Stars Don't Name Themselves

Prologue : Moving

     Angelie was lying down silently on her bed, looking up at the galaxy. Well, not exactly the actual galaxy, but a painted version of it on her ceiling. The swirls of pink, purple, and blue mixing together; the white and warm colored dots that were supposed to represent stars and planets, so far out of reach but yet so close.

     That had been her childhood, always looking up at this galaxy whenever she laid down. When Mary had been by her side, they would make up the craziest stories in those universes. Hell, Mary had even helped paint the ceiling those bright, wonderful colors. From choosing the perfect paints to even putting the paintbrushes to plaster (with the help of Angelie's mother as well), they made their stories happen.

     Angelie shook her head to get rid of the memories, her eyes full of tears. She turned her head to the side as Stardust, her cat, leaped up onto the bed and approached her, pawing his way across the mattress. She took him in her arms and held him on her chest, letting a silent tear trail down her cheekbone. 

     "Everything's alright, Stardust," Angelie sniffed, "at least I still have you." She gave a small smile while she stroked his silky, black fur, and he mewled in response. She laid there for many more moments, her mind flooded with a torrent of thoughts that kept her under, with Stardust still nestled on top of her.

     "Angelie! Honey, you have to get ready!" her mother called from downstairs, finally breaking the blank barrier between Angelie and the real world. She got up quickly, setting Stardust back down on the bed, and grabbed some essential items to make it look like she was already working; some clothes, books, and a few other small trinkets that could fit into boxes.

     Before she finally left her room, she suddenly whirled around to take in the sight of that sky one last time. So much of her life, from the earliest years to now, had been spent between these safe walls and underneath that familiar roof; this place had been her home. And she was leaving it behind forever, because Mary wasn't here to share the comfort with her.

     "Goodbye," she whispered softly, turning her back and walking away from the only thing that she really knew.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

     Angelie shuffled down the stairs and made her way to the living room, passing tall stacks of boxes in the corners of the hallways. She stopped to open a box on top of one of the stacks and shove the random belongings in it before continuing on. She could hear her mother packing items in the kitchen, which was adjacent with the living room.

     As she rounded the corner into the living room, she could see her mother packing vigorously surrounded by a kingdom of boxes; still working as hard as ever. Angelie let a small grin slip onto her face, and her mother returned it when she looked up. Angelie held up a dish and waggled her eyebrows, a kind of gesture that said need some help?, and they both giggled. They worked in their comfortable silence, packing up basically the whole rest of the house.

     After they put all of their boxes into the rented moving truck and Angelie put Stardust in his kennel onto the backseat, they finally took their places at the front, breathing sighs of relief. Angelie resorted to looking back at her house, a blank reflection of the place she used to know. Her mother started the engine, but seemed to stall for a moment.

     "You can cry if you need to," her mother said softly, the sorrow clear in her voice. Angelie shifted uncomfortably as their delicate and needed silence broke with those words. Those dreaded words.

     "I've cried enough already," Angelie smiled wryly, avoiding eye contact. Her mother took it as a sign to move on from that topic of discussion, and she turned the key and started to drive. Angelie shifted her gaze to the sky as her past life faded out of view; the pinks, purples, and blues painfully familiar. But instead of stars, white clouds signaled a new beginning.

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Hi! I'm JAPEGB (Just a person enjoying good books), and this is my first book!

Since this is a work in progress, I'm going to try to upload new chapters on the weekends; mainly Saturdays, but Sundays if needs be (I'm so sorry if I'm late!! I'm also sorry if the chapters seem a bit short). And if I write more than one chapter, I'll publish them like regular

Anyway, thank you to everyone reading this book, no matter if you just randomly came across it or it was recommended to you or anything else; it has always been a dream come true for me to have people actually read something I put so much hard work in :)

I'll see you this Saturday (1/25/2020), JAPEGB~