Northern Lights

Nina stares out the window, elbows propped against the sill and resting her chin in her hands. She was five years old, and this could be her first time seeing the Northern Lights in real life! Nina had heard of the beautiful lights in the sky, and she eagerly awaits seeing them appear. She remembers her mother reminiscing about the streaks of vibrant colors like a wonderful tear in the sky. She’s desperate to catch the beauty that her family and friends had spoken about, but as the night stretches on, minutes and hours tick by on the living room clock that she can hear from her room in the deathly silence, and Nina feels her eyelids begin to droop. Afraid she’ll miss the Northern Lights, Nina pinches herself and shakes her head. But her eyes just want to go to sleep, though her brain wants to see the lights. Frustrated, Nina slams her fists against her head, then rubs her eyes furiously. In the silent, starry night, Nina hears a noise in the living room. A shattering sound, and then a door creaked. Nina doesn’t want to leave the window and maybe miss the lights, but she’s scared numb and peeks out the door. A dark figure is sprinting through the house, but strangely, he doesn’t make much noise. Nina hears daddy snoring softly from his room. The clock continues to tick. Who is this person in her house? Nina sees the front door across the room from hers. The window built into it is shattered. She slowly slips from her room. A floorboard creaks under her foot. The dark-clothed person whirls around and less than a second after seeing her, he has pulled something out from his jacket and points it directly into her face. Nina stares at it dumbly. What could that be? A toy? She wasn’t sure she liked it much. It was black and curved a bit. He has his hand on a trigger. Oh! It was a toy gun! Nina smiles.

“You want to play?” She giggles, a little too loud.

The person shifts his grip on the toy gun, and he whispers, “Go back to your room, kid. I’ll use this if I have to.”

Nina tilts her head, confused.

“Don’t you want to play?” Nina whispers.

“No!” he growls. “Now go back to your room and stay there. Don’t try to call for help.”

Nina is still confused.

“Now!” His voice sounds dangerous, like mom’s when Nina spills soup on the floor and refuse to clean it up. Except he sounds angrier. And...scared. Nina remembers once, in kindergarten, when her best friend Madge was crying because she was scared of a spider. Nina remembers patting her arm and whispering stuff in her ear real soft. She got real quiet and hugged Nina. Then Mr. Joseph squished the spider with Phil Hamper’s shoe.

“Are you scared?” Nina whispers.

His eyes flare, and he snaps, “No! Now get into your room right now, or I’ll pull the trigger!”

Nina stares at him. He’s got a black mask covering his face, but she sees his dark brown eyes. Fear is clearly there. He’s taller than Nina, but shorter than mom and daddy. And daddy is the tallest dude Nina knows. Maybe he’s a teenager. Nina had seen a few at school every now and then. Nina smiles at the mask-boy softly. She tries to look comforting.

“It’s okay to be scared,” she says. “Everything is going to be okay. I’m Nina. What’s your name?”

The boy shoves her, then. Hard. She tumbles onto her bum, and then she starts to cry, because she hit her head on the floor, too.

“Be quiet!” the boy hisses. But she just continues to cry. Nina hears an intimidating click, but just then, light shines in a window. Nina jumps up, her fall forgotten, and dashes over to the window.

“Wow,” she whispers. “Northern Lights.”

They were beautiful. More beautiful than Nina could imagine. She hears footsteps behind her, and turns to see the boy approaching, eyes wide as he stares into the sky at the Northern Lights. Nina points, though he’s obviously already looking.

“Momma says that it’s one of the most pretty gifts from God,” Nina tells him proudly. “God is really nice.”

The boy seems overwhelmed as he glances from the Northern lights to Nina, then back again. Over and over. Nina thinks she might see tears glistening in his eyes, but she’s not sure. Suddenly, he sprints out the door. Nina stands in shock. After about an hour of staring first at the door, then for most of the time, at the Northern Lights, Nina goes to bed. The next day, her parents worry about the door and window, chattering about “robbers” and asking if anything was gone. Nina never got the chance to tell her parents about the boy last night before she forgot entirely about it. A few weeks later, at school, Nina spotted a teen-looking boy with black hair and dark brown eyes playing on the playground out the classroom window. For some reason she could not figure out, those eyes looked so familiar.