A silent moonless night with nothing to interfere with the darkness. The sky with a fair share of stars filling up its dark void, and down here in the land, some fireflies glowed, spreading its magic, unlike the suffocating emptiness inside, thought Laura. Whenever they winked at her, she felt as if the stars playing peek-a-boo and the glowworms playing hide-and-seek with her. The city was going back to sleep as the count of lighted buildings subsided with time, and the occasional vehicles that pass by the streets resembled the twinkling stars. 'It feels like there is a mirror above me.' she thought, staring at the sky, losing her mind among these pretty glowing things.
'When was the last time I saw a clear sky with these many stars above my head?' she wondered, sitting over the parapet of the tallest building in the city of Zanberg. Heights never scared her even once; instead, they enthralled her, and the night view served an added seasoning to it. Once she closed her eyes, she felt like a feather floating in mid-air as those invisible wind-fingers brushed her bare feet dangle with nowhere to rest. It was very calming; she hadn't felt that way in ages. Memories of home flashed her eyes, even the ones that she thought to have forgotten.
'Oh, yeah! On our family trip to the Northern mountains, we had an opportunity to camp by the lakeshore. Back then, we had a chance to have a night watch with an uninterrupted sky, just like today. But I think it was prettier that day. Even Milkyway was visible from there, which was not here in Zanberg. Now that I look back, that was the most enjoyable trip I had as a child, and I believe that sky watching and mountain climbing were the most thrilling part of that journey.'
Laura was never a fan of moonlit nights.
Shiny things that glowed in all different colours had always amazed her, and stars were no exception. She remembers crouching on the ground, watching the glittery dust scattered all over, wondering where they came from and what made them shiny? At first, she assumed them as the fallen stars from the previous night sky, but then when she saw stars appear in the sky again the following nights, she believed they were stardust sprinkled as blessings from the sky. Her obsessiveness for stars made her think that anything and everything that shine was part of stars.
Drowning in her childhood memories, Laura remembers how much she loved gazing at the night sky through the roof window in her room, right above her bed. Thanks to that habit, she could cope with her stress while getting lost among those shining jewels embedded in the dark curtain-like night sky. Back in those times, she could never enjoy such an uninterrupted sky because of the branches of the big trees that obstructed her visual field. Laura recalls those days spent with her aunt, Cecil, sleeping outside, watching the stars and listening to myths about different constellations. Cecil's ardent enthusiasm visibly glowed in her eyes whenever she talked those stories. Though Laura admired Cecil's knowledge in mythology, Laura hardly paid attention to her aunt's stories, which were like sweet music to her ears. Now she misses Cecil very much and is ready to trade anything to bring her back to life.
Fondling the book Cecil left for Laura, she sat there looking at the sky with teary eyes. The book appeared very much worn out that its hinge was too soft from overreading. 'I have always seen it with her that I often thought it was a part of her. Why did she give it to me?' Laura remembers her aunt's last words while placing the book in her hands, "Read it when you have time. Remember to live without regrets."
