Upon A Star

Chapter 25

Snow White was in a sleep. Her imagination travelled towards different directions. At first, she imagined her mother, the Queen. Her kindness, her soft voice that calmed Snow's worries. Then, she thought of her father, the King, his patience, as well as his humble and golden heart. But most of all, she thought of their memories, the way he read bedtime stories to her, the way he wiped her tears, the way he stood by her side and taught her how to love and care for others.

She then pictured the woods, the trees smiling as she strolled past them, the flowers rooting their colourful petals up to the beaming sun, the grass tickling her toes and the squirrels singing happily in her wake.

Her body was numb; she could not move her legs, or her arms. She could not even twitch her fingers or toes, or even her nose. The only part of her that was alive and feeling was her eyes, she could sense her surroundings and even though her eyes were shut and sealed, she could see and visualise. She could also hear, and the fact that her hearing was intact comforted her that she was alive, not dead. She was simply unconscious and hopefully, she would awaken.

Hours passed and she could feel her body being carried away from where she had dropped like a coin after taking a bite out of the infected apple. She then felt her arms move and a pillow-like comfort relaxed at her spine.

Days passed when suddenly a light breeze caressed her skin. Lips pressed against hers and her toes and fingers tingled, her knees and arms twitched and her heavy eyelashes unlocked.

She opened her eyes to find a handsome gentleman staring straight into her eyes. His soft features comforted her, with warm brown eyes that melted into hers, his hair that glistened underneath the beaming sun and his pearl white teeth charming her with his smile.

"She's awake!" And she turned her head to find the seven dwarves standing in line, with tissues crinkled in their hands and their red-rimmed eyes lighten up in relief.

Taking the charming gentleman's hand, she steadied herself in an upright sitting position to find that she was sitting on a bed. The mattress was silk white and pastel flowers surrounded her. Bouquets of white roses were situated in her grip, and as the man helped her get up, she felt faint but strong.

Tiptoeing her toes on the grass, she finally stood on her own to feet to find that the whole entire time, she was in a deep sleep in a bed, in the middle of a forest nearby the dwarves cottage, and for protection, the bed was shielded in glass.

"Marry me?" The gentleman kneeled on the floor and looked up at Snow whose heart was racing with adrenaline.

She nodded as the Prince stood up and kissed her passionately, their lips a perfect match for one another. And even though it was daytime, a single star shone in the sky.

And so, Snow White got her happily, ever, after, ending by marrying her Prince. And all of her wishes were answered, by merely wishing, upon a star.

Celeste opened her tired eyes to find Luke sitting next to her, his hand firmly holding hers as if she was water that could easily flow away.

He pressed his lips and kissed her knuckles as she sighed. "Everything went well," he forced a reassuring smile at her.

"That's ironic." She whispered and shuffled her body underneath the blankets.

A knock sounded on the door and a police officer appeared. "I have some news for you Miss." And with a letter in hand he approached Celeste and stood next to her.

"Is something wrong officer?"

"It appears that your mother, or stepmother if I may add has been murdered, and next to her we found a note, that appears to be a suicide note by the murderer." He revealed and handed Celeste the folded piece of paper.

Taking it in her trembling hands, her heart was threatening to explode. Her eyes burned with tears of relief, Cora was gone.

She opened the letter to find familiar handwriting, and her heart sank deeper, right into her stomach. She felt crushed, and she was terrified, but she had to find out what he had to say.

My dearest Celeste,

It was never my intention to harm you. Antithetically, my intention was to protect you. Let me explain, Cora threatened me. She told me to choose, if I broke your heart she promised not to harm you. But if I chose not to break your heart, then she would have killed you. So as you can tell, I was troubled.

I chose to break your heart and that sounds malicious, I know. But in the end, I wanted to save your life because a world without you is like a world without the Sun, daytime without a blue sky, night without the moon and silver stars.

She told me I had to break the heart of the one I loved, or else the one I loved would come in harms way. I guess this is the way I tell you that I love you. I love you so much that I had to put on a mask, a mask of a guy that I would hate to become. I became the kind of man that if I ever met, I would most certainly bury his body ten feet underground.

When you told me you were pregnant, I was over the moon but devastated because I knew Cora would hold it against us. She would have used the baby, threatened us if things didn't go her way. And I suppose she won really, so I killed her. You know me; I would never harm a fly. I would never step on an ant, yet I killed her. She hurt me, and above that you, and most importantly a part of us both, our baby.

Living life knowing that I could have reported her, done something more to stop her kills me inside. I can't go on this way, I've murdered someone, and I've taken away the beat from someone's heart. And I hurt you, I hurt you more than I could ever comprehend and that kills me, I can't go on. So forgive me, this is the only way I can have catharsis. If I leave this world, as well as the person who hurt us both, then you can have a clean slate in your life. You can start new; you can go on without the memory of Cora and the aftermath.

So please, don't dwell on the past. Focus on your dream, on your writing. I know you love reading and writing so pursue your dreams. And regarding Luke, he loves you more than you could ever imagine. And I know you love him. So please, do what makes you happy, move on with life until we finally reunite.

I love you more than you could ever know. And every time you look up at the stars, I promise that our baby and I are looking down at you. I am hoping to go to heaven and there I'll meet our daughter in the stars. And we'll be amongst the stars protecting you.

Love,

Nick.

A year passed in which Celeste tried to recover from her baby's loss, as well as the loss of her love, Nick, the father to be of her unborn child; the child that was busy dancing with the stars up in heaven.

Michael supported Celeste through thick and thin, and helped her chase her dreams. With Cora gone, Celeste could start fresh. So with the financial help from her father, she enrolled in University to follow the course of her dreams, writing.

And by her side, Luke became her moon, the stars never without their moon, never one without the other. He proclaimed his undying love for her, and they became inseparable ever since. So four years later, another miracle shot into their life, a baby girl named Luna.

For the first time, Celeste had the ability to choose her own path, to align the stars in the sky her way, however she wanted. So, upon the stars she vividly dreamed upon, she lived happily, ever, after.