Bits and Pieces

Day 2 - Stars

Write a scene involving a simple item that triggers a memory.

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I slammed my AP Calculus textbook shut when loud shouting drifted up through my room floor from the kitchen below. The third time today. Or at least the third time since I got home from school.

I placed my cheek on the closed textbook, the coolness a contrast from the heated anger downstairs. I stared at the bright lamplight on my desk until my eyes stung, and I started to cry. But I told myself it was because I was staring at the light for too long.

I closed my eyes to block the tears from coming out and turned off the lamp.

I must have fallen asleep like that because when I startled awake, all was quiet except for a few crickets outside.

I clicked the power button on my phone, and it read 1:23 am.

Running my fingers a few times through my bangs, I straightened up in my chair and turned on the lamp. I knew if I didn't get this homework done, I would get an earful from my calculus teacher.

I reopened my textbook and turned to the assigned page.

I was twirling my pen while thinking on question number 8 when I lost control of my fingers, and the pen went sailing across the room and under my bed.

I sighed and reached for my totoro pencil case on top of my backpack. But then I remembered that the pen was a borrowed one from my friend, so I got up from my chair with another sigh and made my way over to my bed.

I crouched on the ground and took a peek under, trying to spot the pen among the dust bunnies.

Thankfully, it didn't go all the way in, so I gingerly picked it up with two fingers and was about to pull it out when I saw something at the far end, near the wall.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I reached over and grabbed it to pull it out. I placed the pen on top of my bed and wiped away the dust on top of the box I had just discovered.

On the side, in a child's handwriting, it read "stars." And just then, I remembered what this was.

With unsure eyes, I proceeded to open it and was greeted with colorful paper stars.

"You can have it," she said and handed the small brown cardboard box to me. "I don't think I'll be able to use it. But don't worry. There's all 10,000 of them in there so you don't have to fold any." She smiled and her kind eyes crinkled adorably.

I gently opened the box and saw bunches and bunches of colorful tiny paper stars. I gasped in surprise and turned my wide eyes to her. "You mean, you folded all of these by yourself? Are you serious? Then you should keep it! Why are you giving it to me?" I exclaimed and tried to shove the box onto her lap again, but she held a hand out.

"No. I'm giving it to you. And that's final." She pouted slightly, and I could see the determination in her eyes.

Nevertheless, I tried for 30 minutes to give it back to her, because I knew why she had gifted me with this. She knew that the surgery she was going to go through tomorrow had only been done three times in the country and that it had only succeeded once. She thought she was going to die.

She clung to the sleeve of my hospital shirt and said, "Take it. If you don't, I'm just going to throw it away."

I sighed deeply and grudgingly accepted. She threw her hands up in the air and mouthed, 'Finally!' Then she grinned at me, showing off the gap where her two front teeth had fallen out.

I picked up a handful of the stars and let it fall through my fingers. When I spotted a light yellow star, I plucked it from the pile and handed it to her. "Here. You have one, ok?"

She stared at the star in my outstretched hand and shook her head. "Then you won't have all 10,000! You need all of them to make a wish, you know." She looked at me like I had said the most ridiculous thing.

I nodded my head and told her, "I know that. But did you know that at the exact moment when you have all 10,000 is when you have to make the wish, or else it won't come true." Although I didn't exactly know if that was true, I just wanted her to take the star for some reason.

Her eyes widened and she asked, "Really? I never knew that." She scratched her head and smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah and I really have no idea on what kind of wish I want to ma-"

Right then, I remembered her surgery and mentally slapped myself for not thinking of this earlier. "Never mind. I thought of a wish." I was about to pull back my arm when she suddenly grabbed my hand.

"I'll keep this star then since you don't have a wish. And you can fold the last star when you think of one. You remember when I showed you how to make it, right?" She reached under her pillow on the hospital bed she was sitting on and pulled out a long pink strip of paper.

"But I just thought of a wish," I replied and tried to take back the star but she cut me off.

"I want you to make the wish for yourself. ok? Not for anyone else." She peered at me with expectant eyes until I slightly nodded. It seemed like she knew my wish was going to be about her surgery going well. She, a little 3rd grader, seemed so much more mature than me, an 8th grader at the time.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Pinky swear?" She held out her pinky at me.

After hesitating a bit, I locked my pinky in hers and said, "Pinky swear. Stamp and copy." I pressed my thumb against hers and then let go and slid our hands against each other's.

She giggled at the new thing she just learned and pestered me to show it to her again.

I stared at the long pink strip of paper lying on top of the rest of the stars. And I regretted so much that I hadn't used that wish for her.

I was planning to use that wish for her surgery back then, even though I was skeptical and knew it wouldn't work, I thought I should try everything, just in case.

But then, that night, her condition had suddenly worsened so they decided to just perform the surgery right then. And me being on pain medications for my injuries after the car accident I had went through, I had just passed out without even knowing anything.

I started to fold the paper, just like she had taught me. And I thought about everything that I could wish on. My school grades, my relationships with friends, my crush, my family, the fights that were getting to be more and more frequent by the day.

I smiled uncertainly when the wish came to me, and I dropped the light pink, newly-made star into the box. And wished with the innocence that my 3rd grade friend had once had.

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