𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬

ONE

unedited

Elara Downy's life changed on a Tuesday evening.

School had let out the week before, and her parents had wanted to do something special.

Now, Elara wasn't the one for fun things, especially if it's with family. But it wasn't like she hated her family, it was only that her parents got a little too invasive, let alone her aunts and uncles. Her cousins, Gibson and Fanny, weren't any better. And Danica had hated her from the start, so it was reciprocal.

But then again, she obviously had no choice.

She dreaded the moment when the doorbell rang, and her father rushed to the door to open it, and all of her relatives streamed in through it, carrying a lot of delicious food in their hands and judgemental comments in their minds.

As she heard everyone get settled, her mother called from the stairwell, "Elara? Are you coming down or not? Your cousins want to say hi!"

"Well I don't," Elara grumbled, out of her proximity. But she knew she had to come down.

Quickly, Elara threw on a big black t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. She put on her favourite star necklace as well. She couldn't forget that. She brought her iPod and earbuds, sticking them in her ears. She didn't really want anyone to talk to her, although it wouldn't be very effective.

Elara then, as slow as humanly possible, left her room and trudged down the stairs. Her mother, who was still standing there, folded her arms with impatience.

"Elara, hurry up. I'm not playing games with you." She said. Elara sighed and picked up normal speed.

Immediately, she was bombarded with questions from nosy family members.

"Elara, dear! Look at you, so tall!" Her auntie cooed, poking her cheek with her cold painted finger, which Elara irritatedly swatted away. Clinging to her was Danica, who eyed her with such wrath that made Elara think she had a bounty on her head. "How's school going? You getting those straight As?"

"Yes, auntie," She grumbled. Her auntie didn't seem to notice her cold tone, but even if she did, she might have brushed it off as "a phase."

"Oh, you're so pale. Don't you ever go outside anymore?" She nagged.

"I do, auntie."

Her aunties and uncles continues to bombard her with questions, Elara being forced to answer each of them in a 'respectful manner,' like her mother would tell her often.

The attention began to drift away from her, so Elara started to scroll through her iPod playlist. She let multiple songs play, but none of them really fit what she was feeling.

As the adults began to chat some more, and as whatever Fanny and Gibson were doing on their iPads sucked them in more and more, Elara turned around and started to go back up the stairs.

"Elara, where are you going?" Her father asked.

"I'm just getting something." She said, and hurried up the stairs before any more questions could be thrown her way.

In truth, she wasn't getting anything. She was getting the heck out of there.

She made it back to her room and closed the door quietly and locked it. She sighed with content. No more obnoxious family members sticking their noses into her business.

She wasn't sure on what exactly she wanted to do.

Elara tried looking for more songs to add to her excessive amount of playlists, and collected a few that just slightly reminded her of the space above. It was disappointing; there weren't that many songs out there that she could add.

So, while listening to the ones that she had collected, she opened her window and leaned out of it, her arms resting on the sill. She was sure her family wouldn't notice if she was gone just for a few more minutes until suspicion arises.

It was a beautiful night. The sky was a dark shade of aegean blue, and stars littered it like a shining silver river. The moon was climbing up high into the sky, gaining it's blinding brightness by the moment. There wasn't a cloud in sight, giving her a perfect view if she leaned out just far enough.

She loved to do it when things were on her mind. She loved to do it when she was just bored. She loved to do it for fun. She could spill all her thoughts to the stars when no one else wanted to hear it. The stars would listen.

Elara may have gotten carried away. She realized that when her stargazing was interrupted by a bright flash.

She earbuds fell out of her ears as she stumbled to the floor, blinking the light out of her eyes.

She got up, and everything was still.

BOOM!

The effect rattled around her brain, and she fell to the ground again.

When she regained her ability to see clearly, she once again got up and raced to her window.

Right on the shoreline by her house, a pillar of smoke floated up, into the night air.

She grabbed her iPod off of the floor, unlocked her door and raced down the stairs.

Her family didn't even seem to pay any mind to the crash.

"Dad, what was that?" Asked Gibson, however, his attention finally diverted from the screen.

"Those noisy construction workers." Her uncle said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

Elara swung the front door open and ran outside, the cold wind slamming into her like a tow truck.

"Don't worry about it, Elara!" Her mom called from the living room.

"Okay," Elara responded, but she didn't go back inside. Instead, she sprinted across the yard, towards the smoke, which was already beginning to clear up.

She was surprised to see that the impact area was even glowing. Did a shooting star land in her backyard? A meteor?

As she approached, she saw the silhouette of a young man barreled in the sand.

She kneeled down next to him. He wasn't moving.

Elara felt his neck with the back of her hand. The heat of a thousand suns tingled through her fingertips, and she immediately snatched it away. Her fingertips were red with the pain.

So he wasn't dead, for one.

The young man sat up, feeling around. Confusion was evident on his face, which was overwhelmingly pretty.

His beauty was indescribable. His hair, darker than the night sky and sprinkled with stardust, twisted in all sort of directions. His yellow eyes shone and twinkled, like stars stolen from the sky. He wore a beautiful silk robe, similar to the one ancient Greeks wore, so white it was almost blinding.

His eyes settled on Elara.

In a meek voice, he said,

"Universe, this cannot be my sign."