Starry Night

Authors note: This Chapter is simply about Jack's first trip to the other world. The next chapter will become more interesting, Promise!


Please read and review! Tell me if you find something wrong with my grammar or with the story line, corrections and suggestions are appreciated!
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The stars were shining so brightly above me. They winked down at the earth like admiring fans, when in fact, it was us who envied them.

I wished I could fly up to the sky, free of this earth bound hell of mine.

Currently, I was sitting on the roof top of my shack, admiring the sky above. The shack was made of wood, weakly nailed together and drafty. There was only one room with thrown out blankets tossed on the floor. The ceiling would leak when it rained, the walls would moan in the wind, and the snow would wander inside during the winter, sneaking through the various cracks in the foundation.

It wasn’t the greatest, but it was home. There were a few perks to living like a street rat. Although I had never experienced the finer things in life, I could at least be alone when I wanted to, then again, I was always alone.

My brown, rag like clothes fluttered in the cool breeze, causing me to shiver.

Tomorrow was going to be the same abuse as always, verbally, and physically.

Looking back up at the sky, I wished more than anything to get out of here some how. I wanted to go somewhere where the people weren’t so ugly, inside and out. And where the scenery was green and lush, unlike my trashed, junk pile of a landscape.

Here, during the day, the sky was gray. It’d be nice to go to one of those places where there was a blue sky, with blazing sunsets and sunrises. A place where the only clouds you ever saw were the enormous marshmallows grazing lazily in the sky.

This was one of the few nights where you could see the sky. Normally, it was as gray as the day. One star in particular seemed to be shining brighter than the others. I assumed it was the northern star.

Quietly, like a mouse sneaking out of its home in the wall to avoid a cat, tears began to form in my usually moistened eyes.

I did my best not to cry, telling myself that doing so would only make me feel worse. But now, I felt utterly alone, defenseless, and useless. There was nothing for me here, so why did I exist?

I put my head between my knees and willed the tears away. As I did so, it seemed to get much darker all around me. Looking up, I found that I heard a strange, yet beautiful ringing sound.

Looking around myself, I attempted to find the source. I hardly noticed the shadow creeping over the hills of garbage in the junkyard till it was nearly upon me.

Surprised, I stood and nearly toppled off the roof. The shadow stopped it’s progression as soon as I looked at it, like a child getting caught in the act of disobeying their parents.

Up, in the sky, there were no clouds to be making shadows tonight, so what was making this one?

It was then that I realized that the beautiful sound was coming from the sky. Or, at least that was what it sounded like.

Curious, my gaze once again returned to the brightly shining star above me. Almost immediately after my attention drifted from it, the shadow began its approach, this time much faster.

Were it not moving so fast I would not have noticed, but this was simply unnatural. It shot at me like a predator attacking its prey.

Without thinking, I stepped back and fell off the roof. Before I even hit the ground it was on me. Everything faded into darkness and my sense of direction disappeared. Everything was gone.

Then I was on my back. I could feel a soft carpet beneath me. Unknowingly, I had closed my eyes, so I gently eased them open. The first thing I noticed was a bright light.

I couldn’t think of where it might be coming from. There was no source of light in the junkyard as far as I knew.

Then, my vision adjusted and I found myself in an enormous room. There was a complicatedly patterned red and brown carpet filled with stars and lines. The roof was beautifully painted with a blue sky littered with puffy clouds. The room had to be three stories high, with gorgeously decorated pillars holding up the roof on all sides.

There was a wall to my left, painted in the scene of a field, and to my right were numerous balconies, leading out into the night.

Curious, I stood and walked out upon them, and looked down.

There, about twelve stories below me, I found myself in the tallest tower of a beautiful building, with hundreds of people walking about down below me.

There were some on the roofs of the near by buildings. I had to squint my eyes to get a closer look, only to find that they all were extremely handsome young men! Even in the dim light of the night I could see their perfect faces, and beautiful hairstyles.

“I’m sure not in Kansas anymore.” I mimicked the Wizard of Oz and stepped back.

Then I noticed it, the beautiful instrument at the head of the room. It covered the entirety of the wall, with buttons, pipes, holes, and tabs everywhere.

Curious, I walked up to it. The closest thing to me was a hole in a pipe. I reached out to grab a button over it, but as my hand hovered over the hole, an eerily beautiful sound gently whistled out of it.

I pulled my hand away, and the sound stopped. Curious, I put my hand back, and the sound returned. I then commenced putting my hands over other holes randomly, only to find that each hole made a beautiful sound once my hand was over it.

I was thoroughly enjoying this, and soon found a tune and began making music according to this new rhythm I had just made.

Beautiful music began to fill the room as I proceeded to play with the unusual instrument. I felt as though I were a composer standing in an empty hall full of invisible people, quietly applauding my work.

I don’t know how long I spent playing with this instrument, but by the time I was done, it was beginning to get light out.

Looking out over the balconies, I finally wondered what I was going to do now? It was at this point in which the shadow returned. It creped in through the farthest balcony, and slowly made its way towards me.

I was scared, but didn’t have anywhere to go. So, I just stood there and allowed it to approach me.

It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time it made it to me. And when it did, once again, the world was dark, and I found myself falling again.

Scared, I reached out for something to hold onto, only to find the shack before me.

Suddenly, the room was gone and I was where I should have been back when I had first fallen, in front of
the shack, flat on my back.

The sky was beginning to lighten as the sun poked its head up from behind the horizon, like an old man just barely able to drag himself out of bed.

It was at this point it which I wondered, had it been a dream?