Among the stars

The lush grass felt damp against the delicate skin of her feet. The blue moon shone deliberately over the horizon, speaking of her sacred quest. It had never shone that bright before. As if it were speaking of the unspoken tenancy of the mincing night that was soon to fall.

She walked slowly with a carefree gait. Each step taking her closer to her pursuit. She paused to breathe in the calming aroma of her surrounding and reconsider her scattered thoughts. But it didn’t help much to soothe the plopping vein in her forehead. Indicating her anxiety mixed up with a little tranquillity and the mixture made no sense to her either.

The crescents of her misty breath formed in the chilly winter breezes of the meadows. It hit hard against her exposed face. Fueling a whirlpool of sensations.

She hurried her pace. She had to reach the core of the forest to find what she was here for before midnight strikes. That’s when the legend comes to life and protects it they said. A story she never truly had any of her faith in but she was determined to find out the truth herself.

She pushed through the dozen tree climbers and found herself enter a clearing. The grass here was much softer, which made her second guess before taking any steps further, afraid she might kill the life laid beneath her feet. The sky was clear here with many stars illuminating the night. She looked up in awe and a silent prayer left her plump lips when she closed her eyes. Her eyelashes cascading a shadow over her cheeks, making her a mesmerizing sight.

Maybe the enchanted forest fell in awe that instant, or maybe the legend was true after all. But the soft breeze brought bells chiming voices with itself, making her eyes flutter open and spin around to looking everywhere to witness any indication of someone’s presence other than herself. Only for her eyes to fall on a distant glimmer buried in the darkness of the woods.

Holding her breath, she realised at once that all the stories about the legend she had heard from the town’s people were indeed true and the forest itself is what protected it after the darkness would fall. Slowly she walked towards the source of light. The moon turned blue over the horizon.

She was lucky to have found it under the blue moonlight tonight. With few long slow strides, she reached her. Yes, she had been waiting for her as well. She saw her and a foreign feeling settled at the pit of her stomach.

She stood a normal height before her. Her hair cascaded her face in an overflowing spring of pure gold. Her lush eyes were red brimmed and had lost the life that once used to shine brightly within them. Her plump lips spoke of many unspoken words that only she was able to comprehend. The white gown flowed down her body elegantly. Outshining her presence in the prevailing darkness. In simple words known to men, she was beautiful. But she knew her beauty was what sucked the very life out of her since the monsters the town’s people used to chatter about all the time with terror reeking their voices, actually lived among them and not the woods they’d point their fingers at and hide their faces from in deliberate fright.

Gracefully she lowered her posture onto the soft ground and seated herself on the cold wet grass. She did the same, copying her every move. She smiled at her, she smiled back. She was imitating her every tiny gesture. She held her hand in mid-air for a while evaluating her scattered thoughts. She moved her index finger forward. She copied her move and did the same again. Their fingers touched softly. No fireworks worked up, as she had imagined it.

The forest was gloomy and dark just like her own mind. No man from town dared to set a foot in it once the darkness would fall but no warning could have stopped her from visiting her today. She wondered if the women sitting before she felt the same.

Picking up a stone with a pointed edge, she rolled it between her fingers. The hard surface felt cold in her palm. She watched the black stone darken against her pale skin. Weighing it slowly, she lifted it in her hand and in one swift motion threw it towards her. Aiming for the right hit.

The mirror shattered into a million pieces. The shrieking voice filled the empty forest. Light reflected off the pieces scattered over the forest grass floor. The blue moon splitting into a dozen reflections.

She eyed the broken pieces and gave out a sore laugh. Even her reflection would stay dishonest with her. If she’d move right, the reflection would move left. It always intensified her frustrations. How no one in this world ever stayed true to her being. Everyone manipulated her, used her or took advantage of her with the slightest of chances they could get and she was tired. She wished for an endless deep slumber that could take her away from all of it.

Picking up a piece of the broken mirror, she examined its fineness. She could feel the roughness around the edges. It illuminated in the blue light. She was still there, staring back at her. She despised her with all her being. She hated her staring at her. Reminded her of all the eyeful staring she got back in the town. How men eyed her with lust and how women eyed her with envy. It made her skin crawl.

Closing her eyes to the peaceful darkness, pushing her head back, facing the midnight sky, she smiled at the stars. She felt at triumph today after all this time. Dragging the sharp edge of the broken mirror over her wrist, she liberated a cheerful laugh. She laughed with all her heart.

She knew of all the tales about the legend, about the magic mirror buried deep within the enchanted forest. They told her, the magic mirror could grant only three wishes and someone had selfishly used all the wishes before she even knew of its existence. She wanted to prove them wrong and they thought of her as nothing more than a madwoman on a quest of finding something that only existed in their foolish tales.

She had always lived up to the stories the people had no belief in. She had travelled many times into the forest and along the tracks, she had lost her way many times but she wasn’t being blunt to the elusive reality of the legend’s existence. Today the forest seemed to be in her favour too.

She told them that the mirror will grant her fourth wish and they had laughed in her face as if she uttered words from an ancient language that only their forefathers spoke but sounded gibberish to them. But the mirror had its magic. Magic she deeply believed in and that drew her towards it. It granted her the fourth wish. It granted her wish to set her soul free. Freedom of her being from the empirical body. She felt at peace now.

Laying there on the soft grass, she was at peace. The night sky brightened up with many twinkling stars. All the stars shone over her excitedly because her wish of being one of them was being granted. She smiled at them and this time it did reach up to her eyes.

Closing her eyes, she took the last of her breaths in the materialistic world where her existence made no sense at all. Her soul lifted towards the sky and reached the firmament where it settled to shine as bright as it could. Finally, she was at the vault of heaven, among the stars. They had always seen her wander like a lost soul and had named her ‘love’. They knew she never belonged down there, caged in the materialistic world because to love was to set free. And Love was free at last.