few pairs of sweatpants that looked nice and a few tighter shirts that might fit her better, then I grabbed some money from my stash and handed it all to her.
I followed her to the basement steps then stopped her. "Need any help moving everything you wish to move?" I asked. I wanted to convey to her if she needed help ever I would be here, just like I had always tried with Avery, though Avery always pushed me away. 
"No thank you. I've got it," she quickly stepped around me with her head dipped and went downstairs. I decided I'd go to my room and soon I heard stuff being shuffled around down in the basement. I played on my bed watching out the window; watching how the sunlight filtered into my room. I saw something sparkle from on my bedside table from the corner of my vision. There, sitting delicately and beautifully, kind of like Starlet, sat the little diamond star on with the chain curled up. That was the last thing I remember before I drifted off to sleep. This time there were no nightmares. Only dreams, still of Starlet.
 Now, instead, she was running with a look of pure delight after a puppy through an open field, not the woods, with the stars above. The moon was bright, the grass soft, and her laughter breathtaking. She was so different from the Starlet in real life. Just as breathtaking, but not as shy. I could see a hit of smoke in the distance. Then all of a sudden I could smell it strongly. It was suffocating smoke. Black as a lightless night and foul-smelling, kind of like burning rubber. I heard Avery yelling about something being stupid. That's when I jolted up. I almost ran into the door frame as I ran to the smoke filled kitchen. There standing in my kitchen was Avery. She was holding something with a pair of tongs while it smoked profusely. It was black and twisted, completely beyond recognizable. I bursted out laughing just at the expression on her face. 
“Zip it, you stupid idiot!” she shrieked, only making me laugh harder. “I put this in the microwave then it caught on fire. Sorry about the microwave.”
 I went to check to see the damage to the microwave. Nothing inside was melted so I took and filled up a glass with water and put it in for thirty seconds. It worked just fine so I took and damped a rag then wiped out the interior of the microwave. I then placed everything back to its rightful place. 
“No harm done. What were you even trying to make?” I asked, glancing at the starry night sky beyond my kitchen window. What time even was it? A quick glance over at the stove clock, reading 11:26, assured me it wasn’t too late. 
“It was supposed to be popcorn but your microwave can’t even make a simple bag of popcorn right. It’s ruined me and Star’s little movie night.” She chucked the bag into the garbage the walked over to the cabinet again, reaching to get another bag.
I glanced over towards the basement staircase. There stood Starlet with a slightly amused smirk on her face. “Did you take the plastic wrapping off the bag?” I asked. It was obvious she didn't. 
“Well, how was I supposed to know that I was supposed to? It doesn’t just-” she cut off mid sentence with a scowl at the popcorn bag. “Or it does say to take off the wrapping. Forget it. Starlet, if you want popcorn then you have to make it yourself.” At that she tossed it to Star, Star catching it easily, and thundered the staircase down to the basement, each step made audible by her stomping feet, muttering about the bag of popcorn being impossible.  
"So she had a unique character huh?" I heard a small feeble voice come from behind me. I turned to see Starlet, red as can be, looking directly at me. 
"Yeah, yeah she does. She always has. She wouldn't be Ave's if she didn't have character," I told her, watching the way the light from overhead sparkled in her eyes. It reminded me of the stars, taking me back to all my restless, nightmare-filled nights. Maybe they were finally gone from now on. 
She walked over to the microwave, actually taking the plastic wrap off the bag, and put it in the microwave. I shook my head slightly, chuckling at my sister's slightly funny incident, and went back to my room. 
I grabbed the star necklace and tucked it in the drawer of my bedside table before climbing up on my bed, curling up, and drifting back to sleep in a popcorn smoke free home with my sister and her friend one floor below me. 
This time my dream was more realistic. Starlet was in the kitchen working on making something on the stovetop. She had a sweet, serene little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. The dish she was cooking filled the kitchen with the irresistible scent of cinnamon. 
“What are you cooking?” I asked casually, crossing the kitchen to look at the simmering pot of brown pasty liquid. On the other burner was another pan with what looked like frosting or icing. On a baking sheet to the left on the counter sat about a dozen or so rectancels of some type of dough. 
“Its supposed to be cinnamon rolls but, of course, your sister messed up the icing by putting salt in instead of sugar,” she explained, shaking her head as she grabbed the icing pan and took to go throw away the ruined icing. I took my finger and tested the cinnamon filling. It was perfect. Just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar and whatever else was in it. I cleaned off my finger in the sink then when back and started stirring the cinnamon filling for her while she cleaned out the pan. By the time I turned back around, the dream had shifted slightly. I was still in my kitchen and standing in front of me was still Star but this time she was clutching the star necklace. She released it and let it hang around her neck. It looked perfect on her. She grabbed it again and this time turned it back and forth, letting the light glimmer off the many many separate facets. Slowly everything began to mute and the light started to dim and finally, I drifted deeper into a dreamless, restful sleep