Lost Star

1 - Introductions and long hands

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"Get up, honey! Breakfast!"

"Ok, mom...!"

In a small bedroom decorated with Stars, Ava Kentala (10 years old) stretched on her bed. A new day was about to begin! Turning off the alarm clock on her bed, she went down into the first floor, where a breakfast of root cider, toast and dew salad was waiting. While she was chomping down on juicy leaves, her younger sister Zayla (9 years old) walked past her with a yawn, in her pajamas and ready to go to bed. She was obviously tired, considering her dim glow. Ava chuckled, little kids certainly needed their rest!

"Sweet dreams, Zayla!" She said to the sleepy kid. Her sister only responded with a "See you next cycle".

Ava grabbed her uniform and slipped behind her favorite blinds, one that was, like the rest of her room, covered in Stars. Yes, Stars, like the ones that lit up the sky a thousand years ago, or so they said. No one had seen them ever since. But enough of that. Ava changed into her uniform; a frilled olive-green dress with see-through sleeves, with a glowing orange badge on the left side of her chest. Her brown sneakers completed the look.

Ava's dad stopped her as she exited the house. "Don't forget your bag, lunch and hat!" He called. Ava doubled back, grabbed said items, and re-exited the house, turning her hat's flashlight on as she did so. It was mandatory, but Ava honestly thought it was a little useless. Her own glow, combined with the lanterns', was more than enough.

"See you dad!"

"See you starlight!"

Ava walked on the well-beaten path that led to her school, watching the flames flickering inside the lanterns placed on the grounds at both regular and random intervals, both near the path she was taking and further away, into the field beyond the road. Ava silently thanked the road constructors for making packed-dirt paths that connected everyone's houses and other buildings, because everyone would have been lost without them! She also thanked the lamp-lighters for making sure that all of the lamps were burning, because everyone would be bumping into each other without them, even with flashlights! Even though they had light-emitting bodies, it doesn't mean that they could see everything!

It was moments like these when adults seemed more tolerable to Ava.

"Hey Ava!" A voice called. Ava turned around to see her friend Colter Dolivo (10 years old), heading home from school. "Hey Colter!" She answered, waving cheerfully at the boy in front of her... until he was behind her, which was understandable since they just passed each other.

Ava entered her class, and was overjoyed to see Nora, her BFF and that one pretty girl that boys flocked over. She was also a total bookworm and she had bad eyesight because of that. She never wore glasses though and how she could see the blackboard while sitting behind her desk at the back of the class was forever a mystery to Ava. Either way, they got along well and both girls were glad of that in their own ways.

Ava was glad Nora was her friend because she was funny, kind and dextrous, a trait that Ava herself could never have.

Nora was glad that Ava was her friend because she was creative, adventurous and maybe a little cunning, the perfect girl to have an adventure with.

Soon, it was lunch time, at least for Ava. She pulled out her trusty double-sided utensil (fork on one side and spoon on the other) and began munching. Nora had gone home last period, so it was just Ava, but who was she to mope over that? Besides, the food was good!

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With school over for the day, Ava was taking a nice stroll home, bag in hand. That was when she heard the commotion coming a little to the left. She turned and saw Nora, who was supposed to have gone home FOUR PERIODS AGO, gawking at an arm that seemingly dangled down from the sky, a paper letter in its hand. Nora saw her friend coming over, and instantly began rambling about the arm and the letter, and how it ame out from nowhere.

"What should we do!?" She squeaked.

Ava gave a thought, then bravely stepped forwards to take the letter from the mystery hand. It relinquished it quite easily.

Ava and Nora opened the letter, and the two girls huddled around the pictures that were inside the envelope.

There were three pages in total, each with two photos printed on it.

The first page consisted of a girl in a purple dress and wearing a brown hat waving, and that same girl gesturing to the blue sky, with puffy white clouds and the sun. Of course, this confused the girls to no extent.

"!? Why is the sky blue? Why are there cotton balls floating in it!?!?"

"What's that yellow thing in the air?"

The second page was a picture of the same girl before shielding herself from rain, and watching a sunset.

"There's a shower in those cotton balls!"

"Is that red thing the same as the yellow thing!?"

The last picture was the girl yawning underneath a darkened sky, and going to bed.

"That's better!"

"She's gone to sleep!"

Ava and Nora debated what to do with the letter. Ava wanted to send a letter back via the arm that was still dangling down from the sky. Nora, on the other hand, wanted to pass the letter to the Council (the Council was the place where all of the "important stuff" was talked about). Eventually Nora managed to convince Ava to let the Council have a look at it, and they hiked over to Ava's house, as it was closer. Ava passed the three pages six pictures over to her mom.

"To the Council? Right mom?"

"Of course!"

For some reason, the Council never took the photos seriously.