Prompted Shorties

Shine

Prompt: You're lying on your back in a soft carpet of early spring grass, watching familiar constellations drift across a clear night sky. Suddenly, you notice a particularly bright one among the others... and you're quite sure it wasn't there last night.

Story:

"Do you sleep here? I could've sworn I saw you lying here last night." Said the little girl. I can hear her dragging her dextrose onto the soft carpet of early spring grass.

I wonder what she's in for?

"I'm just watching the stars. Shouldn't you be inside?" I asked her but didn't take my eyes away from the stars, they look beautiful tonight.

"I'm dying anyway, I may as well enjoy standing up while I still can." She spoke softly, yet brutally blatant. I was baffled at her calmness despite of what she just told me.

"You're dying? Of what?" I began to sit up, faced her way and inspected every inch of what I could. She doesn't look older than my little sister who's eight now. Her lips were so pale and dry, her hair is all messy, she looks way too skinny for her age and she has noticeable bruises around her arms, legs and neck.

Could it be? Leukaemia?

"Leukaemia?" "Leukaemia." Me and her said respectively at the same time. I've seen this before.

"How'd you know?" She asked as she started looking up at the stars.

"Had a feeling." I lied. I had a friend once, Tammy. We were only seven when she found out she had Leukaemia, she was about to turn eight at that time. "They look great though, right?" I tried changing the subject.

"Yeah. I wish I could be a star." She walked closer to me and slowly sat down. I know this isn't good for her – sitting outside in the open – but, I don't want to tell her what to do with her life. I learned that the hard way. Tammy's family and I tried to tell her, all her do's and don'ts. Turns out she was as stubborn about it and ended up doing more harm to herself than it should.

"I heard, when people go, another star is added into the galaxy." I said.

"I wish that were true." She said. Now that I think about it, she doesn't appear to have the mind of a kid her age.

"How old are you anyway?" I finally asked.

"Eight. You?" Eight. Just like Tammy. I miss her.

"Sixteen." I replied.

"Sixteen huh? What's it like?" What an odd question for a kid to ask. But then again, now that I think about it, it's not too unusual for someone like her to ask this.

"Oh gosh, puberty sucks. Boys are still gross, and to top it all off, you get periods which hurts a lot." I told her, which made her giggle. Which then got followed by a cough. I couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she must be going through now. But I'm glad I made her laugh even for just a little.

"What are you here for?" She asked after she was done coughing.

"My dad's kidney is getting treated." I said as I lay back down on the soft grass, the cold wind finally settling in after all this time.

"Oh! In the, die-uhm, dye ally-suses?"

"Dialysis." I chuckled. I'm shocked that she even knew the word.

"That's the one." She laughed herself, which followed by more coughs.

"There you are! Your parents are worried sick about you." That must be her nurse walking straight towards us. "You're not supposed to be outside anymore."

"I'm okay Carly. Really." She said to her nurse. "It was nice talking to you... uhm."

"Kelly. My name's Kelly." I said.

"Brianna." She replied as she waved goodbye to me and got taken away by her nurse.

Brianna and I shared a few more talks over the weeks while I slowly witnessed her body degrading. On the eighth week, I heard the news from her nurse, Carly, which broke my heart. I knew it was coming but I still couldn't help myself but to cry. That night, I was lying on the grass watching the stars; everything was familiar except for one.

That one tiny star, shining its greatest bright light right next to the big dipper.

I knew it from that moment, its Brianna's star.