Raining Stars

The moon shone brightly over the small village of Monpai. The stars glimmered and shone glory over the Earth. Rain watched out from her bedroom window and soaked up the moonlight. She had never seen a night so beautiful. Rain yawned and looked at her little sister who slept peacefully in the bed beside hers. She smiled and prepared for bed herself.

“Rain! Moondust needs to be walked. Would you mind taking her?” a voice exclaimed from downstairs.

“Of course not, Mother! I’ll be right down.”

Rain walked downstairs after taking one last look at the night sky.

“Thank you so much, Rain,” her mom said gratefully. She yawned and stretched. Rain could tell that she was tired and ready to sleep.

“It’s no problem, Mother!”

She hooked the old leash onto little Moondust’s collar and opened the door. Moondust tugged on the leash and begged for her to hurry up.

“Careful, Moondust! The leash might break.”

Her dog ignored her commands and practically dragged her into the cool night. Rain stared up at the sky and admired the stars. They twinkled back at her and shone brighter. After Moondust had used the bathroom, Rain started heading back to the house.

“Let’s head back, boy.”

Moondust refused to move from where he was standing. He stared into the woods and didn’t make a sound.

“Dust! We have to go back! It’s late.”

He ignored her and started tugging on the worn leash.

“Dust! Stop that! C’mon! Let’s go back!”

Suddenly the leash broke and Moondust bolted straight into the woods.

“Moondust!”

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“Honey, I have to leave. I’ll be right back! I promise!”

Rain cried and held onto her dad’s leg.

“Don’t leave! You always leave!”

Tears ran down her face and stained her blue dress.

“Rain, sweetie! Look at me!”

Rain ceased her crying and looked into her father’s deep blue eyes.

“I will come back! I always have, haven’t I?”

Rain sniffed and nodded her head.

“How about this. I promise. I promise I will come back. Nothing bad will happen to me while my Rain is waiting.”

She smiled and hugged him tightly. She was only seven then. Rain had no idea what his job was as he never told her, but all she knew was that he left much too often. Her mother would always tell her that it was the most important job in the universe, but she would never reveal what it was.

“You promise you’ll come back?”

“I promise, my Rain.”

He had kissed her on the forehead and left with one last smile. Then.....he never came back. Rain was devastated when she realized he was gone forever.

“He promised....”

Rain never forgot that moment. He hadn’t come back in time for Rain’s sister, Mara’s birth. In fact, he hadn’t even come back at all. Her mom found it hard to tell her that he was never coming back. Something terrible had happened to him on his trip, but she never told her what had happened to him. Rain was confused and a bit upset that she refused to say. She didn’t know whether he was dead or alive or if he had just lied to her.

That had happened ten years ago. Rain was seventeen and still had the memory stuck in her mind. She wanted to know if he was alive. Moondust was a present to the family before he left. It was her only reminder of her kind father.

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Rain dropped the broken leash and dashed after him. She pushed through branches and tripped over roots until she had reached a clearing in the woods. She stopped running and gasped in awe. Fireflies were flying around and lighting up the forest. They were different from the ones Rain normally saw in the village. They gave off a royal blue light rather than yellow. It was a gorgeous sight. One landed on her finger and started blinking its light.

“Hello there!”

When Rain turned her finger to the right, it started blinking rapidly. When she turned it to the left, the light disappeared.

“Hmm? You want me to go this way?” Rain asked, pointing the right. As if it were responding to her question, it blinked again.

“Alright then.”

Rain went to the right and left the clearing. After a few minutes of walking, they approached another clearing. This time, there was a single tree in the middle. It looked older than any other tree in the forest and had large leaves that almost seemed to give off a royal blue glow. Moondust was staring up the tree and wasn’t even barking. He seemed slightly nervous.

“Moondust!”

Rain forgot about the firefly and dashed to her dog. She kneeled down and placed the broken leash on the ground.

“You cannot do that!”

Moondust panted and whined as Rain pet him.

“Oh, don’t give me that look! You should be scared! You ran away from me!”

Moondust whined again and pawed at the base of the tree.

“What are you doing? Did you find something?”

Rain knelt down beside him and started digging at the base of the tree. Moondust helped by digging next to her. Eventually, they hit something much harder than dirt. Rain pulled a box out of the hole. It was incredibly small and looked like an old necklace case. It was royal blue and had strange stars and markings on it. A large silver crescent moon was in the very center. Curious, Rain opened up the box. A crescent moon necklace sat inside. It was silver with a royal blue gem hanging off the top of the crescent, encased in some sort of silver cage.

“Look what we found, Dust!”

Rain touched the necklace and almost screamed. The gem started glowing incredibly brightly. She immediately took her fingers off of it and slammed the case.

“W-Wow. I was not expecting that, huh, boy?”

Moondust looked a bit shaken, too. He stepped back, away from her. Rain looked back down at the case. It seemed to have a blue aura around it.

“Let’s go back now, Moondust.”

This time, Moondust did not hesitate to bound back to the house. Rain took the case with her to study it a bit more. Once she arrived at home, everyone was asleep. Moondust dashed into her mother’s room while Rain walked back outside.

“What is this?”

She opened the necklace case again only to be greeted with the same blinding light.

“Put it on.....”

Rain jumped at the whisper. She looked around but didn’t see anyone.

“Come this way.....”

The voice was enchantingly beautiful and tempted her to follow it. She stood up and followed the sound of the voice. When she arrived back in the clearing where she had found the necklace, no one was there. Rain took the glowing necklace out of the case and put it around her neck hesitantly. The wind suddenly began to pick up and the gem connected to the necklace began to glow even brighter with a light that lit up the entire woods. Rain watched in confusion as all the trees started swaying in the wind. Suddenly, it started howling and whipping her brown hair in every direction. Rain fell onto her knees and gripped the necklace in order to keep from being blown away.

Finally, after several minutes of howling wind, the gem on the necklace finally turned back to royal blue. Every time Rain touched it with her finger, it would glow. Rain didn’t know what to think. She had never experienced anything so unusual and amazing. Suddenly, the moon was covered by an unnaturally dark cloud. It was black and tormenting as it filled the entire sky. Rain just assumed it was a bad thunderstorm and started running back to the house. Suddenly, shining black spikes erupted from the ground directly in front of her and blocked her way. Rain jumped back in fear. She ran the other direction as quickly as she could. The tree that had been hiding the necklace suddenly turned to ash in front of her eyes. Rain screamed, but her voice was drowned out by the howling wind. On instinct, she grabbed the necklace and it began to glow. The light filled the entire forest with blinding light once again. A piercing and haunting scream filled the air that was not her own. When the light faded away, the forest was normal again. Rain was so terrified that she could barely walk back home.

When she did arrive, her thoughts were elsewhere. What kind of necklace was in her possession. Was it even a necklace? Why had the sky suddenly become dark? What were those terrifying black spikes? Were they still there? If so, how did they appear and why? Rain hesitantly snuggled under her covers and wondered what other secrets the woods were hiding.