Episode 1

Star often tried to picture an ideal world. A world in which you could smile brightly at everyone, even if you hadn't seen them once before in your lifetime. But if you were to do that today, you'd be ridiculed. ‘That’s creepy’, they'd say. 'Stop being so positive, it's getting annoying.’, they'd scoff. Star liked to imagine a world where children would not be afraid of the creatures lurking in the dark or hiding under their beds. Star also knew it wasn't possible. She, herself, would be scared if she were still a child. However, she wasn't. She was already seventeen, about to turn eighteen.

Her eighteenth birthday was the next day, and it was already 11:37 p.m. She had a tradition to stay up until her birthday officially started and make a wish on a star, for she believed that candles on a birthday cake were overrated. She had her window open, ready to jump up and dash to the window the instant it turned twelve to make her wish.

That night felt odd to Star. She brushed it off thinking, it's my eighteenth birthday, it's bound to feel different, right?

She was right; this birthday would be the beginning of a year long mystery.

When it was 11:59, she sat up, cautious to not allow her feet to even graze the floor as she viewed that as bad luck.

It reached midnight, and she bolted out of bed, sprinting for her window that was across her room. A figure popped up into view of her window, dropping in a wrapped box, presumably a present. They disappeared in seconds, the only thing verifying their existence being the box they'd dropped into the room.

Star was quite frightened by the occurrence, letting out a startled scream. She hurried to close the window, making a wish as she did.

She slumped to the floor, heart racing with fear. Her eyes landed on the box. In the moonlight, she could tell the wrapping paper was pink with a gold ribbon tied around it.

Star knew that she shouldn't open it, and that she should just chuck it in the trash or outside of the window, but her burning curiosity got the better of her.

She decided to open it.

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