Dark Star

• Ruby Demasi, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2015

It isn't my fault that I'm curious about the un-ordinary. It isn't my fault that I'm different. I can't help it that I have studied the solar system so many times, that I can tell if one tiny object was out of place. In 2002 I was declared the smartest Astronaut on earth... Only, I wish I wasn't so smart... I wish I never found what lay beyond our world... Because if I didn't – well, I wouldn't be in prison and I wouldn't be responsible for the death of many innocent people. I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt– no one did. But the creatures that were guilty of the crime went away from our planet licking their bloodied lips, eyes twinkling with mischief wanting more... But before any of this happened, before there was any blood the world was normal, besides one star. A tiny star that lit the blackened night sky with a bright light. It was too small to be a moon and too small to be a star–in fact, it should have been too small to be in the solar system. As soon as I saw it I knew something was different about it, something strange, something no one had ever seen before. I called it Dark Star.
My sad tale started in my office at N.A.S.A. space unit where I reported my sightings of Dark Star. When nobody believed me I showed pictures from that night under the stars. They told me to wait to see if it came out again.
It did.
For the next month, the same star kept showing up in the same spot every night. Each new month, I took a photo of the star and over time, looking back at the pictures, I saw that in each picture the star grew bigger, bigger and BIGGER!
After years of preparation, I was put into a space shuttle in the early afternoon to go up into space to try and figure out this mystery.
"Are you OK up there sir?" Asked a nervous radio control manager.
"I'm fine," I said. "I am now on Auto control. My life is in your hands... No pressure."
"A-Auto control on. S-Sir. We will l-lead you up to the star's location. Ac-cording to your research it should be pretty big and visible by now. G-Good luck."
Just like clockwork, a bright light blinded my vision for a few seconds before dying out.
"What the–" I heard a voice. Everyone knows there is no sound in space. But... There it was again. Laughing... Talking... Whispering...
A faint outline appeared in the distance. I squinted hard. What I saw made my knees buckle. "No... Can't be," I kept saying to myself, but the more I looked, I stood there in shock.
A girl around 12 years old was sitting in space with gold hair and gleaming purple eyes. She was making a star...