Little Green Stars

Chapter 20-Antares

It's almost morning, and the night was uneventful in terms of Red Lady. Which is great because that means Jin's alive, and we don't have a mess to pick up in his room. But, it's also bad because that means whatever is happening to me is because of me—which is exactly what I was afraid of. It would have been a lot easier to find an exorcist to expel some demon inside me. But no, per usual, I'm the problem, and now Jin and I are on our own. But honestly, I've been enjoying my time with Jin, so a little more won't hurt.

"I told you," I say, as the conversation finally stalls, the sleep deprivation kicking in.

"What'd you tell me?" Jin says while laying on my floor, literally holding his eyelids open.

"The stars," I say, pointing up at my wall. I hadn't even noticed them the whole time because we'd spent hours looking through my mom's stuff and then hours just talking about anything and everything. "They're green."

Jin sits up and blinks several times. "Man, I must be really tired," Jin says, now rubbing his eyes. "Because those legit look red."

"Jin, those are one hundred percent green..."

Jin rolls over to meet my eyes, and we share a long, weird staring contest until his eyes light up.

"The stars!" Jin demands, sitting up to rummage around for something.

"What are you doing?" I ask as my tiredness makes me fumble around as I try to sit up too.

"I don't know what it means, but I remember reading something about green stars in the astrology book last night..." Jin begins, flipping through Mom's book. "It said that there are no green stars, only white or blue. However, some stars appear green to some people because of the optical illusion given off by a red object, making nearby objects look green," Jin summaries as he continues to flip through the book. "Here!" Your mom circled this. Antares?"

"What is it?"

"Looks like it's a part of the constellation Scorpius, it's a bright red star that makes other stars around it look green."

"What does that have to do with my freakin night light?" My fuzzy brain is having a hard time making a connection.

"Isn't it weird that you think the nightlight is green, and I think it's red when it says to some observers a star can look green when it's by something red?"

"Jin, you are sleep deprived. There's nothing red around these stars!" I try not to laugh at his newest conspiracy.

"What about your hair?"

"I mean, I guess it's weird, but Jin, can we worry about one thing at a time?"

"Sorry, your right," Jin adds, flopping back down. "I think we can officially call it."

"Agreed."

"Good news is that some demon is not possessing you. Bad news is I'm not sure where we go from here."

"I think you're right about my family history," I say, not wanting to admit it.

Jin gets quiet, he must agree with me but just not want to admit it.

"We looked through all this crap and found nothing to explain any of this," I say, looking at all my Mom's stuff scattered over my floor.

"I don't think I've ever been this tired in my entire life," Jin says, rubbing his face. "Two nights in a row of no sleep..."

"I'm sorry," I say, feeling like shit for dragging him into all this.

"I'm not," he says, "Most fun I've had in a long time."

I can't help but feel warmth swirl in my stomach at his words because I feel the same way. "Aren't you afraid what will happen if we can't figure out what's going on?"

"One problem at a time," Jin says, standing to grab his bag. "Which reminds me, I need to get home. What's our game plan today?"

"Same," I say, standing to help him collect his things.

"So, keep up the hate?" Jin asks

"One hundred percent, yes!"

"You sure you're okay with all this?"

"It's fine, it's kind of fun, right?"

"I think it'd be more fun to just hang with you all day..." Jin says, moving closer to me.

"What about tonight?" I say, changing the subject.

"Same," Jin says, lingering closer to me.

"I'm going to try and see if I can find anything in Maeve's room, you know, anything that might help or anything at all I can find or..." Damnit. I'm rambling.

"Hey," Jin says, now standing directly in front of me, as his hips brush my stomach. "Thanks for not killing me again." Before I know it, Jin's arms are around me, hugging me. My arms, taken by surprise, dangle a minute before finding their way around Jin. And although it feels weird and strange to be hugging someone, for a minute, it also feels pretty damn good knowing someone actually cares about me. The hug seems to last forever but not long enough. As Jin's hands shyly move away from me, he gives a quick wave goodbye before opening my door to sneak out.

I collapse on my bed as lack of sleep, the tingles from the hug, and all the unknowns overwhelm me. It's like there's a million different explosions of thoughts, feelings, and worries that are going off inside me. What should be the scariest thing that has ever happened to both of us has turned out to be the most exciting. It's crazy, but it's been fun. But honestly, how much longer can we keep this up?

As I stare, watching the morning sun beaming through my window and shadow the little green stars filling my ceiling, I can't help but wonder. Why do they look red to Jin and green to me and what connection, if any, does it have to that star thing Jin found in Mom's book? Could it be that Jin sees things as they really are, and I see things as illusions? If so, what am I blind to? There has to be something I'm missing.

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