The Girl and Her Stars

It was a beautiful mid-autumn day, but to the girl in the woods, everyday was beautiful regardless of which season it happened to be.

The breeze would ebb and flow like the forests’ gentle breath, rustling the trees and shaking loose leaves to fall gracefully. The air would wisp by her ears causing her long silver hair to dance to the wind. She would sometimes close her eyes and feel the crisp air caress her lilac colored skin as it blows. Her life was in the woods, sitting on a wide mound of grass guarded by the ancient oak trees that surrounded her.

Although she loved the forest, watching the trees sway and the animals graze to prepare for the coming winter, she hadn’t known of anything else. She had been sitting on the mound for as long as she could remember. Not even the mask made of worn, burnt leather and tarnished iron wire that was strapped tightly to her mouth seemed to have a beginning, but she didn’t care. As far as she knew, the mask, much like the forest and animals within, had always been there and will always be.

The mask was large and uncomfortable. Sometimes she would try to call out to an animal grazing near, but the mask would shift when she moved her lips and gouged her with rusty iron spikes embedded in the leather. It would hurt for a moment, but she would reposition the mask and silently continue to watch. Sometimes, she would think about removing the mask, but the thought would always make her feel sad and alone.

The girl loved to watch the sunset, but nighttime was always her favorite. After beautiful days like that day, she would look up into the night sky and enjoy the glittering of worlds beyond her reach.

Seasons pass like forgotten moments. Everyday the girl sat and watched the forest as it bustled with life. Every clear night, she would stare at the stars. As time passed, she began to notice the animals that once grazed around her stopped coming. The old oaks that used to creak and sway didn’t seem as lively and the leaves were dull in color. This was devastating to the girl, but worst of all, the stars stopped showing themselves at night, but were blocked by a foul fog that seemed to coat everything. The only thing she had left was an uncomfortable mask that clutched her face. One foggy and quiet starless night, she cried. Although she had always been by herself in the woods, this is the first time she has ever felt like she was truly alone.

The next morning, she collected her thoughts and dried her tears. She shifted her body and slowly stood to her feet. This was the first time she could recall ever doing this, but for some reason she couldn’t understand, it felt familiar. Her first step onto the dull and dry grass felt familiar still. She looked around at the ring of trees standing lifeless. She walks to the edge of the trees and hears something strange far into the distance. Not trees or birds, but a faint rumble. The sadness in her turns to curiosity, and as it turns, she begins to feel a small pit in her stomach. It was the same feeling she gets when she thinks about removing the mask, but she ignores the feeling and starts her journey toward the noise.

She traveled for days through the sickening fog and dying forest until reaching a clearing. She stands at the edge and stares into the distance. Astonished, she sees a vast area with no trees. Only large gray structures that spike from the earth that span the far distance. She felt an unusual sadness, but she continued as her curiosity compelled her.

She walked for days until she finally reached the edge of the stone metropolis. She realized the closer she arrived, the less gray it looked, but more multicolored and swarming with people. She knew she had seen people before, but like everything else, couldn’t remember when or why. She just knew these were people, but she was astonished by how many there were. Grouped together, walking in different directions. There were large objects with people inside that zoomed around. She had seen birds and shooting stars whip through the sky at great speed, but never anything this big and close to the ground. The smell of that place made her sick and weak, but she was determined to find out where her stars had gone.

She cautiously walks into the crowd. They rush around her like a violent river until her progress is stopped. They bump into her from left and right as if she weren’t even there. She tries to run to a clearing between two structures, but is knocked down by a man in gray, talking loudly with his hand to his ear. Fearful and confused, she curls into a ball and starts to cry as the people step over her and kick her without a second thought. She hears someone call out “Hey!” barely audible through the rushing crowd. She looks towards the voice and sees a boy wearing a thick brown coat and matching hat running towards her. He pushes people out of his way, reaches out and grabs her hand and runs to the nearby clearing.

“Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Where are your clothes?” The boy bombarded with questions. He whips off his coat and drapes it around her naked body. He pauses as he looks into her deep purple eyes. Her silken silver hair drapes over her face before she quickly clears it away and tucks it behind her ear. The boy had never seen anyone more unusual looking and especially, nobody as beautiful. “Are you hurt?” The boy asks softly, looking deep into her eyes. She nods and smiles, only for her expression to be blocked by the mask. She shakes in fear, but is able to hold the smile behind the mask as the iron rods poke her lips. She adjusts the mask and grabs the coat around her to pull it tight. The boy reaches towards the mask, but before he could touch it, she quickly reaches up and grabs his hand.

“I’m sorry.” The boy said. “I didn’t mean to. I’ve just never seen anyone wear a mask before. Not like that at least.”

The girl looks at him and she holds his hand tight. The boy looks at her pale hand in awe. Her skin was unbelievably soft and cold, like fine soil. He looks back to her to see her eyes starting to water. She lets go of his hand and looks to the sky. She watches the fog lingering above and she walks past the boy to continue her quest unsure of where to go.

The boy runs up from behind her and apologizes. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Please. Wait.”

She stops and looks back at the boy.

“You look like you’ve lost something. Can I help? I mean, I kind of did save your life.” The boy smirks with some self gratitude. The girl looks back at the crowd still rushing back and forth before turning back to him and nods.

“Great! But… what are we looking for?” The girl looks to the sky and points up.

“Smog?” the boy asks. The girl shakes her head and looks at him with distraught eyes. “I’m sorry, but I can’t understand. The mask… can you…” The boy reaches up, but keeping a safe distance away, points at her mask and makes a waving gesture as if he were asking her to remove it.

She stands still and thinks about it. The pit in her stomach began to grow.

“Let’s take it off. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.” The boy comforted her and slowly reached closer.

The girl allowed him to touch the mask, but the more she let him, the more the pit in her stomach grew. He fumbled with the iron rings that held it tight and was able to find a weak rusty spot. He twists and breaks the ring causing the mask to loosen. The pit had grown past mere nervousness into a sickness. She felt terrible, but she felt if she was going to find her stars, she was going to need his help.

The boy carefully grabs both sides of the mask and snakes it from around her head. He pulls it away revealing her face. Her soft lips complimented her face as he stood in awe. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and would do anything to be by her side.

“How does that feel?” The boy nervously asks.

She smiles for the first time without pain. It felt wonderful and the sickness had subsided.

“My name is John, what’s yours?”

She paused to think. A name? She has one, she was sure of it, but couldn’t remember what it was.

“Do you have a name?” The boy asks carefully as not to agitate her further. She looks up at him and begins to speak. The boy gets nervous and his eyes widen.

As soon as her mouth opened. A blinding white light came out from within her engulfing everything. A deep, deafening noise shook the earth as she tried to speak. She closed her mouth as quickly as she could, but it was too late. The boy was gone. Everything was gone. The busy and noisy metropolis she stood in was nothing but rubble and fire. She looked around at the newly created wasteland for anything that was familiar. She looked up to the sky, but it was blacked out with smoke.

Her eyes well up with tears and she dropped to her knees and began to cry. Everything was gone. There were no more people. There were no more structures. No Animals and no stars. She had lost it all.

She opened her eyes and saw the mask laying at her feet. She reaches out and picks up the broken mask to inspect it. She searched around with tears falling from her drowning purple eyes to find a small metal wire in a pile of rubble. She picked it up and looped it through the mask where the iron ring used to be. She put the mask around her head and bent the metal piece to lock the mask as a reminder to never remove it again.The iron rod gouged her lips causing her to adjust the mask on her face. She looks around at where the bustling city once stood, but she knew there was nothing left for her. She was sure, the stars would never return.

She walks back into the forest. A seemingly endless line of dead and scorched trees were all that was left in her once beautiful forest. After reaching the ring of oak trees now dead and black, she walked over the dried brown grass to the middle where once she sat. She takes another look at the sky to see utter blackness. She sat down on the ground and continued to cry.

She sat in the forest guarded by the dead oak trees for what may have been lifetimes. Everyday, she searched for something, anything that made her happy. The pit in her stomach continued to rage, until one night, she looked up. The black clouds that engulfed everything gave way. There was a small break in the clouds and beyond that, were stars. More stars than she had ever remembered. Her crying stopped as she sat in awe of all the stars that glittered through the clouds. The sadness slowly faded away and she began to smile. The iron in her mask poked her lips and she adjusted her mask.

She thought about removing the uncomfortable mask, but something felt wrong about it. She looked to the stars and figured, like her forest and the stars in the sky, the mask had always been there and so shall it always be.