The Star

CHAPTER 0

Sweat and tears form a thin film over the woman's face. The mid wife tries to soothe her as she bravely holds in the pain that washes over her. There are five souls in the room, three of them living, while the other two.... are not quite so... alive. As the woman tries to stifle her groans, her husband whispers soft words into her ears.

Warm words float in the air along with the emotions running high and rhythmic mechanical beeps.

"You're so brave sweetheart, wanting to this. Just a little longer now...", the woman looks at her husband , his eyes making her fall in love with him all over again.

The other two, more intangible and invisible entities just watch as the event unfolds. They know the weight of this situation better than anyone else in the room, anyone else in the world in fact. The mother is about to give birth to something that is going to change history. Not the history of humankind of course, but the history of people like them, halfway between life and death. One of the two, a man with his ginger hair slicked back, taps his pocket-watch impatiently.

"Get ready," he tells the young lady beside him, "the child is about to die"

The man's cold, cynical words strike a nerve, she clenches her fist, flinching at the thought of what is about to happen. The child will die before it is born, there is nothing she can do to stop it, but she can ease the crushing loss the parents will feel, the same loss she felt thousands of years ago. The loss of losing your baby before you can even hear it's voice. She can reason this out however she likes, but they will all just be excuses, in the end she is selfish, she wants to save her sister. This is all for her, a dangerous game she will have to play, placing her faith in a man she knows she cannot trust.

"You have to hurry and come to a decision.... if you still want to do this", the man says, as if sensing the turmoil within her, "the window for success is nearing, you need to possess the body at the precise moment the soul leaves the body" .

Her face tightens as she looks at the mother's face. This is it, she will now another person now, at least until she can meet her sister again.

The tension rises as the baby squeezes out of the womb. As the midwife holds the baby, a faint light arises from the silent child.

"NOW !", the man shouts, snapping his watch shut with a controlled ferocity.

The lady dissolves into grey smoke and surrounds the baby, smothering the weak glow. The dark grey swirls, seep in and disappear the same time as a brightness erupts from the baby.

The parents and the midwife are clueless about what is happening, still worried by the dead stillness of the child. Even the man in the grey waistcoat strokes circles on the cover with his thumb, tracing the intricate rose etched on the gold and silver gilded back.

A small orb of liquid radiance floats out of the baby, the man swiftly drops his watch into his coat pocket, and paces his hand palm-first on his heart. A small curved blade solidifies into his grip, the dead pitch black of the sickle shines with a dreadful luster. He quickly swipes at the light and chants- peace be with you.

"Did it work?", the man asks out loud, even though he knows he would not receive an answer.

Why would there be? She is no longer a member of the deceased, now she walks among the living.

The midwife slaps the baby's soft bottom, once, twice, smack! smack!

Her hand seems to stiffen more and more with every attempt, the parents looking expectantly at her, the mother still holding her breath.