A Night Dreams and Wishes
The sky was bare and Ari was disappointed. She had expected stars, but there was nothing but an endless void of black. She sighed, remembering the constellations she had seen. The sky had been so beautiful back then, but now it seemed like it was stripped bare and robbed of its jewels. Her sister had taught her not to be afraid of the dark. She had showed her the stars and taught her their legends.
But now the stars had disappeared, masked away by the city lights. Looking at the sky made Ari remember all her fears of the dark.
"Do not fear the darkness, Ari, because without it the stars wouldn't shine. And who would listen to all your wishes then?" Her sister would tell her and would laugh, and so would Ari. She would point at a star and wish something absurd, knowing that it would not be fulfilled. But simply doing that would calm Ari down. They would then trace patterns in the stars until they both fell asleep.
But she was gone now and so were the stars. She couldn't even wish her back as the stars had chosen to disappear. No, not chosen, forced to. She fell to her knees as the darkness choked her. Her sister had left, not wanting to fight the darkness with her anymore. She was happy and Ari knew it but it still hurt her. No one was there with her to fight the darkness. Ari thought she should just let it win.
But then… something twinkled at the corner of her eye. A star. Only one, shining even though its brothers and sisters had disappeared. It was shining for the very people who forced it to disappear, thought Ari. The sight was beautiful and devastating all at once. So Ari did the only thing she could think of. She wished, wished for the stars to appear again. For them to shine. She wished but the star didn't listen.
Anger filled Ari. After all the stars never listened to any of her wishes before. Why would they now? But some part of her told her to try, to make them listen. So she turned off every light in her vicinity. Even the street lights that she wasn't allowed to turn off. It was silly and Ari knew it. This would make no difference as there was an entire city filled with lights. But Ari did it anyway. She stood in complete darkness until she couldn't bear it anymore. She was about to turn them on again but she couldn't move as fear paralyzed her. But then… slowly the stars stared to appear. And then the sky was filled with them. Ari stood and watched, watched the slow dance of the stars as they lured her to sleep.
Only later did Ari realize that the star had listened after all. It was only waiting to see if Ari had been worthy enough for her wish to be fulfilled.
The writer is a grade 7 student at Sir John Wilson School.
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