The Dark Side of the Moongazer

“Starseer, what makes you happy?”

“Watching the sky with you every night, being your favorite out of all the others, chocolate,” she lists off with ease that no normal five year old would have.

“Oh yeah? Well, can you guess what makes me happy?” I poke at her side making her smile real big and push my hand away.

“Me!” She shrieks with amusement as I sweep her up into my arms and tickle her little sides making her vibrate with laughter. Starseer breaks from my arms, bolting for the woods just behind us, her little gray dress flitting about behind her. I race after her, now pursuing in a game of chase with this little girl of innocents.

After an hour or so of this game I dropped down and rest against one of the trees, everything seemed so much lighter now as I surveyed the forest. I looked up to the sky, half of it was filled with stars the other half was beginning to teem with light.

“Starseer, come on it’s time to go now. Come on we can’t stay, the sun is coming,” I shout for her, my brows knitting together with worry as to where she could be. The worst scenario was impossible to imagine at the moment, but it lingered right there just in the back of my mind.

Moongazer.

I halt at the faint sound of my name coming to my left, towards the rising sun.

Moon, come, please.

The voice is fainter, weaker, but clearer too. It’s her voice. I run for the sun my thoughts burning the horrific images of those untold thoughts from the back of my mind; I put on an extra ounce of speed, rays of sunlight growing stronger as I got closer. Something flickers at the corner of my vision and I nearly blow it by but the color was too familiar, the silvery gray of a flowing gown. I veer around to the small child hiding in the shadow of an ancient oak towering tall and boldly against the sun, but the light rays were beginning to grow in strength and creep around the tree nearly upon the child. I risked a look at the source of this menace trying to harm my little Stars, my eyes were greeted by a blazing figure ringed in the light walking towards us.

Branches reached out for me ripping at my clothes and face, prolonging me from reaching her. A root seemed to rise up from its hold in the earth and trip me, sending me flying a couple feet forward face first into the dirt and open sunshine. In the open I felt it seer into my skin as I rose to my feet, rising in intensity starting to burn me. When I took a step my leg gave way from beneath me entrapping me longer in this sun. I looked for her, locking in with her big silver eyes pleading for her to run back to the others and to leave the light. Instead she watched on with awe inspired eyes as I dragged myself back to my feet forcing myself to bear the pain of the light as I walked to her, unwilling to let anything harm her.

“Come on, we have to leave now.” I take her little hand in my large one cradling my blackened arm against my chest, pushing her in front of me so she doesn’t get burned. The little light that did catch her merely glanced off her gown, leaving it whiter than it was before and more illuminate as we dragged on back to the night. Everyone stood well within the night waiting for us out of the day’s reach. Constellation Sights handed Starseer off to her sister, Enduring Comet, and brother, Angst Asteroid. Taking my good arm and leading me down to the grown softly, murmuring concerns to some of the other folks of the NightSkys. I only caught whispered fragments of what they said; “might die”, “never shine again”, “turn”, “half burned”, and “dark sided”, before drifting off to a restless sleep with pain and light flashing across my closed eyelids.

“Nooo.” I grab at something hovering over me as I bolt upright in my cot, disoriented and confused on what was going on. I looked down at the little girl I had crushed against my chest in a protective hug. “Star, oh Star, I’m sorry,” I apologize to the poor little girl as I release her letting her slowly crawl onto my lap and snuggle my torso. I lift my left hand to stroke her hair, finally noticing the bandages covering me all the way up my shoulder, and the other wrappings around my left leg as well. In fact my entire left side was practically covered in some time of wrapping or bandage.

“You’re awake.”

I look up at Constellation Sights standing at the entrance to my tent, her normally soft, calculating eyes filled with fear and worry flickering between little Starseer on my lap and me.

“Yeah, what’s the matter Sights?” I lift Stars from my lap and whisper to her to run off and play so we could talk.

“You were burned, Moon.”

“I want to see it for myself, I want to know Sights,” I plead with her, the fear she showed mirrored in me now. Taking my hand in her’s she tugged away the bandages at the end of my fingers, creeping higher up revealing the blackened shriveled skin that had once been white and luminous. I held up my other undamaged hand in comparison, the skin brightening on the undamaged and darkening on the charred side.

“What about my face?”

She hands me a sliver of a mirror to me, I hesitate for a second thoughts sailing through my mind about what all this could mean. I get over the minor pause and take my first, and last, look in the mirror. My left side was just as my hand was, charred and withered, with my left glowing in comparison. My eye is what shocked me the most for on the white side it was the normal milky white color but on the burned end it shone with a soft yellow color like a candle flame in the dark. I set the mirror aside turned down so I couldn’t see myself again, rising to my feet I exit the tent and look up at my real mirror, the sky, where the moon sat, half darkness and half light.

“It wasn’t like that until the next night, a small sliver appeared and it just keeps growing every week. Moongazer, before the black showed up a face appeared in the white face of the moon. Starseer calls it the man in the moon, so that must mean that no matter what the light can’t take you, you won’t change into them. You’re in there no matter your outsides.”

“For now, Constellation, I feel the fire running up and down my side and spreading as it spreads in the moon. Watch over them all for me please, and I’ll watch from a distance but I can’t stay.” I turn away from her as she tries to reach for me and tries to make me stay, “Please Sights, don’t tell Stars that I left, just tell her to keep watching the stars.” I whisper those last painful words over my shoulder to her as I take off for the deeper darker parts of the night.