The Thing About Stars

Prologue

Greece- Eliane Laskaris

Running away is actually much easier than I would have imagined. Maybe because I was blessed in a way, with my greedy, money grabbing, selfish foster parents and siblings. It took nearly three months, but I finally did it. Living in that hell of a foster home felt worse than death, and I was so grateful to have left. I carried a small backpack, filled with my minimal amount of clothes and belongings, along with the small celestial jewelry set my mother gave me for my tenth birthday. I tried not to pack too much, since I also needed food for my journey to who knows where. I packed some tangerines, strawberries, and of course, snacks. I'm not a health freak, but I have a healthy physique from boxing.

I knew where I was going, since I lived in this area for about three years, but in the dead of night with a minuscule number of lights on, it felt much scarier. Eventually, I made my way to the large field a couple miles past the town train station. Once I arrived at said field, I fell. No really, I just dropped. It would have been comical had I not landed in a ditch, staining my clothes and parts of my backpack with mud.

I jumped up as fast as I could and grabbed a couple napkins (that I unashamedly stole) from my backpack so I could attempt to clean my pants. "Σκατά! (Crap)" I exclaimed. I didn't want to waste any of the limited supply of water in my bag, and owing to the fact that I was nowhere near any body of water, I had to do my best to wipe the stains away without it.

Turns out, mud on black gets hidden pretty well. I managed to clean up most of the mud, and my black tights kept most of the stain from showing. I continued to walk towards the field, carefully this time. No more mistakes happening here.

It took about ten minutes before the hyacinth fields came into view, the moonlight illuminating the vibrant flowers. I laid my picnic blanket down on the ground and dropped my backpack. I took out a small Ziplock of Pasteli and started chomping on them.

I let out a large exhale when I finished and laid on my back, watching the stars. I always thought they shone the brightest from this side of my town. When I was a kid, my mom always told me that the stars, any form or shape of them, were special and full of magic. She also said they were gateways to other worlds, so I stopped believing that after a while. There is also the notion of Americans that stars can grant wishes or they are actually our ancestors watching over us, but I find that improbable.

I didn't know what I was going to do with my life, but knowing that I got away from them made me feel much better. I sat up again so I could dust off the crumbs from my snack and put the rest of it away when I saw the reflection of a bright light coming from the sky. I looked up again and was mesmerized. Above me, a meteor shower brightened up the dark sky, leaving me in shock and wonder. I laid flat on my back again, not wanting to miss this one in a lifetime chance.

All of a sudden, I watched as one of the meteors fell directly in front of me, blowing dust and grass everywhere. I was lightly pushed back by the force of the wind, but I covered my face with my forearm and attempted to stand up. I didn't know what I expected to see, but it definitely was not a large glowing portal shaped orb in the place of the fallen meteor.

'I must be dreaming,' I thought as I hesitantly walked toward the light. Haha, that makes me sound so cliché, as if I was going to heaven. Maybe I am dreaming. This never happens in real life.

Something must have possessed me, because I went back, grabbed my backpack, and turned around to walk toward the unidentified 'thing' for lack of a better term. I slowly reached out to skim my hand over the surface of the orb, but was instantly pulled through. 'This is just a dream, just like Alice in Wonderland' I continued to tell myself as I was sucked in and just dropped. I probably fell for a good thirty seconds, screaming at the top of my lungs. What the HECK was going on?!

I must have hit my head on something hard, because when I woke up, the sky was pink. Similar to a baby pink, like a sunset, but the sun was still high in the sky. I tried to look around, and I inferred that I was in some sort of alley. But where was I?