Contract with a Star (On Hold, Possibly Forever)

The Border and the Star

            Rena loved Tanya and Aiden’s family. She spent almost two and a half months healing in Green River Valley. Then, the Sand Star died, and Rena remembered just who and what she was. Lirel and Akana heard the scream and thought the girl had had a nightmare, having not seen the light. They thought it might help Rena to see how people died of old age in Green River Valley.

            Rena had seen people die of old age before. She had seen humans die thousands of ways thousands of times. The entire family promised this would be different though. There was a man on the outskirts of town that declared himself ready to die as he marched through the town, gathering a crowd. Rena, the moms, and the teenagers followed the man. Everyone else was too busy.

            It kind of scared Rena how cheerful the people were acting about the death. Rena had never seen that before. She asked Tanya how the man knew he was going to die.

            “All of us know when our death is near. It’s sort of a feeling we get in the pit of our stomachs, or so I’ve heard. It’s because we live so close to the border.” Tanya smiled, like it was just something natural, like brown hair.

            They walked all the way to the border. It was the clearing Rena had spent four months in. Everyone wonder about the new tree in the middle, but Tanya and Aiden had their suspicions. The man stopped by the new little tree, taking it as a good sign from the Forest Star. The crowd stopped at the beginning of the clearing, so the man was halfway between the border and the other villagers. He stood there waiting, like everyone else.

            No one else could see it, but the man and Rena could feel it. The border was pulling at the man’s soul, and so was Rena. She wasn’t doing it on purpose, and she took a step back. The border became the closest magnet to the man and reached out to pull him in. It left his body behind and the others flooded out to pick it up and take care of it as Rena stood there frozen. The man had realized what she was in his last moments, but that was not what stiffened Rena’s muscles.

            Everyone except Aiden and Tanya had long since left when Rena finally stopped staring at the border. She was clearly shaken, but when Tanya went to comfort her, Rena jerked away. She looked back at the border.

            “That was wrong. So, so wrong.” Rena whispered. “Your souls shouldn’t do that. It’s unnatural.”

            “Rena, it’s okay. We want to protect the country after our death. What else would we do?” Aiden tried to explain it.

            “No!” Rena screamed, startling them. “You shouldn’t have to protect the living! The living should protect their own damn selves!” Rena had never said ‘damn’ before. “When you die, your souls are supposed to feed the land! Why do you think all the places we saw were dying?” She turned to Aiden, “Why do you think your father’s farm died? I was supposed to protect you! I have to protect you!” Rena paused a moment to think about that. “I will protect you. From my sister and yourselves. We shouldn’t have fallen.” Neither Tanya nor Aiden heard the last sentence.