"In darkness there are more stars than you can count, but in the day there is only one."
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"Toby..." a voice whispers gently.
"Toby," The same voice calls, louder this time.
"Toby!"
The girl jolts upright, unintentionally catapulting herself out of her bed. She lands with an 'oof', her covers falling on top of her in a heap.
A soft chuckle echoes in the room, filling the girl with nostalgia before the blanket is lifted from her face. A woman inspects the child's state, a smile gracing her lips as she pulls her from the pile.
"What were you doing under there, my little knight?" She hums, tickling her daughter's belly.
"I fell out," the girl giggles, smacking her mother's hands in play.
"Did you now?" Her mother raises a brow, halting in her assault. "Well, since you're awake, would you like to see something amazing?"
She bounces up and down in excitement, 'like a little jackrabbit,' her mother thinks. The little girl grasps the woman's hand, trembling with anticipation.
"Calm down, little one," a chuckle slips from her lips as she guides the little Toby from her room.
"What is it, Mommy? What is it?" She skips along, oblivious to the blanket her mother picks off the couch.
"You'll see; it's a surprise."
"What kind of surprise?"
"A surprising one."
"Awwwh," Toby groans in annoyance, used to the woman's way of avoiding questions.
"Come now, it wasn't that bad," she smiles down at the girl.
"Yes it was."
Her mother opens the screen door, leading her out onto the porch before shutting it behind them. She switches on a flashlight, lighting their path across the lawn and into the fields of wheat. They follow a well-worn path, the grasses flattened and trampled into a winding trail towards a small clearing.
The little girl skips beside her older counterpart, innocent and sweet, thinking only of stars and science, her eyes containing hidden vast knowledge. Her free hand grasps her nightdress tightly in a fist, keeping it from dragging in the dirt.
At last, the wheat parts for the duo, allowing the woman enough room to lay the blanket on the ground. Her daughter watches in curiosity, the gears of her brain spinning wildly to figure what she's doing. After sorting their seating arrangements, her mother takes her seat and beckons the girl. Hesitantly, she plops down in the middle of the blanket and observes as the woman switches off the flashlight.
A gasp of wonder echoes in the field, the little girl captivated by a sight she has seen a great many times. Countless stars flicker in the night sky, like trapped fireflies, glowing in the girl's wide eyes.
"Do you see that there?" The woman points to a section of the sky. "That's Aquarius, my little knight. That's my favourite constellation."
"Wow," the girl's eyes sparkle with starlight, entranced by the beauty. "That one's my favourite."
"Orion?" Her mother asks, a smile on her lips.
"Yeah."
Silence comes between them, nothing needed to be said as they admire the stars above. Margret fidgets, playing with a metal ring on her finger, her thoughts straying to what lies in the future.
YOU ARE READING
Gears and Pistons | | Bayverse | | Book 1
Fanfiction| |"Perhaps it's not fate then, perhaps its merely coincidence."| | | |"I have lost everything, and yet, I have gained everything too."| | Toby Williams, a frightfully intelligent eighteen year old woman who thinks of nothing but stars and engines...
