Next Shard

In the night she hadn't slept, feeling constantly as if something was missing. Instead she watched the stars, the shards of light cutting the fabric of the sky.

One, two, three, four, she counted. Five, six, seven, eight... The sense was gradually fading away, the distraction helping.

138, 139, 140, 141, 142...

The shards began to dance in her eyesight, but she kept numbering them. 1536, 1537, 1538, 1539, 1540...

I know what's missing, she realized. She made her way across the field slowly, still counting. 2462, 2463, 2465...

The lack of sleep and the thing she was missing stopped her suddenly at the edge. 3827, 3828, 3829... She was gone before she was able to count the next shard.