Garden Woods

Chapter one

Humans are made of stars.

Sometimes you can see it in their eyes. The little twinkle of a speck left that is visible to its own kind.

Humans are cute in a way. We say goodbye by wrapping our arms around each other. We show that we love someone by bringing them flowers or pressing our lips together. We say hello by holding hands and smiling. Sometimes, when we're sad, little dewdrops form in our eyes. We're just little stardust creatures falling in love and watching the sky underneath the billions of galaxies above us.

These little stardust creatures live life knowing that they're small.

The lights flicker in a young girl's eyes. A crazed heartbeat pulsing in her ears. She itches for adventure. For something thrilling.

She wants to look back when she is old and frail and know that she has lived out her short lifetime. That she had had fun while she tried to figure out what her role was among the other fragments of stars.

This young girl doesn't want to wait until she figures out who she is meant to be. She wants to find it. And find it she will. Amid the branches of the forest's trees or the gentle, lapping water of the ocean that swallows the world or in the clouds where the air is frozen and if you were to reach you could touch the moon.

Maybe.

Maybe she'll find herself tonight.

* * *

The girl named Bella taps her fingers anxiously on her windowsill. She is perched on her desk, staring out into the 2:30 am darkness. She watches her driveway. It is empty and the golden leaves of the autumn trees remain still, as if everything is frozen.

Bella bites her lip, shifting the backpack that is slung over her shoulders. She has done this many times before.

A beam of light bounces down the driveway. The light glimmers in the puddles on the road from the earlier rain. A person appears from behind Bella's garage, face hidden with a hood. Their flashlight clicks on and off repeatedly.

-.-.

---

--

.

'come' the person had flashed in morse. Bella's lips tugged up in a smile. immediately, she sprung from her desk, reaching out to grab a jutting branch from the tree closest to her bedroom window. The rough bark dug into her palms as she shimmied along the bough. Once she had made it to the trunk of the tree, she let her hands go limp and she fell down to the ground. The shock of landing bit at her legs. Her first steps were wobbly but she soon regained her normal running tempo as she jogged to the garage where she would then be safe of her parents being able to see her.

Bella stole a look behind her at her parents' window. The light was off, although someone moved in the shadows of the room. She sprinted to hide beside the hooded person.

She pressed her back to the cold wood of the garage as she calmed her breathing. Muffled giggling rose from the hooded person.

"What?" Bella asked, still struggling to regain her breath.

"You just looked funny is all." replied her friend, tugging her hood down. She had frizzy brown hair that didn't look like it had seen a brush all week. Her eyes were a dazzling brown. They sparkled in the moonlight and the edges were crinkled from amusement. Although she was shorter than Bella, she was much faster and quicker on her feet.

"How so?" Bella questioned, her friend's laughter causing her to smile again.

She laughed, "You looked so bamboozled when you landed after climbing the tree."

A crash was heard from the house and Bella's parents' bedroom light was flicked on. Bella held her breath as her friend tensed beside her. A crack sounded as the window was pried open. Panic shot through Bella as she squeezed her eyes shut. A minute or two went by when the window was finally closed.

"You have to be quiet, Rye!" Bella hissed, hitting her friend lightly on the arm, "It may be-" She checked her watch, "-2.32 am but my parents are very light sleepers."

"fine, fine, I'm sorry." Riley whispered, eyeing the driveway, "Are we going to the woods again tonight?"

"I found this old church ruin near the edge of the woods. I was thinking we could go there and see if we can find anything."

"You got your flashlight?"

Bella nodded. She jogged onto the road, her white converse smacking the puddles as she ran. Riley trotted beside her, clicking her flashlight on.

Both girls laughed a breathy laugh.

* * *

Riley didn't know who she was yet, either. She didn't know her place among the stars. So both she and Bella searched together. Of course, Bella had never told her anything about the stars.

She wasn't ready to tell anyone that yet.

* * *

The old church ruins were dark. The cobblestone walls were cracked and broken and the path overgrown with grass. The girls walked cautiously, their flashlight beams whisking over the stones. Riley's steps grew hesitant but Bella pressed forward. She smiled in the darkness even though she knew no one would see her.

"Bella I don't know about this." Came Riley's urgent whisper.

"Oh, suck it up." Bella chuckled, "It's not like this place it haunted or anything."

"But it does say that it's private property." Riley said, pointing her flashlight at a gleaming sign that read in bold red letters:

PRIVATE PROPERTY

TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW

Bella bit her lip and her smile fell. A light blinded her vision for a few seconds. She flailed her arms and let out a soft shriek, "Hey! Watch your flashlight, Riley! You're kind of blocking my sight here."

Riley stopped, ".. I just turned my flashlight off. That wasn't mine." She said slowly.

"... What?"

Footsteps sounded behind them, crunching the autumn leaves that covered the ground. Bella pushed Riley down behind a larger wall of the ruins. Both girls trembled with fright. Bella squinted at the sign again. She peered at the bottom of it and she read a smaller phrase that she had missed earlier:

Night guard on watch during evening hours.