Wish Upon a Star

I had always loved the night sky, be it for the twinkling light of the stars, the clever smile of the crescent moon or that every night my mother would tell me stories as we gazed upon them together. She would bundle me up in my favorite blue blanket only to hold me hostage, smothering me with kisses and tickling my stomach until I nearly cried tears of laughter. We would sit together for what felt like hours as she spun her tales, retold stories she had been told by her own mother. Even in old age she uses the same unserious voices she had used on those nights so long ago. It was on a night just like those nights before that my mother had spoken of Wishing Stars. With her arm stretched towards the sky, she pointed to the plethora of stars, explaining that there were few that watched us from the vast darkness of the night. Watching and listening for children pure of heart, she said that if you listen closely you could hear them giggling at one another as we dream of our innermost desires and fantasies. It was then that we saw it, only for a brief moment did it leave its trail of starlight, but long enough that I was able to squeeze my eyes tightly shut and make my wish;

“I wish for a friend.”

After we had finished our nightly procrastination, our stories concluded and our laughter subsided, she lifted me up in one swift swoop at which I giggled and melted into her embrace. Just before my body met with the bed she would gently drop me onto the mattress, toppling over me claiming I was so much more comfortable than any mattress she had used. Dragging out the vowel as I attempted to shove her off of me I groaned, “Mooom, you have your own bed, not me.” She chuckled as she brought her face to my own, first to rub her nose to mine only to kiss my forehead as she tucked me in. Before I could even think to run it away, she gave me that look; the “are you really going to wipe away my love for you” look. I simply shook my head as I covered the lower half of my face with the blanket to hide my smile. “I love you,” I whispered through the fabric. Leaning against the frame of my door she returned the smile I tried so hard to hide, “I love you most.” My eyelids were so heavy, I swear I had already fallen asleep before she had turned off the lights and shut the door.

My eyes fluttered open, my eyelids still heavy; I hadn’t been asleep very long. My stomach churned as the same sound that had woken me resumed. A low, uncanny whispering followed by the prolonged tapping of glass. Tap… Tap… Tap… My body went stiff as the final tap had become a deafening sound that I could only describe as similar to nails on a chalkboard. I’m surprised I had made it out of my bed without my legs giving out, my body trembled with every step. The whispering grew louder as I hesitantly shifted towards the windowsill. My palms had felt clammy as they gripped onto the thick fabric of my curtains. A light shone through each crease, every entrance it could seep through it had done so. My heart nearly left my chest, it had been beating so harshly as the coldness of the air nipped at my skin. It hadn’t been so cold earlier, had it? My mind raced with questions, my breath rigid and my mouth dry. As if to wake me once more a single tap echoed against the walls of my bedroom.

Why did I open the curtains, why hadn’t I simply fallen back to sleep when I had first woken up; questions I ponder even now. The curiosity of a child is not so easily tainted, not even when met with an unsettling fear of the unknown. Swallowing that very fear, I had nearly taken down the curtains as I ripped them open. Unprepared for what I may have found but so eager, so determined to vanquish whatever may be waiting for me… There, standing in the moonlight, was a creature unlike anything I had ever seen. Its skin was void of color, an empty blackness that blended into the darkness of the night; sickly thin and sleek beneath the light. Each and every part of its body seemed disproportionate and disfigured, from its neck to its spindly limbs that seemed to stretch forever. But the most terrifying part was its face – or rather, where its face should have been. What had been instead, was unmistakably a star. Though not like any star I had seen while mother told her stories, no, this star was grim and grotesque. Each edge was uneven and sharp, its light felt sinister as it gave off an unsettling cold. What would be its face consisted of two unblinking eyes, a sharp, pointed nose and a perverse smile that had stretched to be unnaturally wide, almost as if splitting the star-like head into two. Its lips were thin and cracked, revealing uneven and jagged teeth.

My lips parted as if to scream, but no sound came out. My body betrayed me as it fell to the once comforting carpet of my floor. Each fiber had felt like needles to the touch against my near-frozen skin. Oh, how I wanted to look away, to scream and to cry and yet all I could do was look. I had never known a smile that could invoke such raw terror as this, nor eyes so eerie. The creature moved closer, its limbs bending and twisting in unnatural ways. I watched, unmoving, as the darkness rippled around its arm that had reached for the window, teasingly dragging its fingertips along the pane before its needle-like claws had wedged it open. “Come… play with… me,” it whispered like the rustling of leaves. I felt all the warmth leave my body as it crept closer. I shook my head, dragging my body away from the window, yet the creature did not stop. My voice had yet to return, caught in the back of my throat. The hairs of my arms stood tall as goosebumps ran along my skin. It had climbed through the window, its body and limbs stretching and contorting to fit through and into such a small space.

Its face shone brighter to fill the darkness of the room. “Don’t be afraid little one,” the stinging chill of its presence settled, and its smile seemingly softened, “You wished for a friend, did you not?” I nodded as tears began to stream down my face. This wasn’t what I had asked for; I wished for a friend, not a monster. The creature lifted a single claw to my cheek, wiping away my tears whilst staring down upon me with that wicked smile. Stretching its neck over my fear-stricken body, I felt myself being effortlessly lifted. It placed me back in bed, petting my hair with that very same claw before retreating to the foot of my bed. “Do not fret, friends do not make friends cry… and we shall be friends for a very long time.” That night I had closed my eyes, hoping for it all to be but a dream; a horrible dream but each and every night since… I felt its gaze, its very presence as its smile widened. Never once did it speak, but it watched as I slept, as I dreamt and grew. It would stare as I grew distant from my mother, who had once told me stories that her mother had once told her. Never again would I wish upon a star, for the friend I’ve been given reminds me of what happens when I do.

Credit: Kore Faelore

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