This is the first part of the first chapter of my NaNoWriMo novel (it was too long to keep as one). The ending isn't the end of the chapter. I just thought I shouldn't put whole thing up at once.
~peanut~
I sit quietly, my foot tapping against the flashlight. It rolls back and forth as I kick it. Sophia doesn’t look at me; my cousin is busy. She stands with her eye pressed gently into the hole of the telescope. I know what she’s looking at, she told me; but I don’t see why she can’t just look up. The stars are falling above us, and she needs the telescope to see them. I can see them perfectly: tiny, silver, sparkles falling into the blackness where the land meets the sky.
I rip the grass up with my hands and watch the green pieces slip through the cracks between my open fingers. They land mismatched onto the grass that is still standing. I frown; it’s not as pretty to see the grass fall. I look up again. This time, Sophia is watching me, her water bottle in her hand.
There is a circle around her eye from the telescope hole; it is dark when the flashlight beams shines on it. I can see behind her as the telescope swivels on its stand and falls to a point at the ground. Water sloshes over the rim of her bottle, spraying onto her jeans as she runs to fix the star seer.
She looks back up to where the telescope pointed when she reset it. I jump when she gasps, interrupting the crickets that are chirping loudly down the hill. Quickly she grabs the green notebook beside her and the Finding Nemo pencil she took from my room before we left. She scribbles like crazy on the paper; I wait for her to rip a hole in it but am disappointed.
When she had grabbed the notebook from the ground, her hair came loose, red spirals poking out of the folds of the braid. She ignores the loose strands and just keeps writing. Then she stops.
She looks back up from the paper to the sky. I can imagine the stars’ reflections falling in her blue eyes. But I can’t see her face. I pull at the grass again. It’s not smooth; I can feel the grooves run up the green strand. As I pull it slides unwillingly between my thumb and index finger. The piece doesn’t want to come up. I yank a little harder and wait until it pops at the roots, shooting out of the ground to me.
Carefully, I put the blade of grass on top of my cat, who lies beside me on the blanket. Beaver doesn’t move, but her tail twitches in her sleep. The wind begins to start up. The grass swirls upward then falls across the air. The tree trembles against my back then shutters to a stop. Sophia’s water bottle to the left of my feet sways, the clear water ripples from the movement against the plastic.
“Alyce.” I look up. We haven’t talked for at least twenty minutes, other than the occasional surprised exclamation from Sophia. I don’t want to talk about the fight with my mom, the reason we came out here. I don't think she does either. I can’t find my voice. I wait a minute then try again. Then I find some of it. My “What?” comes out in a croak, but Sophia can see that I made an effort. She picks the water bottle up off the ground and steps over the roots that curl around the bottom of the tree.
She hands me the bottle, her soft hands cold against my warm small ones. I take a gulp of the water and hand it back to her. I wait for her to talk but she screws the top back on the container in silence.
I need to change the subject; I don't want to be roped into this conversation if it is about my mother. Since she’s not talking, I look around her tall figure. There is light creeping up from the bottom of the sky. The stars are getting dimmer as the light invades the dark. The light bleeds unnaturally into the blackness. Attacking the stars, making them fall farther, faster. Sophia doesn’t move which surprises me. I look away from her into the distance, shifting to see the hollow behind her. The stars seem to be filling the ravine of grass down to the ground below.
“Sophia,” I say first, still looking around her, my voice still. “Why do you love the stars?” It’s a stupid question but I ask it in all seriousness. I know why she loves the stars, it’s the same for my parents—her aunt and uncle. They lived for the stars, and so does she.
“Because,” she starts. I look back at her face. Even with the flash light beam barely brushing against her, I can see into her blue eyes that are only a few shades darker than mine. They are like the night sky after dusk when the stars come out. “They are God’s way of showing us that we are still alive even when we are dead. Stars are dead you know? Most of them are when we see them. But in our eyes they are alive still.” I nod, trying to make sense of it all. Beaver shifts beside me, turning onto her back, her black and orange cat belly looking up.
“So, when we die we become stars?” I ask. I think that what she’s saying but I’m not sure.
“I don’t know, Alyce, we could. Maybe that’s why there are so many in the sky and more to come,” Sophia tells me turning away. She walks back to the telescope. She takes it apart, laying it on the ground.
My mouth is dry again. I don’t know what is going on with me. I pick up Beaver without a word. She lets out a small cry as I press her to my body. Her claws catch on my shirt as she struggles, angry that she was disturbed. I give up and put her on the ground; she’ll follow us anyway, and grab the blanket. Dirt and leaves flutter to the grass as the blanket picks them up and throws them back. I shake it until it is as clean as I can get it and fold it neatly into a small rectangle.
When I turn around Sophia has already started away from the hollow back to my house. The light from the cotton candy sky stretches, shedding daylight so our flashlights are useless. I hold mine at my side, the blanket against my chest. Beaver brushes against my legs as we walk back on the muddy ground.
I'll go back and edit it. Part 2 will be up soon. Thanks for taking the time to read it.
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