supermoonthing - Tumblr blog

supermoonthing · 5 years ago

Text

Blue

Full-moon nights are always tough, especially the winter ones. When the moon shines over the landscape, the snow reflects its light in millions of millions of little particles, and sends the beams to all directions, on buildings and trees and cars. But it always feels like they all at once find their way to my window. The twinkles flicker on my wall like stars in the night sky, the light holding my tired eyes open. I hold my teddy close to comfort me.

And that’s why I hate them. I hate the real stars, too, and the moon, because it’s their fault, that I can’t sleep. I turn over, again and again but no position could possibly help me escape the shaky shimmers behind my eyelids. I press them together, so hard that my face is all wrinkled. My face muscles tingle from the strain, even the last ones at the back of my head work to let nothing but darkness through. I roll my eyes up as far as I can so no light can get to them.

My ears fill with soft tinkle. The sound takes me by surprise. It is silent, quite distant, but seems to be coming from more than one place. It’s almost as if it was permeating everything around me. I open my eyes, sit up and look around. My bedroom is still, no sign of anything that could give out such sound. Is the moon making it? It’s sure trying to annoy me even more. My parents went to sleep long time ago, it couldn’t be them, and it looks like the source isn’t in my room either. The only disturbing thing here is the abundance of light. Although… Has it gotten even brighter? I frown in frustration. I slide off my bed and walk over to the window.

‘There you are,’ I hiss at the large glowing ball occupying the sky. ‘It’s all your fault!’ shout I.

And I wait and wait, but the moon doesn’t answer. It doesn’t even flinch under my stare. Not a bit of shame. ‘You’re a mean one,’ I say finally, ‘and you don’t deserve all the shine.’

I turn my body away to go back to bed, but then I catch another one – another moon. This one’s not as bright. I look curiously at the surface of our garden pond, then at the sky and its biggest inhabitant, and then again at his tremulous, weaker twin. ‘Hm.’ The tinkling is now almost gone. The moon has stopped making it – I scared him. ‘I didn’t know I was that threatening,’ I whisper to myself.

‘Will you help me get my star back, please?’ a high-pitched voice says behind me.

I jump with a squeak and turn quickly around. A pair of blue eyes are gawping at me, just few centimeters from mine. I slowly pull away without breaking the eye-contact. ‘Will you help me get my star back, please?’ the figure repeats. It’s a girl, I’m sure. She looks like a girl, although a peculiar one. She’s a few bits smaller than me, but no less than four feet. Her hair is long, very long. And blue, like the rest of her. She has the biggest eyes I have ever seen.

‘You have the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen,’ I blurt. She blinks and tilts her head in confusion. I freeze for a second, but then I straighten my back and look down on her. ‘Who are you? And what are you doing in my room?’

She looks around - ‘Is this your room? My star almost hit it.’ – then back at me: ‘You’re quite lucky, sir.’

I scowl on her. ‘Lucky? I can’t sleep because of all the light! And now you are here! How did you get to my room without me noticing?’

She throws up her arms. ‘I’m trying to get my star back!’

‘Your star?’

‘Yes! I dropped it, you see. I’m very clumsy with my star, although I’ve never dropped it before.’

Silence settles between us as we look at each other. Her skin is very pale, almost white. She has all human features, but I don’t think she is. She’s too blue for a human. ‘Who are you? You’re so blue. I didn’t even know there were so many blues in the world!’

She looks down on her sky-colored hands. ‘I… I am a light-bringer. I hold my star up in the sky, so it shines on you people.’

I feel my anger grow in me. ‘Well, we don’t appreciate it! It’s annoying and I want to sleep!’

‘But will you help me?’

I am impatient. ‘Get your star back?’

She nods vigorously. ‘Yes! And then I’ll leave you to sleep.’ I squint at her suspiciously. ‘I swear! I know exactly where my star is!’

My eyebrows shoot up. ‘You do? Where?’

She hops to the window and points outside. ‘There!’ she exclaims with excitement. ‘Do you see it?’ I shake my head.

‘It’s just over there, in the water!’

‘Wait… Your star is in our pond?’ I realize that the second moon I spotted on the water’s surface was no moon. I turn to her in disbelief. ‘But it’s winter! The water is freezing! How do you want to get your star out?’

She gazes at me. ‘Well… Could you help me out?’

I open my mouth. Help her out? How?! By drowning in the icy water?

Her eyes are fixed on mine. ‘Please?’

I growl. ‘Fine! But you’ll go away right after we’re done, and,’ I stick up my finger like my mom does sometimes, ‘you’ll tell the moon to stop shining so bright. He can shine a little, though. But not too much.’

She cackles and grabs my hand. ‘Let’s go then!’ She pulls me, and so we run. But she is rather bouncing, as if she weighed no more than a little bird, hopping from one branch on another.

On we dash, on the corridor in front of my room, down the stairs and across the living room to the door leading to our garden. She twists the key and almost throws the door off the hinges. We rush out, and suddenly we are standing by the pond, on the water’s edge. It is not coated by ice – the temperature is not as low as I expected but it’s still very cold. Too cold for just pajamas and slippers. In no time my entire body is shaking. Nothing but her breathing and my clapping teeth can be heard. Chilly breeze blows over the snowdrifts.

My bizarre companion kneels and investigates the water. At the very bottom, twelve feet underwater, sits a bright object. It doesn’t look too big from here. Little waves on the surface smear its glow into playful glimmers. ‘Well,’ she starts, but doesn’t finish.

‘Uhm,’ say I. I don’t know what to do. She doesn’t seem cold at all, but I am urging every bit of me to not run back inside. ‘I don’t feel like swimming right now,’ I whisper.

Her shoulders drop. ‘Are you cold?’ I look at her angrily. ‘I didn’t realize you could be cold.’ She looks guilty. I know she is sorry, so I try to smile to ease the tension. ‘It’s best if we get this over with as fast as possible,’ I decide. ‘Do you know how to do that without me freezing to death?’

Her face lights up. ‘Oh, but the water isn’t cold at all. It’s lukewarm at the least.’ She sticks her arm in the water all the way up to her elbow and grins at me. ‘Try it,’ and so I do. I let out a surprised giggle. She’s right.

I jump up and look at her. ‘Alright. I’ll get your star out for you. But before I go in the water, get me a blanket from the living room – it’s on the sofa.’ As she disappears inside, I begin to take of my clothes until I’m only left with my underwear on. She comes back to me, the blanket in her arms. ‘Good,’ I tell her. I do four or five springs to warm myself up, even though I know it won’t help, not in this weather. ‘When I get out, you grab the star and tuck me in the blanket, okay?’ She nods. ‘If I get too cold, I can fall very, very ill, understand?’ Another nod.

No use delaying this.

I turn my face to the water and breathe in. One, two, three. The snow makes a crispy sound as I take the leap.

It’s like a punch when my face and the water meet, but it doesn’t break my focus. I am a good swimmer. It takes no more than few paces for me to get to the star. I can’t tell its shape – it’s too blinding to look straight at. I plant my feet in the muddy ground and wrap my arms around it. Its rough surface is warm. I want to spring up, but it’s too heavy. I pull and pull, but the star won’t move. This is not as easy as it seemed at first. I look around. The little pond is illuminated by the star well enough, but there’s nothing apart from few plants, nothing that could help me. I need to get the star out myself. I rub it all over to find a better way to grip it, but it looks like it’s almost perfectly round with few bumps and dents.

A large bubble escapes my mouth. I grow frustrated. If I can’t lift the damned rock, she won’t leave me alone! Why doesn’t she get one of her star friends to help her anyway? Why doesn’t she ask the moon? I kick the star as hard as I can with the water slowing down my foot. The star moves a bit. I kick again, and the star moves slightly more, but something appears to be holding it in place. I feel it with my palms, every inch of it. Something sharp cuts my fingers. A thorn hooks my thumb as I brush against a sprout that clungs to the star. I forget where I am and open my mouth in thrill. Gotcha! I grope and find more sprouts. I rip them all, ignoring the pain in my hands. One after another, until –

The star shoots up, taking me with it. We jump out with a loud ‘pop’ and the force throws me off on the ground next to the pond. I breathe in and out fast and deep, like I’m trying to devour all of world’s air.

She is here, covering me with the blanket. My body is trembling, my teeth chattering. I look up at her. ‘You did it,’ she laughs. ‘You saved my star!’ I am exhausted and cold. I can hardly feel my feet. The shiny sphere is floating on the pond’s surface. I wonder how it hasn’t woken up my parents yet.

She follows my gaze. ‘I shall go back soon. My star has been missing for too long.’

I finally speak: ‘And I need to go to bed.’

She smiles. She’s pretty when she smiles. ‘That’s right.’

I stand up to say goodbye. She walks over to the pond and captures her star. Then she comes back to me, holding the star under her left arm, placing her right palm on my cheek.

I flinch in surprise, but don’t move her hand away.

‘Thank you,’ she whispers.

We’re both smiling. The cold has gone away.

‘Don’t forget to tell the moon – ‘

‘Don’t worry.’

‘Okay.’ I’m so tired.

‘I’ll be watching over you.’

I decide to say it. ‘Come visit me sometime.’ She stares off into the distance for few seconds but when she returns to me, there’s a cheeky spark in her eyes. ‘I might.’

I let out a long sigh. ‘Great.’

‘Great,’ she repeats after me.

And with a dazzling flash of light, she’s gone.

#short story #fantasy #fiction #short fiction #creative #stars #kids stories #imagination #creative writing #childrens stories #writing #writers on tumblr #my writing #fantasy story

6 notes · View notes