BEGIN ACT I
While the small spider plants on the window stirred slightly with ventilation, the ever sleepy Nicolas laid silently in his bed, looking up at the stars as if they were dewdrops on the plants he kept in his care. His eyes glittered tiredly with the light stars that sparkled on the late winter night, blue from drowsiness. Hypnos would soon take another into the land of dreams, in a manner of speaking.
It was about 1 A.M., and while Nicolas would normally be sleeping quite soundly in his bed, though tonight some celestial force appeared to be reckoning his soul from within, however annoying it might be. Wind brushing up against the window he was staring out of, Nicolas watched as a sudden light flashed through the sky and into the dark, snowy woods outside.
He determined it must be a shooting star, or something.
At this moment, a sudden dry exhaustion wiped over his body, and Nicolas felt completely incompetent in the usage of his eyelids. Darkness began to consume his body, and the surreal visions that often cloud one's mind when sleep is upon them began to do so to Nicolas.
***
Like a blur of reality, the dazed mush of thought and action brought Nicolas through the morning, adrenaline becoming the major factor in his movement. Soon after awaking, he made his way into the bathroom and undressed, examining himself tiredly in the mirror. His pale skin contrasted with the dark rings around his eyes; permanent fixtures since his freshman year.
The heat of the water became evident from the steam, fogging the room quickly. As he showered, the fogginess in his brain did the opposite, disappearing moderately as he washed his body. Soon after, he opened the shower curtain, snagged a towel, and stepped out into the bathroom. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he trekked into the dark hall, listening to the light groans of the night under his footsteps.
Clocking in at about 5:30 AM, Nicolas tightened the towel around his waist and looked out the window into the bright winter scenery, lit carefully by the moonlight. Even though there wasn't school that morning, he decided anyway to stay awake for the time being. As he dressed in a large and comfortable blue sweater knitted with tiny stars, the sun began to rise over the rosy chrysanthemum that echoed the colors onto Nicolas' windowsill. The stars dimmed slightly, like the synthetic lights of the all-nighters that blink out at the rise of day.
The dark woods that surrounded Nicolas' house created a silhouette of thorns over the crimson-looking sky. Suddenly, from within the confines of the woods, a dim light shined like a golden beacon. Though still partially groggy from the early awakening, he stared intently and alertly at the glimmer.
Quickly, Nicolas sped through the hall and out the door, into the snow without shoes. Sighing, he sped back in, put on a pair of boots, and slowly trudged back into the snow, a small pair of blue earmuffs over his ears, feeling his phone in his pocket. Toward the woods he treaded slowly, the heat of his breath creating clouds into the air, and the light snowfall creating stars behind them.
Standing at the edge of the tall, dark pines and leafless trunks, Nicolas stared into the deep darkness. As he did so, snow began to trickle down lightly, like stars against the dark sky. With a blank stare, he trudged slowly into the wood. The dark shadows that scattered like lines on a stained glass window loomed carefully overhead, imposing a canopy of darkness that was more protecting than menacing.
Trampling over broken sticks and snow, Nicolas followed the light of the glow through the labyrinth of trees. The glow grew brighter and remained stationary in front of him, a fixed singularity; the sole item consuming Nicolas' thoughts:
What is it? How far away is it? How big is it? Why is it glowing? Why am I so entranced by it? Why am I talking like this?
After about five more minutes of trekking, Nicolas then began to approach the source of the light. In the middle of a circular ring of silhouette trees, a tall marble column glowed imperiously. Nicolas stared silently for a moment at the colossal pillar, at its fixating glow radiating from the sky-tall protruding structure.
After a few minutes of nothing happening, Nicolas left.
Strolling back through the woods, he watched his feet as the sticks broke under his feet. However, it was at this point that Nicolas forgot which way he had arrived to the pillar. It's irradiating glow in the background offered only distraction from finding his way, and no helpful hint as to where the footprints had been.
The snow must have covered them up. He thought. Though it's pretty light... Where the hell are they? His thoughts became more manic as time wound by. As he passed along through the woods, the trees began to get thicker overhead, as well as larger in both girth and height.
Nicolas found himself lost in a darkening sea of forest, to the point where the snow on the ground faded because it was unable to make it to the floor. The air became thick, but remained cold, with darkness invading quickly as Nicolas tried to find his way back home. The light still came in to provide enough visible terrain, though the trees as tall and as thick as sky scrapers were not allowing him to see much further than a few meters.
The darkness was comparable to twilight; the woods were twilight.
Eventually, Nicolas remembered that he had brought his phone and took it out. There was no signal this far into the woods. Figures he thought. As he trudged further, the woods began feeling stranger; it began when he first saw a small set of mushrooms, all glowing in the shadows. They were the strangest things Nicolas had ever seen; each glowed softly with a different color; red, blue, violet, it was a rainbow of fungi. But if large building-sized trees and rainbow mushrooms weren't enough, a great rumbling began to ring through the trees.
Nicolas halted in his tracks as the slow, methodic rumbling drew closer. Then, suddenly, a sight more whimsical then either the trees or the mushrooms drew close; a blue whale-sized deer strolled softly through the trees. Nicolas could only stare at the sight. On the antlers were large topiaries and moss grew around its body. Clutching his phone, Nicolas stared calmly at the titanic creature.
Suddenly, a small scurrying creature whizzed by. And another. And another. The rainbow-colored mushrooms had grown legs and began to scurry past Nicolas. They wandered into the darkness, lighting it up slightly with their rainbow spectrum. The slight shaking of the earth eased after a few minutes when the large deer passed through. After the interesting sight, Nicolas calmly nodded, unbelief swarming like mosquitoes in his mind.
The soft thud of each hoof of the deer halted after a moment when the deer noticed the comparably tiny Nicolas. The creature, to Nicolas, gave off a tranquil aura before turning gracefully and continuing its slow, methodic route. The titanic deer left soon after, leaving Nicolas nothing less than stunned. His mouth hanging open, Nicolas began to drool a little bit, though he noticed a few seconds after. After wiping his mouth, Nicolas continued through the forest.
"I wouldn't go that way," a raspy voice bellowed behind Nicolas. "No, not at all."
YOU ARE READING
Star Child
Paranormal"I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim," - Frida Kahlo. In the middle of the night, Nicolas Tsukino spots a shooting star that seems to be approaching the nearby woods. Overcome with a numb curiosity, and against his bett...
