AND THEN SHE WAS A STAR - A SHORT STORY

A speck of dust descended in a spiral from the vastness above and fell upon her eyes. But Drinny Rex just blinked. If she would have been her old-self, then she would have screamed. Suspecting it to be a spider. A spider with its thorny legs scratching her eye lid as it crawled to bite her, in the eye, ejaculating its venom. Blinding her. But it was all in her mind. Getting afraid out of nothing and creating trivial scenarios was an old habit. Yet, that version of Drinny no longer existed. It died out like a flame as soon as she evolved into an awkward teenager.

She stood up and looked around. It was a dark space with no walls, no boundaries but a distant source of white-light was visible. To her, the place seemed like a void. Soon Drinny caught glimpse of the source and strolled towards it. With her every step, the hued radiation intensified.

As the view ahead of her became vivid, it brought a sense of familiarity. She had seen it all, in movies and videos, in photographs and in her class presentations. It was the Milky Way ahead of her. The planets, the vastness of the space. Everything seemed as if it were floating. She saw a couple of Tesla satellites too but it was too much conceive at once. And so, dazed by the peculiarity of the moment, Drinny turned and saw a phantom like figure. With a set of dark pupil-less eyes, jagged mouth and a misty translucent shape. It hung in space right next to her, at the edge of black hole.

“You must be recognizing yourself as Drinny Rex in past, right?” said the figure. Its voice echoed as if they in a closed room. It was then that Drinny realized that she had been emitting light herself all this time. She was walking on space all along and that she was no longer alive. In fragments her memory solidified. She remembered that a hearse hit her while she was being chased down the streets. After she got caught for shoplifting a few packets of chips and cookies.


“So, am I dead-dead? Or in a coma and stuff, struggling in hospital? And wait! why the hell I’m glowing up? Is this some kinda-”

The creature giggled and then interrupted her. It pissed her off but she managed to stay calm. She no longer felt anything for long.

“Too many questions. I wonder why you are so curious? Yes! my dear lady, You’re dead. Nobody rescued you. Indeed, your parents are embarrassed. Even many shopkeepers gathered around your corpse to discuss how happy they were with you being gone. They feel safe now. Also, no ambulance arrived; your last ride was in that hearse you got hit with. Now talking about why you turned into a star-"

“I turned into what?”

“A star. Twinkle Twinkle! Little Star! Well anyways, if you enter the Milky Way and you won’t be able to speak or walk or think. Go back to where you came from and soon you must burn and turn into stardust. That’s fate of a star. Nothing new. All stars are same to me.”

“I don’t get it. Why me? Where is heaven or hell, if I am dead? “. Drinny noticed how she could no longer control her body, if it was a body anymore, voluntarily. The spark she possessed was blinding but now she had a personified vision. She could see infinitely beyond any restrictions. Through time and space as well.



Her red hair no longer hung to one side of her head. Choker on her neck, tattoo of a serpent spitting fire on her spine and her thumbtack like earrings were gone. She wore a ragged cloth now and still light penetrated through it. A star she was, cold at heart with a fiery soul. Her days of shoplifting were gone. Her parents were misers. They believed that cutting off basic expense to save money might make them billionaire. So even at the end of her teenage, she hardly ever got any pocket money. 

All the time when her parents were sweating over saving money, Drinny bunked her classes. Then she went out on streets stealing random edible items, mostly without getting caught. But she wasn’t alone. Li was the only person who was friends with Drinny and both of them got along quite well. Li Vnigen, was daughter of first Japanese senator in the town. Her pocket money was equal to the monthly savings of Rex family. Most importantly, even after all the privileges, Li was cool with the heist stuff. Often, Drinny asked why a girl like Li, who was pretty, chubby, soft spoken and rich would steal. Li’s answer was always same “It sets me free and I have way too much fun”

Things went fine for a year or so. They used to steal weekly and distribute most of the stuff to the kids with a single mother. They slept in a shelter behind their college and had no permanent home. But then one fine winter evening, Li and Drinny were at a local store. A mile away from Li’s house. Under their hoodies, they both held cans of Pringles and milk. To avoid suspicion, they rested their hands in the center pocket to diminish the bulged-out region around their belly. They were almost out going until Li saw her father in the store and freaked out. The can of milk rattled and spilled on the floor. Both of them were caught that day. Mr. Vnigen felt humiliated. He never went to that store again. Drinny never saw her partner in crime again because Li was sent to a different college in California the very next day.

Now, with careless parents, a long distant friend and a bad reputation, Drinny did what a wise thief would avoid. She started stealing stuff on a regular basis. And with increase in her robbery, her will to help other vulnerable kids increased too. She used to provide ready-made food items to any homeless kid she came across. Until one day, she was on her way after thrifting and got struck by a hearse and it led to her death.







Here, as she levitated in the Galaxy, the phantom like creature resolved her doubts.

“Well pardon me, as I might not please you with sufficient details about the technical reasons of how you became a star but here’s what I know. Actions committed by you were in equal proportion of good and evil. That made you ineligible to be part Hell nor Heaven. So, the people like you who encounter death with an equal amount of sins as their morally good deeds are supposed to be a star. You neither qualify to reap the consequences of heavenly leisure or hellish catastrophe. A star must get something that contains both pleasure and pain. You see, all this time you were exploiting these shopkeepers, the baggage of your sins was filling up but at the same moment, helping the vulnerable people made your baggage of good deed fill up too. So, at the time of your death, both the bags were balanced and you became a star. Also, other actions affected your afterlife as well. But, ah well enough talk for now I guess.”

“Wait. What did you mean by a star may experience both pleasure and pain? And who are you?” Drinny Rex spoke one last time, annoyed by all this talk that seemed nonsense to her. She forced herself out of the black hole and that turned her into a complete star. The one which was incapable of visiting the after-death realms.

Before he could answer her last question, Drinny, the star lost her control and decelerated. The creature caught Drinny in mid-air and sighed. “Well, I should have introduced myself earlier but you lacked interest. Now, as I’ll carry you, those fools from Earth would think that it is a shooting star. They’ll seem fascinated. They’ll squeeze their eyes shut and pray. Hahaha little soft toys don’t use their brains”. The creature held the star by one hand and flew. Then he found an empty space where he hung Drinny. At last, he answered her final question before looking for another star.

“As a star, you’ll hang up here for eternities. If by any misfortune you come near another star, both of you would lose your light and fall from the sky. Then you may remain doomed for what people classify as forever. To be a star, is to adapt to solitude. But don’t worry! you’ll get used to it. The moon will be watching you. It loves stargazing. Like the stars, it has two sides too, of good and evil. So, beware as you would witness both of them. Apart from it, you would serve as an inspiration to all the wandering poets on Earth. Some may even write their hearts out. You’ll stay up here, meaning so much to people down on Earth. Kids would be fascinated by your twinkle; they would draw you. Lovers would adore your beauty and dreamers may look at you and set themselves free to dream. It isn’t that bad. Be a proud star. By the way, I’m the guardian of the stars, Aslaugsta. It was nice talking to ya.”

And that was story of Drinny, the star. Now, the guardian keeps visiting Drinny and she’s getting along quite well too. They don’t talk, because the stars in Milky Way don’t. Yet often Drinny smiles or winks as she watches Aslaugsta carrying another star and it gives us the assurity that she was finally at peace.



- Rawwn

13th October 21



12:11 A.M


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