Upon A Star

Chapter 12

Upon a star, that was where she spent most of the night. She dragged a chair and settled it in front of Luke's window. The stars twinkled like glitter on black paper; they danced for the moon and kept Luna some company.

Celeste fell asleep in Luke's arms that night, but in the middle of her dream, her heart began to pace and her blood felt like it was boiling. Tears began to rush out and burned her eyes. She could feel them grow puffy, but she had to ignore the panic that was rising.

So, rather than give in to the anxiety, she got up from the couch slowly, carefully. Slipping cautiously away from Luke's embrace so as to not awaken him, she then dragged a chair and settled it in front of the window that fully displayed the stars. The same stars that calmed her racing thoughts every time she would start to panic.

Her eyes focused and she stared at them all in bulk, but there was one star that she distinguished from the rest. Diamond shaped, clear silver and brighter than all the rest – it almost outshone the illumination that came from the pearl moon. It twinkled and then dimmed, and she found herself to relate. Just like her own life, she would twinkle during her modelling hours, but in real life, she was dim, sad, boring and fatherless. Her priority was to find her father, and now that she was rid of Cora, she had every right to find him.

-

Luke opened his eyes to find Celeste sprawled on the couch next to the one he had slept on. Strands of blonde hair fell in her eyes and covered the cute freckles that lightly dotted her nose and cheeks. Even her face was painted like a masterpiece. She was painted with flawless elegance with different techniques, her freckles, like the stars, a unique media.

The window that mesmerised her last night was left ajar. A slight breeze sent a chill in the room, and so Luke walked over and shut the crack. The room became still.

Celeste was fast asleep and even though she was resting, he had to leave and head to work. So he set the house keys on the coffee table for her along with a handwritten note to inform her about his whereabouts as well as the fact that she could freely invade his fridge and grab whatever seemed appealing to her for breakfast.

With his car keys in hand, he walked out of the apartment and left the sleeping beauty to rest. She seemed so still, so peaceful, so tranquil. She was as calm as the stars in the lonely sky, her eyelashes delicately frozen while on the other hand; her rosy lips were slightly apart.

He shook his head at the sight of her; he shook away the image from his head, the feeling that stirred inside of him. The warmth that crept in his heart, the trembling that rushed underneath his skin and his fingertips that shot electricity. He shook away the image of her; he shook the thought of her out of his head and far, far away.

Shutting the door behind him as quietly as he could, he squeezed his eyes and black surrounded him. But his fantasy painted silver diamonds amongst the black, and slowly, the diamonds multiplied. Eventually, lines formed, curves sloped and lastly, Celeste's face became a star constellation in his mind. Her eyes included the brightest stars of them all, the moon symbolised her button nose and the rest formed her entire face. Her hair flew endlessly, but instead of it being accurately golden, it was the colour of the stars. Silver, pure and elegant.

-

"Where is she?" the photographer boomed furiously as Luke trembled with his hands steadying the tray that carried jugs of juice to clench the thirst of the impatient model.

"Are you guys serious?" the model whined as his hands were fixed on his hips, his glance turned from right to left, left to right. And yet, there was no sign of Celeste, and so the irritation brewed inside the co-model and the photographer.