Shattered Stars
Chapter 1: A Sky Full of Storms
Nova lay on her bed, staring at the peeling ceiling of her room. The smell of cigarette smoke drifted through the thin walls, mixing with the musty scent of the old apartment. Her mother was yelling again, the familiar slurred anger echoing from the living room. It didn’t even matter who she was yelling at anymore—her stepfather, the TV, or herself. Nova couldn’t tell the difference. It was all background noise, like the hum of an engine she had gotten too used to.
She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, trying to block it all out, but the thoughts came rushing in anyway. They always did.
"You’re worthless."
"You’re broken."
"You’ll never escape."
The voices in her head were louder than anything her mother could say, though her mother had said it all before. The bruises from her last fight with Jack still throbbed under her skin, deep purple and black splotches that no makeup could cover. He hadn’t apologized. He never did. And her mother, as usual, pretended it didn’t happen. That was just the way things were.
In the past, Nova would’ve cried, but she didn’t have tears left anymore. They had dried up long before—somewhere between her fifteenth birthday and the first time she tried to run away. She had made it two towns over before her mom tracked her down, dragged her back home, and threatened to send her to a group home if she ever did it again.
The door to her room creaked open. Her heart dropped.
Jack stood in the doorway, his broad silhouette blocking out the dim light from the hall. He didn’t say anything. He never said anything when he came into her room at night.
Nova’s body went cold. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that if she pretended to be asleep, he’d leave her alone this time. But she knew better.
The mattress dipped under his weight, and his hands were on her before she could stop him.
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Chapter 2: Burning Bright
The pills were easy to get. They always were. A friend at school—if she could still call them that—had handed her the little orange bottle a few weeks ago after noticing the dark circles under Nova’s eyes.
“Here,” they’d said. “These’ll help you forget.”
And for a while, they did. The world blurred at the edges when she took them, the heavy weight of everything lifted just long enough for her to breathe. Her mind would quiet down, the chaos dulling to a manageable hum. And the pain, the suffocating pain of her life, would vanish, leaving her floating somewhere far above it all.
Nova sat on the roof of her apartment building, legs dangling over the edge. She liked it up here. It was high enough that no one could bother her, high enough to feel like she was separate from the world below. The stars above twinkled in a clear sky, a reminder of how small she was, how insignificant. She swallowed another pill and leaned back against the cold concrete, letting the numbness wash over her.
It wasn’t long before the stars started to blur, smearing across the sky like streaks of paint. Nova felt her eyelids grow heavy, her head swimming as she lay there, drifting.
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Chapter 3: Torn at the Seams
School was another battle. Everyone walked around in their little bubbles, pretending like life wasn’t a war. Like their homes were perfect, their families were perfect, and they didn’t carry secrets like heavy stones tied to their ankles. Nova knew better.
She sat at the back of the classroom, barely paying attention as the teacher droned on about something she didn’t care about. History, maybe. It all felt irrelevant. She was barely passing. Each class was just another hour to get through, another obligation she didn’t have the energy to fulfill.
Next to her, Kayla whispered something to one of the other girls. They laughed, but Nova didn’t care enough to listen. She knew they were talking about her, but she had learned to tune it out. She wasn’t like them, and they knew it. The rumors had started a while ago, whispers about the way she dressed, the way she kept to herself, the bruises she couldn’t hide, and the nights she didn’t come home. She heard the word “slut” more times than she could count.
Maybe they were right.
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Chapter 4: Lost and Fading
The first time Nova tried to end it all, it didn’t work. She had swallowed an entire bottle of pills and waited. She waited for the silence to take her, for the pain to finally stop. But instead, she woke up in a hospital room with her mother standing over her, yelling about how selfish she was.
"Do you know how much the ambulance cost?" her mother screamed. "How could you be so stupid, Nova?"
The nurses had kind eyes, but they couldn’t save her from the storm she was living in. No one could. Not the doctors who asked her about her home life, not the therapists who pretended to care, and certainly not her mother, who made sure she was released after only a few days.
“You’re fine,” her mom had said. “Just don’t do it again.”
Fine. Nova wasn’t fine. She was drowning, and no one seemed to notice.
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Chapter 5: Shattered
Nova stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, her reflection a stranger. Her once-bright eyes were dull, hollow. Her skin was pale, almost gray, and her hair hung limp and lifeless around her face. She looked like a ghost, like someone who had already given up.
She closed her eyes, leaning heavily on the sink as the memories flooded in—the nights with Jack, the cruel words from her mother, the pills that didn’t work, and the overwhelming sense of hopelessness that seemed to follow her everywhere. She wanted it all to stop. She needed it to stop.
Her phone buzzed from the pocket of her jeans. She pulled it out, squinting at the screen.
Meet me outside.
It was Finn. He was the one good thing in her life, or at least, he used to be. Before everything got complicated. Before she started to push him away, afraid that if he got too close, he’d see just how broken she really was.
Nova shoved the phone back in her pocket and left the bathroom. The apartment was quiet for once—her mom must’ve passed out, and Jack wasn’t home. She grabbed her jacket and slipped out the front door.
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Chapter 6: Stars That Never Heal
The night was cold as Nova walked down the familiar streets. The weight in her chest pressed down harder with every step, but she kept going. Finn was waiting for her by the old park. When she saw him, something inside her twisted—an ache she couldn’t describe. He smiled when he saw her, but his eyes were full of worry.
“Nova, where’ve you been?” he asked, pulling her into a hug. His arms were warm, safe. “I’ve been worried sick.”
She wanted to tell him everything, but the words were stuck, tangled up in her throat. Instead, she just rested her head on his shoulder, letting the quiet between them stretch on. She wanted to tell him she was drowning, that she didn’t know how to swim anymore. But the stars were too far away, and she didn’t know how to reach them.
And she wasn’t sure she wanted to anymore.
YOU ARE READING
Shattered Stars
Fiksi RemajaA young girl Nova struggles with her home life and her mental state. She faces many challenges but in the end she finds a way to overcome her struggles. Will you find ways that make you similar to Nova? Read 'Shattered Stars' and find out!!
