Micro Fiction Monday: Stars

She always loved the stars. In the short walk from her parents’ car to the front door of their tiny house, her neck was always tipped back, eyes glued on the little white dots above her. Her mother had to guide her along, gently pushing her from behind, or else the daughter would be hypnotized all night.

When the girl was older, she crossed the town line and entered the vast fields and forests outside the city. It was then that she realized how suppressed her dear stars were—how the harsh neon smothered the gentle magic in the sky. A few dots became a million pecks, brighter and more beautiful than she could have imagined.

When she returned home, she bought some paint. It wasn’t long before the night sky was replicated on her ceiling, the last thing she saw before sleep dragged her away.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: Keepsake

She allowed herself to step back for a moment. She stepped back, leaving her body as an empty shell so she could fly. So she could sleep on a cloud with the moon as her nightlight. So she could ride the waves of the wind and collect the stars as she went.

When she returned, all was as it should be. Her extraordinary life was no longer extraordinary; mundane, as most lives are. Except, of course, for the stars filling her pockets; a keepsake and a reminder of her journey. She would keep them forever, pressed into the pages of her favourite books.

They shined just as brightly as the stories inside them.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: To Fly

There is a story told among my people, a tale of a girl who fell in love with the land dwellers. Legend says that she sold her voice to the sea gods in exchange for legs, so that she may join them in their cities and villages—but that’s where the story ends. From there, people argue of the outcome; some say she fell in love, and married human royalty. Others insist that her plan backfired, and in her heartbreak her body was turned to sea foam. This debate is one that has been going on for centuries—and one that I have no interest in.

She was foolish, that mermaid girl. The human world is disgusting and horrible, full of greedy mortals who destroy their own land, and the land of others, to advance their own selfish plans. I wouldn’t give up my voice, my fin, or anything to live with the likes of them.

But the sky, on the other hand....the sky is magical. The deep, endless blue that stretches on during the day, and the white lights that twinkle when the sun goes down. I want to brush my fingers against the fluffy white clouds that litter the sky, and replace the coolness of the water with the warmth of the sun against my skin. I want to pluck the moon out of the night and wear it around my neck like a locket, to stretch a new pair of muscles from my back and leave my dull world under the sea behind.

I don’t want to swim anymore.

I want to fly.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: Looking Up

When I was younger, I always stared at the ground. I watched every step I took, every spot of pavement that disappeared beneath the shadow of my foot. I took each step with precision, over and around every crack and imperfection in the cement. One two three, one two three…that’s how many strides I could take, in rhythm, within each individual square on the sidewalk. I counted them carefully. They were always exact.

As I grew older, I began looking up. I found shapes in the clouds during the day—a mermaid here, an angel there, a strange creature that resembled something of a cross between a turtle and a dragon. Come night, my gaze met the brightness of the stars, glimmering and twinkling against the blackness of the sky. My mind looked for no shapes, instead taking the stars for what they were, and dreaming of others, like me, who were looking up at the same ones.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Sunrise (Micro Fiction Monday)

The boy was born from the land. His body emerged from the depths of the cold earth, his breath borrowed from the wind, the colour of his eyes as green as the leaves that sprouted up around him. His skin was brown like the bark of the trees that raised him. They spoke to him, and he understood as easily as a son understands his father.

The girl was born from the sky. Her skin was as pale as the moonlight, her hair as black as the darkest night. Her body was formed by the stars—just like the ones who spoke to her, gossiping and giggling over the actions of the humans below.

Humans like the son of the Earth, who often stared up at the stars in awe and amazement, dreaming of a world he would never know. He caught the twinkling eyes of the girl in the sky, and their love came together in an explosion of colours—orange and pink and everything in between. Their love was warm, and it was hopeful. Like the rise of a new day.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne