Star's Demise

I looked at Jerod with a slight look of concern. "Are you sure? You know what my father says about going in planes."

"Come on Star, I practiced at Shimmervale for over a year, and I've been into this plane hundreds of times!" He replied while he looked at me pleadingly.

"Well, if you're sure, I guess a few minutes couldn't hurt. I have always wanted to visit the starlight plane." I muttered apprehensively.

"Thanks Star, I promise you'll love it." He said as he quickly kissed me on the cheek. I caught a quick scent of the way he always smelled, like a mix of sliced oranges and a fresh rain; "Give me a minute, and I'll open up the door."

He pulled out his simple conduit stick that he received at The School of Planes in Shimmervale. I could see the look of intense look of concentration on his face as he recalled the exact name of the starlight plane. I remembered back to the first time I saw that look, when we were kids. Ever since the first time that I saw it, I had always loved it, the way he closed his eyes, and furrowed his brow. When he occasionally bit the corner of his lip and twitched his chin.

I snapped out of my daze as he raised the conduit to slightly above shoulder level. He dragged it down in a diagonal motion all the way down to knee level. As he sliced through reality, I watched as the door opened up, and was already amazed at what I could see. Through the small glimpse I could see a dazzling array of beautiful colors all sparkling and shining as far as I could see.

Jerod straightened back up, put away his conduit, and looked at me with excited eyes, "See? I told you, this is the first plane they teach us, I could do it in my sleep!" he said with a gentle smile. He quickly followed up with, "Well, ladies first." Accompanied by that trademark cheeky smile.

I looked from him to the door, and experienced a moment of hesitation. Planes weren't something new to me, I had always known about them, my sister was even a plane-walker after all! I just couldn't get those warnings about plane sickness out of my head that my father had drilled into day after day once he found out about Jerod and I. I replayed the lectures in my mind;

"Star, planes are nothin' to be playin' around with, one minuh you'll be happy an' havin' all sorts of fun, and tha next you'll be loopier 'an a slud on drach juice." He said in his simple voice that I had grown up hearing every day.

I knew that he cared about me, and worked long hours everyday on our modest farm to feed my mother, sister and I. But what could a few minutes do? After all, the stars through the door looked so beautiful, how could it not be worth it? I looked at Jerod with a warm smile, grabbed his hand, and stepped through the door. The second my foot set down on the other side, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. All around and above me were the most spectacular spots of light, like endless stars of colors all through the rainbow. They were lightly pulsing, and some were moving across the sky, others were flashing different colors as I watched them.

My momentary daze was ended as Jerod stepped through the door after me. He wrapped me in his arms and bent down to whisper in my ear "See, isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"I can't believe that something this beautiful could exist, even in a plane." I said while I continued to gaze around.

"Come on, lets explore for a bit" Jerod said excitedly "There's a grassy knoll a little ways away that we can go sit down on."

I hesitated for a moment, I was always apprehensive about being in the plane in the first place, going farther only seemed like it would exacerbate the risks. I was about to resist, and tell Jerod we should just stay next to the door when a green star flashed brightly and changed to a stunning shade of blue just like my favorite flowers planted outside the windows back home. While I was focused on that star, Jerod gently led me to his favorite grassy knoll. By the time I realized we were there, it didn't matter to me anymore, I couldn't take my eyes off of the stars.

"I can't believe you can come here anytime that you want" I said incredulously as I sat down next to Jerod on the gentle slope.

"This is one of my favorite planes you know." He said looking at me longingly. "When I was in Shimmervale, I would come to this plane whenever I missed home, and just imagine what it would be like when I first brought you here."

"Well, you should've spent less time daydreaming and more time practicing" I teased, as I smiled up at him.

He looked at me sweetly and said "You know you're always on my mind, Star. Even if I was gone for a year."

I looked up at him "I missed you so much Jer-"

I stopped mid-sentence, out of the corner of my eye I notice a star getting much bigger than the rest. It was growing rapidly, and turning more and more red by the second.

"Why is that one getting so big?" I asked nervously

"Which one are you talking about? I don't see it." He responded confusedly.

The star was getting bigger and bigger fast, when I looked closer, I realized that it wasn't getting bigger, it was moving towards us! "What do you mean you don't see it?!" I frantically cried "Jerod! It's coming right for us!"

"Star! What are you talking about? Everything is okay, all the stars are the same as they have been since we came in." He said as he looked at me with a concerned look on his face.

As the star got closer, I grabbed Jerod and started running as fast as I could in the opposite direction, I could feel it behind me, I could FEEL the star speeding towards me. Everything was becoming more and more red as it got brighter and relentlessly pursued me.

"Star! What are you doing? Stop! You’re running away from the door! You're getting plane sick!" I heard Jerod shout behind me as I kept running. He grabbed my arm and stopped me. He turned me around, and looked at me.

I could tell he was talking, I just couldn't hear. I couldn't feel his hand squeezing my arm, I couldn't smell the familiar scent that I had always associated with him. The only sensations I could experience was the overwhelming redness and incomprehensible sense of looming from the star.

I watched as the star finally reached me, as it enveloped me, red was all I could see. Red was all there was, it was all I was. Was there ever anything other than red? Red was all I remembered.