Stars speckled the sky, flecks of yellow and white paint against a navy blue canvas. He turned his telescope slightly aft, gazing upon the myriad of glowing lights captured through the glass. Patches of moonlight reflected in his brown eyes as he leaned back a ratty desk chair. Closing his weary eyes, he felt quiet murmurs of his family inside the house fill his ears and soothe him.
Grasshoppers chirped their way through the freshly mown grass while fireflies danced in between tree tops. Scrunching his toes into the dew-covered grass, he shook back his shaggy raven hair and looked skyward. More gorgeous than any picture or painting could capture, more mysterious than any story or poem could describe.
The faint scent of a bonfire drifted into the backyard where the fascinated boy sat. Whisps of the late-August breeze tussled his hair, but he remained still, standing beneath the star-coated canvas of darkness.
The wonder sparked in his mind once more, triggered by the moon and stars above. Endless curiousity of what lay in wait up in outer space. Millions and millions of miles up, there was undiscovered, untouched beauty.
Planets ranging from miniscule to momentous, constellations of stars telling stories older than time, meteors rocketing to distant destinations. The mere possiblities had no end, and there were unimaginable things floating beyond the atmosphere.
He let his mind flutter up into the sky, past the sun and all known planets. He was in the thick of it all, suddenly surrounded by brillanly bright stars and rugged meteors. Perhaps tonight he would dream up a new creature that would float past him while he was in outer space. Perhaps he would discover a planet with oceans and canyons and plant life.
Turning his pencil back and forth between his fingers, he looked to the constellations chart splayed out in front of him. Each shape etched into this paper was identical to the shape in the sky. Orion's Belt, Aquarious, Corona, Perseus, so many pictures drawn by the hand of God with stars.
Lifting his cold metal telscope to his eye, he could see a somewhat broad scope of stars through the looking glass. Slowly and carefully turning, he further scanned the expanse of darkness above him. Desperately hoping to find a meteor, or more fondly known as a shooting star, any movement caught his eye. A miniscule whisp of light raced across the sky. His brown eyes landed on it and he squeezed his eyes shut. Making a silent wish as the meteor flew by, he gently dropped his pencil on the ground.
Feeling as if his job to make a wish was done, he packed away his telescope and notepad. He put them away gently and quietly, glancing at the clock. 2:30 am. He should have gone to bed hours ago, but the weariness from lack of sleep was defrayed by the chance to see the shooting star.
He kept waiting in anticipation, wringing his hands together and humming music to himself. More time passed by. A minute. Five minutes. A half hour. If there was one thing that Asher knew for sure about himself, it was that he could wait if he needed to.
In contrast to Asher's careful patience, an echoing thud noise snapped him out of his daze. Glaring eyes full of annoyance met his, and he knew that his father had discovered that he snuck outside. Again. His father practically dragged him through the back door by the hood of his sweatshirt.
"How many times have a told you not to sneak outside? How many times?" He spat the words from his mouth like they had a bitter taste, which made him flinch. "You're going to wake up your mother, and all for the sake of what? Looking at stars?"
He pressed his hand roughly onto Asher's back and lightly shoved him down the hallway. A circle of dark under each of those gray-blue eyes showed his exhuastion. "Get back to bed."
