The Force Awakens

Chapter 18

The First Order reigns. Having  decimated the peaceful Republic, Supreme Leader Snoke now deploys his merciless legions to seize military control of the galaxy.

Only General Leia Organa's small band of Resistance fighters stand against the rising tyranny, certain that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker will return and restore a spark of hope to the fight.

But the Resistance has been exposed. As the First Order speeds toward the rebel base, the brave heroes mount a desperate escape...

HOPE.

Of all the shared beliefs in the universe, none was as outrageous—or as powerful. Born in the heart, not the mind, it blossomed in the bleakest of moments, inspiring courage when nothing else could. Logic and reason it defied. Faith and friendship it embraced. It was the antidote to despair, a sword for the soul, the last candle in the night. It was the lone voice that said there still might be a chance. Wrongs could be made right. The future remained untold. All was not lost.

For me and countless others, Luke Skywalker was the living embodiment of hope.

Decades before, when the Galactic Empire had imposed its tyranny on the galaxy, this farm boy from Tatooine destroyed the first Death Star and dethroned the Emperor. His bravery had stirred spirits across the galaxy, demonstrating that one person could make a difference, even in the darkest of times.

Yet as I looked at him standing on the cliff, holding the lightsaber I had placed in his hand, there was something not quite right about him, something profoundly sad.

The blue in his eyes had faded. Wrinkles burdened his brow. His hair was unkempt, peppered white and gray like his beard, and his robes were disheveled and grimy. It had probably been a long time since he had washed them—or himself.

His scraggly appearance didn't trouble me. He was still a Jedi and could teach me more about my special talents, which I could not control or comprehend by myself. And he could help save the Resistance from the First Order, as he had saved the Rebellion from the Empire. The galaxy needed Luke Skywalker to return.

But when he tossed his old lightsaber over the cliff without saying a word, I felt all my hopes fall with it.

He strode past me with barely a look, his robes swishing about him. I stood there, confounded. Had I made a mistake? Had I somehow insulted him? We haven't even exchanged a word. All I had done was present the lightsaber that had belonged to him, years before.

"What? You don't recognize me?" I question. He didn't even glance back at me.

I followed him up the way I had come, then down the hill into what appeared to be a small settlement. Mounds of stacked stones formed primitive dwellings that bristled with lightning rods on the roofs. Luke walked into the biggest of these huts, then slammed the door behind him.

I paused at the hut. Perhaps a more formal introduction was in order. I rapped my knuckles on the metal door. "Master Skywalker? Its me, Annie. My mother sent me, General Leia Organa. We need your help. We need you to come back."

He did not answer. I knocked louder. "Hello?"

Again, he ignored me.

My mother had told me that my uncle had become withdrawn since we'd last seen him, but I hadn't imagined he'd be so plain rude. In the old stories about him, he had always come off as sunny and sociable, a person who was friendly with everyone.

I remained there for some time, not knocking again. When it became obvious he wasn't going to come out or let me inside, I tried the door handle. It was locked.