The Galaxy Meetings

one

An owl hooted in the night's sky, so loud I could hear it in my bedroom. I was sat on my window sill looking out into the darkness of night, the only light near being the white fairy lights that were strung on my wall above my bed. My old doll that was either called Rosie or Rose was in my hand, because I have a habit of rubbing it's cheek with my thumb at night; like a baby.

I find an odd beauty of the darkness, and the night time. Which may be because my name, Leila, means beauty of night. The flicker of a light from downstairs sounds, and the noise of Lisa's slippers walking up the carpeted steps. Finally, everybody in the care home is in bed.

I yank open my window with great struggle, and swing a leg over the ledge to the roof beneath my window. For the last two years, I've been going to a hill to star-gaze every single night. Come rain, come snow my legs have found themselves to the hill. Galaxy upon galaxy, the stars just seem to relax my mind and wear away problem after problem.

The icy air bit my nose and puffs of visible oxygen filled the air as I breathed in and out as I jumped from surface to surface. Finally, I reached the ground and ran to the fence. Hopping it, I realise just how much I've adapted to this alone time of mine.

I wade through the rushes in the un-tamed and ownerless field until I come to the hill. My black Converse met the soft grass and eventually I was able to flop down onto my back with my eyes closed. I breathed heavily and steadily, glad to be where I currently was.

"Uh, hey?" a voice sounds.

I instantly let out a shriek, scrambling back and rolling down the green hill until my body met the rushes and little cuts were formed on my forehead. "What the hell, dude?" I hiss at the person from the ground.

"What the hell? I said 'hey', not 'get ready to die'." The person, whom I realise is a boy once I rise again, replies with an arched eyebrow.

I sigh before clambering back up onto the hill. The stars shone particularly brightly tonight. "Whatever. What are you doing here?"

"It's a free country." He smugly informs me, shrugging.

He had floppy brown hair and big brown eyes, that were quite the opposite of my crystal blue eyes. Judging from pictures, I had my mother's eyes. Her hair, though, was a ginger-red that resembled carrots and fire rather than redness, unlike my dark chocolate; almost black wavy hair.

"I've never seen you here before though."

"You tend to visit random abandoned hills often?"

"It's a free country." I repeat to the boy, mocking his previous words with a small smile.

"Ha ha." He deadpans, but then smiles after a minute. I join him in his display of joy. Something I've been deprived of for a while. Joy. What an insane word. Just to think the last time I felt such emotion was thirteen years ago.

"What's your name?" I ask the boy, realising I hadn't picked it up before.

The boy stays silent for a while. "Why do you need to know?"

I furrow my eyebrows. "Um, I don't – I just thought-

"Exactly. You see, a name is just a label people can judge you by. Which is why I tend to keep my useless brand for myself. They're pretty, but useless. Like... stars."

"They aren't useless!" I argue. "Stars, I mean." I gesture up to the sky. "Stars make people happy. They guide lost people. There's lots of things stars are useful for."

The boy just shrugs in response. After a few awkward moments of silence he speaks up.

"So, how about we meet up here every night – just you and me – on this hill."

I smile. "Uh, I can't promise you anything; you could be an undercover mass murderer."

He holds up a hand in a speaking gesture. "And you could fall to your death every time you walk; but you walk anyway."

I slowly nod. "Okay... You have a point. Every night, ten o'clock. Goodbye..."

"Still not telling." He stubbornly replies, hopping up and brushing himself down.

"Fine by me."

"Fantastic. Bye!"

And then, we both left. He went one way, hopping over the right side of the fence. I went the opposite direction, climbing over the left side.