When a Star is Born

This a mere story idea for this book. this will come later on but I wanted to write it before I forget and lose inspiration.

Anessa wept as she cowered underneath her bed sheets. The room was silent and barely lit by a single candle. Adira was like a statue�"no emotion. But deep within her, she wanted to reach out. Staring down at the girl was a reminder of Adira’s past. They are so much alike that the past seemed to mentally mess with Adira’s mind. What could she do in order to hide her true self?

Adira thought deeply on that question. No matter what, she is to be one of the merciless Knaves soldiers in the eyes of the corrupted who surround her. With one wrong step they will see she is the enemy, and an enemy within their territory is the greatest threat of all; especially, when you are highly ranked.

“Crying will do you no good,” Adira spoke in a serious tone.

The girl whipped her head out of the sheets to glare at Adira with such menacing force within her eyes. Tears continued to flow as she bared her teeth like an animal, “So? I can decide if I want to cry or not! Once I die, I will be nothing more than a corpse,” Anessa lowered her head as more tears were let out. Her bravery died at the last sentence. All her hope was gone.

Adira thought for a moment, and that’s when her mind clicked. She walked up to Anessa then lifted her chin so the child could look into her eyes, “No one can be just a mere corpse,” Anessa tilted her head in confusion, “Let me tell you what my mother told me when I was young.”

Anessa watched as the intimidating soldier blew out the candle’s flame. The room was too dark to see a thing, until a sudden burst of light shown through. The little girl’s eyes closed by the sudden brightness, but slowly started open them. Her little eyes went wide as she gazed upon the sight of the moon and stars. Adira merely ripped down the curtains to show off the perfect view of the night sky.

The bed was just right at the window so Anessa crawled to the nearest edge to get a good view.

Adira took a seat next to her and started to explain, “My mother once caught me crying during the time my oldest brother died. I grieved over the fact that I could no longer see him. He believed that he was nothing more than a walking corpse�"dead yet alive. He had no motivation to live so he took his own life,” Anessa gasped, “Anyways, mother held me close and called over my youngest brother to listen what she had to say as well. She pulled off the curtains during a starry night. Pointing towards the stars she said, ‘every star is a soul. Inside you is a star that is waiting to be lifted into the sky.’”

Anessa furrowed her brows, “But if a star falls, doesn’t that mean it dies?” Adira laughed so hard that she began to tear up, “What’s so funny?”

Adira giggled a bit more, wiped her laughing tears, and continued, “I asked the same thing, and my mother said, ‘They don’t die. They are reborn. A star falls when it’s ready to come back to earth to be live once more!’”

“If they can be reborn by falling, then why don’t they?” Anessa continued to interrogate Adira’s story.

“Hm, I never asked that,” Adira shocked Anessa as she let her see her true smile, “but, I believe it’s because they wish to be their other loved ones and or watch over the ones that still are on earth. So, you see, we are more than a corpse. Instead, we are stars. Sure, many don’t seem like it,” Adira pointed to Anessa’s heart, “Unlike most others around you, you are a bright star that will glow brighter than the rest. I would be able to see you even during the day I bet!”

Adira began to tickle Anessa, and the child went into a fit of laughter as she begged her to stop. Once she did stop, Anessa caught her breath and let out a sigh. She sat up and gave Adira a tight hug.

“Thank you, you were very helpful,” Anessa gave a big smile. Adira ruffled her hair and stood back up.

She made her way to the door, looked back at the child crawl under her sheets to sleep, “Goodnight, Anessa.”

“Goodnight, Adira,” Anessa mumbled as she into the world of slumber.

Adira slowly shut the door and patiently went back to her room as she thought of the battle for tomorrow. Gazing out her own window from her bed, she thought deeply, Will I become a star soon?

Before the sun could rise, all the Knaves’ soldiers rise and prepare for battle. They began to march, fully loaded with weapons and equipment. Adira, luckily, was facing a little foe rather than her own army. The little foes are like insects trying to become bigger within a war that they do not belong in. Usually, her homeland’s army would scare them off. Unluckily for them, they are about to face the Knaves�"heartless, living war weapons.

Something threw Adira off though. The Knaves brought such a small amount of soldiers, but they also had a huge truck. She didn’t know what is inside the truck. Whatever was inside it, made her shiver. She had a very bad feeling traveling through her body.

The aura surrounding the whole battlefield was tense. On the other side of the no man’s land are the bugs. Adira knew she was right that something bad was going to happen. Those “little bugs” brought five times more men than the Knaves.

What were these morons thinking? Whatever is in that truck better be enough to win!

All the men are ready to begin. As a leaf blew off a tree, it was like a starting flag. The moment it landed, shots were fired. The Knaves hold onto their reputation quite well as they showed to mercy. Adira fought but also observed their fighting strategy. While the foe continued fire, Knaves watched for weak spots to aim at. The weak spots were when they had to refill their large weapons from non stop firing. Despite all that, the current enemy was still overpowering their number of soldiers.

It seemed as if some godly being heard Adira’s wishes. She overheard one of the men ask the young general if they should open the truck. The general agreed, and everyone watched as the bullet proof truck proceeded into no man’s land. They didn’t stop till they were not too far from the enemy. Everyone seized fire as they patiently waited for what’s inside to come out.

Adira watched carefully to see the weapon they’ve been hiding. She smiled as she thought of all the information she could bring back to home base, but it soon vanished. There was no weapon in the truck, but children instead. She watched in horror as they began to line up. The past began to flood her mind, and she could not hold back from wanting to stop what is about to happen.

She ran up to the general with desperate eyes and saluted, “Sir, please refrain from using the children, sir!”

“Why?” the general questioned her with suspicion.

“Sir, the children are still in training. Putting them out there like this...we will lose more man power this way, sir!” Adira tried to convince him in the limited time she had.

“Denied,” He raised his gun and shot in the air to signal the battle to continue. His eyes observed Adira as she looked at all the children charge. His hand roughly grabbed her face and pulled it to look him dead in the eye, “I like you private Louise, but you must throw away all those weak feelings. You can be so much more powerful if you could let them go. You’ve proven yourself worthy of standing this close to me. Don’t do anything to make you lose that privilege. Besides, the enemy is hesitating more on firing because they fear shooting a poor child. They have no backbone. Return to your position!”

Adira is released, and had no choice to do as she was told. The general was right when he said the enemy hesitated to fire, but some built the courage to shoot. Slowly, the Knaves had more men. And when it came to that point, most of the child soldiers had been shot. Only a handful were left. The enemy ceased fire suddenly and seemed to be retreating.

Out of the bloody corpses was a familiar face.

“No…” Adira whispered to herself.

Standing in the middle of the sea of red was Anessa. She looked back as her eyes met Adira’s. She smiled innocently the best she could, but it still couldn’t bring Adira to smile. Her heart was too broken. The little girl that reminded her of herself took away one of her many hopes�"not having to see her innocent hands be tainted by war.

Although it seemed that they won the battle, the children on the other side began to scream and run towards them, but they are still too far to understand.

“What are they saying?” A soldier asked.

Suddenly, a soldier with binoculars screamed, “Gas! They’re throwing gas grenades!”

Everyone quickly got their gas masks on. Adira shook in fear as she watched where the enemy aimed�"the children. They had no intention on using it on the grown men, but rather the children. One by one they fell and collapsed as they choked for air until they suffocated to death. Anessa looked for Anessa but she was nowhere in sight. Finally, out of the cloud of gas was a little girl with a gas mask. Anessa seemed to have brought a gas mask in case of a situation like this.

Adira could only think of how smart she was, “Run Anessa! Don’t stop!”

Adir ran to where Anessa was heading. Adira began to show a smile as her clone was inching closer. Far from the gas, Anessa was safe. Adira’s arms were open wide and ready to catch her. She caught her, but only after a single bullet successfully made contact. Adira fell to the ground with Anessa’s limp body laying on her.

“Anessa?” Adira saw blood covering her hands. She lifted the tiny body and brushed away the hairs covering the face, “Anessa! Wake up!”

Tiny eyes opened up as blood began to cough up through the mouth. They slowly traveled to look at Adira. Despite all the pain, Anessa smiled softly. This triggered a flashback. All Adira could see and feel was the heat of flames and a bloody Caroline smiling up at her as she said her goodbyes. Adira was brought back to reality as a tiny hand cupped her cheek.

“Thank you, for bringing me happiness before I go,” Anessa struggled to say.

“What are you saying? You’re talking as if you’re going to die,” Adira tried to laugh it off, but Anessa continued to smile sadly at her, “Don’t think like that! You’ll be fine!”

Tears threaten to fall, but Anessa used to last of her strength to make Adira smile, “Don’t cry. Remember? I can be a star now. Then I can always watch over you. And during the night, you can see me. After All, you said I would be the brightest star!” She coughed up more blood, then gave Adira one more smile, “Goodbye, Adira.”

The life in Anessa’s eyes vanished as her tiny hand fell from Adira’s cheek to the ground, and her smile still stayed strongly. Adira sat motionless as she held the dead child. Her sight began to blur and her hearing faded. Her body moved on its own. The child was put to the side as her arms loaded a gun, and began to fire. Soon the enemy was reduced to one which cowardly hid behind the fort.

The Knaves laughed as one soldier announced, “Let the coward retreat with his tail between his legs!” They continued to laugh as the last man began to run.

One man noticed Adira climb out from behind the trench they took shelter in, “Hey! Adira! Where are you�"hey!”

Adira could only hear ringing in her ears, and her eyesight focused on the running man. Her adrenaline made her faster and soon she caught up with her target. Once the target caught sight of her, he pulled out his gun and shot. It hit her in the shoulder, but it did not stop her. He went to fire again, but the gun only had one bullet. He screamed as the terrifying female soldier threw him to the ground.

Adira’s vision was too blurry. She wasn’t herself. Everything has lost control. Here and there she could see clear images of her hand beating the man. Quickly, his whole face and her hands were covered in his blood. His body was motionless, but Adira took one more blow as her hand went through his chest and crushed his unbeating heart.

When she stood up, her breathing steadied, but her vision became clear once more. Looking at the body in front of her and the blood stained hands, the world around her seemed to spin. The dizziness became worse. Mumbling voices yell as her body fell back. As she began to blackout, men surround her and she couldn’t understand what they were saying. All the yelling didn’t matter. Her body relaxed and she became unconscious. But even so, Anessa’s voice echoed in the back of her mind, “I will watch over you for I am a star now.”

Author's Note

**rough draft: story idea**