There was a girl who collected stars...

The Star Collector

She was not pretty. She was not ugly. At least to them she was not. Her big, round white eyes sparkled at night. Or was that day time? It's all so uncertain. She had a small tuft of hair on her head which she braided and flipped around as she walked about the deserted planet in search of shiny pearls. 

They took care of her very well. She didn't face any issues when she was with them except the one problem, the shiny pearls. They forbade them. According to them, these shiny pearls were incarnations of living beings from beyond their reach. Living beings who destroyed their homes and are in search of new homes to settle, adjust and yet again destroy until they found another new home. They feared these beings. But all the little girl saw were tiny bits of scrap that sparkled. She wasn't bothered by the philosophy that affected the others so she continued to collect them. 

Her father was a stubborn man. According to the others there he was a wise man and could foretell the arrival of the vicious beings. Her father studied the skies and could sense that these monsters were getting closer, they have set foot on the white planet next they would barge into each of their homes and eradicate each and every one of their race and start a new life in their home. There was fear in all their faces except the little girl's face.

One day, the little girl decided to take a walk to a place that she had not visited before. There were plenty of places around there that weren't visited by any of them as it was said that such places possessed certain metallic moving creatures that were controlled by beings from far. The brave innocent girl, unaware of these superstitions continued to walk. 

She walked for a while and now she was tired and was thirsty but she was curious at the same time and couldn't rest until she discovered another shiny pearl for her secret collection. She walked and walked and all of a sudden tripped on something and fell. She didn't bruise herself but when she looked back she saw a small part of a shiny pearl popping out from the ground. A wide smile appeared on her face as she began to dig the pearl out with her three tiny fingers. Right next to that pearl was another one. And another one next to the new one. The little girl couldn't stop smiling as she dug with ground with enthusiasm. 

She put all the shiny pearls in a bag she had brought and ran back home to tell them that there were no metallic creatures. She had forgotten about her thirst. When she was back home she found her father standing outside with three bags of her secret collection. For the first time fear was seen on the little girl's face. She dropped the bag in her hand and ran and hid behind her mother. Her father spoke to her in their regional dialect. He might have been yelling at her after which he lifted the bags one at a time smashed the pearls on the ground like breaking lightbulbs and he threw the pearls away into the dark sky. The girls wide smile began to vanish as her father threw away her only possession into the darkness.

She was pretty. Definitely not ugly. To them and to everyone. Sitting on her father's lap the little girl asked him what those shiny things in the sky were. Her father replied saying they were stars and that soon they would plan to go to the stars and find a new home as he looks out the window, at the noisy and polluted world around him.   

This story was submitted by Rahul Antony (ishtokuchan221) All copyrights are reserved. Any kind of plagiarism on this platform and any other will result in legal actions against the offender.

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