One More Star

Chapter 1: The First Time

A/N: Uh-oh. I started a second story. Now I have to multitask. Ah well. If kmbell92 can do it with about 17 stories at once, I guess I can manage 2. Now, without further waffling, here is... One More Star. 

Caitlin Witherell was making a mess. It wasn't the kind of mess a normal five-year-old would make, the kind where you throw your toys around the room and end up knocking something over. No, Caitlin was in the kitchen, and she had gotten into the flour jar. The reason for this was that it was winter, and it had been supposed to snow today. Caitlin had only ever seen snow in pictures before, and she had been extremely excited after her parents had told her. But, as it often was, the weather report had been wrong. And so she had decided to make her own snow. Except that it was cold outside. Hence the kitchen being covered in white dust. 

Caitlin giggled to herself as an idea struck her. She flopped down on the kitchen floor and began to make a 'snow'-angel. 

When she finished, Caitlin was met with a slight predicament. To stand up would mean brushing her flour-angel away, but the snow was wearing thin in some places and she needed to resume the snowfall. Not to mention she had flour in her mouth. 

Not one to be beaten that easily, Caitlin scanned the kitchen for a way to get up, and spotted the handle of a cabinet, which she reached for. It was just a few centimeters out of the reach of her short arms. Briefly stumped,  her eyes fell on her flour-covered feet.  

Caitlin smiled and extended her leg, poking the cabinet door until it swung into arm's reach. She hoisted herself up, hopped away from the 'snow'-angel and went to grab the flour jar, laughing and blowing flour out of her eyes. 

"That's funny. I left the snow bottle there," she muttered to herself, feeling behind her for the jar and finding only empty space. 

Caitlin turned around to see a very angry-looking woman with short black hair and folded arms, tapping her foot and sending clouds of flour into the air. The flour jar was on a shelf behind her. 

"Mommy? Can I have my snow back please?" inquired Caitlin, attempting to put an innocent expression on her face. 

"NO. Caitlin, you are going straight upstairs to bath. While I clean up your... snowstorm." 

Caitlin ran upstairs, quickly bathed and returned her hair to its usual brown. When she went downstairs again, she was quickly shepherded outside by her mother, who looked extremely frustrated.

"How did you manage to get flour in the dishwasher?!  Out! Outside NOW!" 

Caitlin knew better than to argue. She grabbed her coat and rainbow beanie from the hatstand next to the door and scurried out into the yard. There was frost on the grass, but no snow, as she had expected. However frost could  hold its' own joys. As the door slammed behind her, she began flapping her arms, breathing steam, roaring and generally being dragon-like.

The crunching of footsteps on the frosted grass made her stop and spin around. Thinking she would see her big sister Lydia laughing at her antics, she stopped. 

Lydia wasn't there. 

Instead, standing there on the lawn, was a deer, withshimmering fur in all the colors of the rainbow. 

Most children would have screamed. Some would have run away. Not Caitlin. She sat down. 

The deer resumed walking towards her. Caitlin stayed on the ground. 

It was right in front of her face now. She stuck out her hand and poked it. 

There was a flash of  light, and the deer was gone. 

Later, when Caitlin was allowed back inside, she told her parents about the deer, which they dismissed as an imaginary playmate. She'd had several in the past. But that night when she was having her second bath of the day (she was covered in leaves and dirt) her mother, Jess, found a rainbow streak in Caitlin's hair.