literature

The Prince of Stars

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I was so exhausted when I got home.  It had been a long day at school competing for the JBowl Championship Title.  JBowl is a Japanese Language Competition that pits a three-person-team against another from a different school.  My team was myself as Captain and Commander in Chief, Haachan as General, and Kristine as Lieutenant.  It took forever, but we finally won the battle, second place.  It was bloody, with the ringing of bells everywhere and the distant hum of war mechanisms.  Fortunately we get to rest for a while until the battle starts up again next year.  I'm so tired, it won't hurt to take just a little nap...


     Garnette was rushed out of the house the next morning.  Within the angry buzz of voices and blur of muted colours she could hear her older brother projecting she was going to be late for school, get out the door, let's go.
     She slipped black shoes on her white feet and staggered sheepishly through the small door to be bit by the surprisingly cold stinging winds of August.
     She managed her way into the little white car and almost subconsciously buckled herself in safe and sound while her brother started the car.  He was rushing too, as he had to quickly drop her off and get to the University on time.  He took off, but Garnette was still too tired to notice he had never made the usual turns, or to realise that he went off in the completely wrong direction in the first place.
     Minutes passed while they traveled North and North and North, and with a flutter of her eyelashes, Garnette fully awoke to a pale grey world.  Beyond the windshield was only fog, and perhaps a barely visible stoplight or two in the distance.  It occurred to her finally that her brother was lost in the fog, but she didn't say anything.
     The car abruptly jerked to the right, like an attack of concrete lions in an urban safari.  In panic, her brother turned to look at her, but she couldn't even find his face in the dusty air -- as if the thick fog had somehow seeped through the windows and enveloped the young adult.  Only the sound of his voice could reassure her that he was still even in the car; he said something about werewolves.
     Then, as if that were a cue, outside of the car she could hear faint chanting from other cars in traffic, an old Gypsy song about lycanthropes.  Werewolves.  Werewolves, he said, only came out during times of thick fog and full moons.  The chanting gradually became louder, until she couldn't even hear the engine of the car or her own intimate thoughts.
     Black blurs slashed at the windshield, scratching swiftly through the thick glass.  She couldn't hear herself, but certainly she screamed.  The slashing became more rapid, more frequent, at all the windows, closer, louder.  The chanting continued, accompanied by the growling of the mythical beasts until she felt they were slashing at her, growling into her mangled and mutilated body, boiling her virgin blood with their bestial rage and slashing her skin into shreds.  She shrieked so loud she could finally hear herself and blacked out, though perhaps that was due to the complete coverage of black blurs around the sedan.  The next time she opened her eyes, she was far from the nightmarish fog.
     Her brother had sped from the scene and made his way to the Fair, a bright happy refuge, though entirely deserted.  With an unprecedented tenacity, Garnette got out of the car and made her way towards the big striped tent which she assumed sold tickets.
     It wasn't abandoned, but just closed until its grand opening the following day.
     "How disappointing," she said to herself in a sea of silence.  But... she didn't head back towards the car.  As soon as she got out of the vehicle, she forgot she had to be anywhere at all, for all that mattered was getting into the Carnival.  She slipped under the red velvet rope and wandered off in the street teeming with striped tents, like a maze of which whose exit she had no intention to find.  She felt comfortable there, safe, and forgot all about her brother, who seemed to have forgotten all about her, as well.
     As she wandered, she thought of all the things she would do, once the place opened, but being a curious little girl, had no patience to wait a whole twenty-four hours.  Garnette helped herself over counters and through tents, through the ghost town scheduling her day.  She'd have to bring her brother of course, she thought, as she doesn't drive herself.  He'd bring his girlfriend, and as she didn't want to feel like a third wheel, Garnette would bring...
     She found a Hall of Mirrors, but was afraid to entre; the reflections of all those strangers would take the Fair away from her, and being a selfish little girl, Garnette wanted the place to herself.  From twenty feet away, she could see her reflection in the dark Hall of Mirrors.
     She stood there for a good ten minutes, staring at herself, as of course she is a vain little girl, too.  She was almost saddened by her image: a short little girl with long copper curls that seemed to devour her stature and make her shrink, with skin as white as bone, and limbs just as thin.  The girl was beautiful, but found herself much more awkward than anything positive.  Still, she stared, searching for something to like about herself.
     A wind picked up, which carried a solitary tear off into the East.  She felt something had changed.  She turned around.
     Her friend Haruko was standing twenty-five or thirty feet behind her, staring as well.  She was not sure how long she had been waiting, but her heart skipped a beat and she rushed over to greet the fellow redhead.
     "It's neat, isn't it?" Garnette asked.
     "Yeah,"
     "But we can't be here; we have to come back tomorrow."
     The two stood in an awkward silence, as if pretending to conduct a plan or construct the schedule for the following day.
     "Let's just stay here," Haruko suggested with an innocent smile.  There was no one else; they couldn't possibly get in trouble.
     Garnette agreed and the two ran amok planning their day ahead: testing the water guns, shooting at ducks and sometimes at eachother; double-dipping their fingers in the cotton candy machine again and again after they licked the clouds of pink sugar off their delicate index fingers; throwing popcorn at one another and singing Carnival songs.  When together, young girls can be entirely irresponsible, but their hearts are innocent.
     It was well into the evening when they even concidered they were tired, when Haruko suggested to return home, and offered Garnette to stay the night.  Who could return home when there was so much fun to be had?  Garnette was tired, so she agreed.
     Haruko found the exit, where it was dark and deserted for miles and miles.  The parking lot was a vast wasteland of black gravel -- even the far off trees were black.  She knew her way home, as well, which was very fortunate for Garnette, who had never even known this place had existed.
     Haruko headed East from the Fair, with Garnette running after her in her uncomfortable black heels.  It was cold at this time of night, unusually cold for the Summer, so Garnette caught up to her friend and tightly grasped her hand in an attempt to absorb some warmth.  Haruko wore her black sweater, so she looked like Night; Garnette wore pastel colours and still looked like Night under the faint light of the full moon.
     Together they reached the humble suburbs where Haruko lives, and she decided she'd warn her mother beforehand that Garnette would be staying the night.  Haruko rushed home, Garnette abandoned many blocks away.
     Heartbroken, she tried to follow as best as she could, but had no recollection of which way her friend had gone.  It was inconsiderate, she thought, to leave her out in the cold dark world like this.  Granted, it was a very nice neighbourhood, so she wandered around, waiting for her friend to come back.
     Garnette noticed a quaint church, no bigger than a small school, and decided to entre, in search for warmth and a respite from the bitter wind.  Inside was a warm yellow light and underneath a table with a small vase full of Holy Water.
     As Garnette was a curious little thing, she dipped her finger in the Holy Water, when a tiny Priest entred the hallway.
     "Hello, little Wanderer," he gave a warm smile that cracked the skin around his eyes under his little glasses.  "It's so late this evening, shouldn't you be home, little one?"
     Garnette nodded, smiling warmly in return.  This man she trusted, not for his loyalty to his services, not out of desperation for shelter, but simply because she could feel the heat radiating from his smile alone.  "I am waiting for a friend," she said.  "I'm sleeping at her house tonight, but I got lost on my way to meet her."
     The old man nodded.  "I am sure you will find her; you will not have to look far for something that is already in front of you."  He had the attitude of a fortune cookie, but in his heart she knew he meant much more sincere, warm thoughts.  "If one's heart wills, one gets," and with that, he slinked back into the Sanctuary.  She watched him slowly walk down the aisle of pews until he disappeared from her sight.
     Her attention turned back towards the Holy Water.  She was baptised in it, she recalled, but never found herself Faithful.  She shook her head, as if to shake the thought away, and continued down the Hallway to the Vestibule where she met the nightshift custodian.  He was a thin man, with an obvious gut for alcohol, and a collection of bottles behind him to prove it.  The top of his head was bald, though he had strands of sand-coloured hair that fell to his shoulders.
     On his slate grey uniform she read the name "Jim" in its classic cursive style.  Jim was holding the traditional pushbroom in one hand and a half-empty bottle of beer in his other hand.  When he saw Garnette, he waved to her with the tips of his fingers on either hand, and she only gave an awkward smile.  It was a nice little church, but Haruko would get worried if she couldn't find her way soon.
     Garnette put one foot on the step below her and saw Haruko waiting outside of the church on the street, not the sidewalk.
     "There you are," she said with an impatient tone in her voice.  "C'mon, let's go home.  Mom made Chinese sausage."
     So the girls decided to cut through the little church to get to Haruko's home.  Both Jim and the Priest were nowhere to be found, which made Garnette's heart ache, as if she had made up the whole thing.
     They stopped at the door at the far end when Haruko noticed the container of Holy Water.  She dipped her finger in it.  "Cold," she said.  She dipped the tips of her fingers in the little jar and splashed some Holy Water at Garnette.  She laughed and splashed some back at Haruko, until they realised they would get in trouble and have to endure a lecture from a strange old man.  The girls made their way through the back door and continued to Haruko's home.  Garnette noticed it wasn't really a shortcut at all, but it was her own advice to cut through the church in the first place.
     About a block away from the church, the girls noticed a silhouette dressed in a bright orange jacket, that looked orange under the streetlamp.  For whatever reason, their friend Kristine was standing in the middle of the street at one in the morning, and looked as though she was relieved to find the girls here, as if she had been searching specifically for them for a long time.
     "Hey," she said, out of breath.  She took a moment to catch her breath while Haruko explained to her about the Fair and the pending sleepover.  Naturally, Kristine chimed in to join them.
     "But first, we need to get permission from Kristine's parents, of course." Haruko sagely added.
     So the girls took a shortcut to Kristine's house, and cut through the little church once again.  It was much warmer in there than outside, so the girls stood there trying to warm themselves under the golden light above the door.
     Once warmer, they continued down the hallway to the Vestibule where they saw the custodian Jim standing blankly holding some sort of metal pot.  It didn't occur to any of the girls that he was urinating into it until they stood only a few feet away.  Jim didn't seem to notice them, as he was staring at the ceiling while relieving himself.  There were many more empty bottles at his feet than the first time Garnette saw him, and she noticed there was a cigarette butt between his fingers on his other hand.  The pushbroom was against the wall, untouched.
     The other girls were scared, but a surprisingly calm Garnette smiled warmly at the drunken custodian.  "Don't worry," she told her friends.  "It's just Jim.  Hi, Jim!"
     The drunk man didn't take his eyes off of the ceiling, or even attempt to wave at the girls.  He didn't cease to urinate, either.
     Kristine and Haruko looked at eachother as though Garnette was the drunk, or perhaps crazy one.  Afraid, they formed a line behind Garnette and inched their way towards the door.  Garnette turned the knob and they rushed out into the streets, which they found to be a safer Haven than a quaint little church.  To each her own, Garnette thought.
     Halfway to Kristine's house Haruko suggested she would go and seek permission from her friend's parents, while Kristine and Garnette could go to Haruko's house and wait for her to return.  Neither of the girls questioned her logic, but simply shrugged and went on their way to Haruko's house, which wasn't too far from Kristine's house.  They avoided cutting through the church.
     When they arrived at Haruko's house, her mother recognised the two girls from twenty feet away.  In a strong Asian accent, the small woman welcomed the two into her home, but never questioned the whereabouts of her own daughter.
     "You hangree?" she asked, and the girls nodded.
     "You cold?" she asked, her eyes fixed on Garnette, who wore no coat or even a sweater.  "You so cold," she said, "you wear whore shirt!  I sew sleeve for you?" she offered, which was inevitable with a persistent mother like Haruko's.
     Offended, Garnette and Kristine exchanged glances at eachother, while they were led inside the humble home.  They ate warm Chinese sausage with rice and drank glasses of cool water that lovingly embraced their throats: the comfort they had sought all night.
     Haruko's mother brought extra blankets and pillows into her daughter's room without bringing up the topic that her daughter had not yet returned home.  It was around two in the morning when she went to her own bedroom to sleep, and when Garnette had an idea.
     The girls could not sleep without knowing that Haruko was safe.  Perhaps, Kristine suggested, that her family told her to stay the night there.  She wanted to believe that her family would offer Haruko a place to sleep; her mother was just as persistent and conciderate as Haruko's, and she knew her mother would not let a young girl wander the streets alone on a cold dark night.  That had to be it.
     So, with Haruko's mother fast asleep, Kristine and Garnette snuck out of the house into the cold dark night -- Garnette borrowed one of Haruko's sweaters, as her mother had been sewing sleeves onto her "whore shirt", so warmth was not as important a priority as it had been earlier that night.  Garnette noticed, that although it was well into the summer, there was snow coating the ground as though Winter had begun 4 months earlier than scheduled.  The whole place was grey and white and dark, like the inside of a snowglobe.
     Shortly after they had left, the girls came upon Kristine's house, a towering edifice with an intimidating door, as tall as both girls' heights combined.  Kristine new the structure of her own house, so she went off to see if Haruko was somewhere inside, and left Garnette alone and confused in the hall.
     Cold, lonely, concerned Garnette felt a single tear fall from her right eye.  The warm teardrop slid down a red cheek as if its path was controled by fate, not gravity; the tear fell from her face and when it hit the floor let out a very audible pat upon the white tile at her foot.  Suddenly, as though magic, the most handsome Prince of Stars appeared from the teardrop on the floor.
     Everything about this boy was made of stars: his voice like silky cosmos, his black hair like glittering rivers, his eyes like rippling oceans, and his lips like glistening cherries.  He was surrounded by stars, and seemed to spit stars as he spoke, which would swirl about him until they vanished once they hit the floor in a tiny puff of colourful smoke.
     In his voice like the Milky Way he greeted the White Queen, Garnette.  This voice she could not forget, because this was how she imagined the word "love" was spoken.
     Never had the Prince of Stars truly loved from his heart, but only to keep the title of Princess of Stars occupied in a vain attempt to be left alone.  If the Prince of Stars were to confront a crying girl such as Garnette, much was implied for the Kingdom.  But Garnette was just glad to see him for herself; once again, she forgot about Haruko or Kristine or her brother or where she lived or what she had planned for the next day.
     She was lost in the stars in his eyes, and as though tripping on acid, she saw tiny stars of every colour of the rainbow floating about, surrounding the Prince and herself.  If he were to kiss her -- which she certainly hoped he would -- she would swallow a sea of those stars and might just as well float herself.  He stood staring at her, each time blinking a new batch of stars to be stuck onto her eyelashes.
     Then she blew it.  She reached for his hand, which turned into stars that blew away in an unpredicted wind; his silky black hair turned to stars and flew off to be lost forever; his eyes turned into two big stars, and his lips, and his nose, and everything.  Gone, along with her hopes of ever being the Princess of Stars, to wear a gown of stars, to have a crown of stars, a palace of stars in the Stars themselves.
     She hoped with all her heart that it was a terrible dream, that she had fallen asleep at Haruko's home, or was still asleep before the whole day had even started.  Or at school, or on the bus home, as long as she could see him just one more time, the Prince of Stars.
I had a terrible nightmare last Winter.

And I won't love you if you go bald ;_;
© 2008 - 2024 beautifuldreamers
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sawyers2hot's avatar
That was very dreamlike and pretty trippy
I LOVE your description of the Prince of Stars; I have a very clear image of him in my mind.
Very interesting idea
Sad ending though :(