Starry Skies Ahead

As we drove up the mountainside toward the scenic view at the top, I found myself staring out of the car’s window and trying to pry through my memories. I knew many things about my life, like me being in a car crash and losing access to the memories I had made before that fateful day, and that I was on a week-long trip in the mountains with my two friends, Raina and Melissa. I also knew that my friends and I were juniors in high school, my biological father died in the crash, and I constantly felt like I was missing a piece of my life.

Raina, who was in the seat beside me, turned toward me and tapped me on the shoulder. “We’re almost at the top, Vega!”

I nodded, shaking away my sleepiness and thoughts. It was around ten in the night, and I wanted more than anything to rest in our rented mountainside house. I sipped the coffee cup in my hand and smoothed out my short brown hair with golden highlights.

“Are you excited to see the shooting stars?” Melissa asked from the driver’s seat, glancing back at Raina and me.

We nodded and Raina squealed as we reached the scenic view and Melissa parked the car on the grass. I hopped out and waited as Raina and Melissa pulled out some towels to lie on.

“The star shower will start in five minutes,” Raina pointed at her wrist watch and whispered with plenty of excitement.

As we set our towels on the ground near other groups of people, I sighed, remembering that Melissa and Raina set up the trip solely to try and lift my spirits. Well, I thought. They didn’t explicitly state that, but I’m sure that’s the only purpose of this trip.

I settled down on my bright pink towel and glanced up at the sky. The shower was about to start, and even though my name literally meant “star”, I wasn’t very hyped up for the event. However, what I didn’t know was that the night I saw the shooting stars would be like nothing I had ever experienced before, and the memory would stay with me forever.

“Look!” a woman yelled a few mats down. “It’s starting!”

Melissa, who was sprawled on the towel next to me, looked over and grinned. I returned with a small smile and looked up at the bright dots that were zooming through the night sky. It became surprisingly tranquil as I continued to watch the celestial objects.

Suddenly, Raina whispered to Melissa and me, “Guys, let’s make a wish! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

Melissa and Raina slowly closed their eyes and mouthed their wishes under their breaths. I knew that wishing on a star was nonsense, and that nothing spectacular would come out of it, but I still did.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered, “Stars…Please help me regain my memories and stop feeling like I’m missing something.”

I blinked and looked around after making my wish. Something’s going on, I instantly realized. Everyone around me had frozen in the middle of making their wishes, watching the shooting stars, or gasping in wonder. What in the world?

I rubbed my eyes, thinking I was just making everything up. But when I glanced around again, the crowd was still frozen still. I was about to call out to Melissa and Raina when a blinding light hit me from above.

I squinted at the spotlight and realized a white pointy object was suspended in the air above me. A star? I wondered. The object suddenly descended and my thoughts were confirmed. A star that was represented in the cartoon style of five points stretching out from the center hovered next to me for a few moments. I blinked at it in surprise, too stunned to speak.

And before I could do anything, the star suddenly shot into the air with me zooming after it in its spotlight. I screamed as the people on the mountain became as tiny as ants and suddenly disappeared from sight as the star and I left the atmosphere.

Is this like an alien abduction? I wondered, trying to fight the star’s pull. But it was impossible to break free and I found myself falling silent as planet Earth became smaller and smaller in the distance. The star and I sped past Mars and Jupiter, then turned once we neared Uranus. We must have traveled for many, many lightyears until we stopped at a tiny moon of an exoplanet. The star zoomed into its atmosphere and dumped me in the middle of one of its large craters.

When I realized that I would not be able to breathe, I gasped and clutched at my throat, but when I took my chances and breathed in deep, I felt amazed that there was a moon that could support human life. I even caught a glimpse of a pool of water when the star suddenly shook violently.

I jumped to my feet and backed up cautiously. I didn’t want a star exploding on me and possibly destroying the whole planet. However, the star just grew in size until it popped into tiny sparkles like a balloon, startling me. I watched in awe as the sparkles grouped together into the shape of a young child, and I blinked a few times until a small kid really did appear.

I yelled out in surprise, and the girl with pigtails frowned.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Oh, do I have something in my teeth? This is my very first time converting into a human…”

“Um…” I said slowly. “What’s going on? Where am I? Can you take me back home now?”

The star girl shook her head. “No, I can’t take you back until I’ve fulfilled your wish! I need to make sure my first wish mission goes as perfectly as possible. Oh, and I’m Astra, your star guide.”

“What?” I said, puzzled.

“Nevermind,” Astra responded, suddenly taking a step back and holding out her tiny hand. “Grab on. It’s time for you to remember.”

I reached my own hand out and wrapped it around hers. Astra leaped into the air and zoomed into the dark vacuum that was outer space. She zipped forward at a blinding speed until we arrived at a solar system full of exoplanets.

“Each planet represents a chapter of your life,” Astra explained. “Let’s start with the day you were born.”

She swerved towards the planet closest to its star and I gasped when I saw a blurry projection of my mother cradling a small body with a chubby face appear on the planet.

“Is that me?” I asked. “I was so little.”

Astra smiled. “Sure is!”

She sped toward the next planet, which showed a younger version of myself toddling around and pulling my cat Joey’s tail. I laughed for the first time in a while as I slowly regained my memories. Once I was finished watching myself as a toddler, Astra tugged me toward the times when I was a young child around five or six.

My eyes softened as the image of me crying as my biological parents yelled at each other, and my father left, slamming the front door. Then, as Astra pulled me along, I watched myself grow up and earn a stepfather who died suddenly from a heart attack.

And when I watched the images that appeared on the second-farthest planet away from the solar system’s star, I was surprised to learn that my biological father, who had barely been in my life, sent me letters and a card for my 16th birthday. I had been surprised to hear from him, and a bit angry as well, since he hadn’t come back to support my mother when my stepfather passed.

When Astra and I looked at the last planet, I finally learned what had happened the day I was in the car crash. I watched myself hop into a car with my biological father, and while we drove to a cafe, we talked about what was going on in our lives. Our conversation suddenly got heated, my father got distracted, and we crashed…

When the images disappeared, Astra turned towards me with concern on her face. “Are you alright? The past can be…painful. And you humans are emotional beings.”

“I…” I said slowly, trying to process all of the information that I suddenly regained. “I’m fine. I wished for this anyway. Thank you for helping me. I know what I need to do now.”

Astra smiled. “I’m glad I made your wish come true. Now, it’s time for you to return to Earth.” Her smile slowly turned upside down. “But, you won’t remember our encounter. You won’t remember me, but at least you’ll have your old memories back.”

My eyes widened. “Wait, I won’t remember meeting you?”

“Of course not!” Astra responded. “You’ll only open your eyes after wishing on a shooting star, and you’ll suddenly remember everything.”

“Oh…” I said softly. “Well, I would’ve said I’ll never forget you, but I guess that’s impossible.”

Astra didn’t respond.

“Astra?” I asked. “I need to ask you something before I go.”

She turned to me and nodded.

“Will my life improve from now on?”

Astra smiled knowingly. “All I can tell you is that there’ll be starry skies ahead!”

Suddenly, everything turned a blinding white, and I found myself laying on a hot pink towel on the top of a mountain. My temples throbbed painfully for a few seconds as I opened my eyes. What just happened? I wondered.

Then, I realized that I no longer felt like I was missing a part of my life. I remembered everything that happened before the crash almost instantly. What’s going on?

I stared at the sky for the rest of the shower, deep in thought. I couldn’t grasp how I regained my memories, but I was very grateful to have them back. Wait, I thought as Melissa, Raina, and I rolled up our towels and walked back to the car. I do remember something…Something like, “starry skies ahead”?

When we piled back into the car and began to drive down the mountain, I texted my doctor about my healed condition. His instant reply was, “Fantastic! How is this possible? It must be a miracle.” Then, I called my mother and asked her if we could talk about Dad once my trip was over. She agreed, but she was mostly overjoyed that my memories had returned.

A few months later, rumors spread like wildfire all over the world that the mountain my friends and I had stargazed on could actually grant wishes. People flocked there from exotic countries just to have their wishes granted. When a miracle actually descended upon them when they wished upon a shooting star and they had no idea how to explain it, I felt a little bit amused.

Things were finally looking bright and starry for the first time in a long time, and I was sure I would never regret the results of stargazing that night.