Double Eclipse

It begins with a dream where two little girls are playing on a snow-white field. Their laughter rings sweetly in the air...

"Come on! Hurry!" giggled the angelic child at her replica.

"Wait for me!" replied the other. Prancing through the fields, they finally reached their destination.

"We’re here! Don’t you see it? Isn’t it beautiful?" eagerly asked the first child.

"It is beautiful." They stared at it anxiously while its pink-tip petals began to majestically open before their eyes.

"Let’s bring it home."

"No! You shouldn’t try to. It’s too dangerous!"

"Don’t be silly!" Thus the first child reached for a solid hold and started to climb down the rugged cliff where the blossom itself was rooted. Then carefully, she stretched out toward the flower against the precipice.

"Look out! The ground is crumbling!"

"Ahhhhh!" She screamed!

"Hold on!" Quickly, the child above grabbed for her hand, but she was too weak to pull the fallen child up. The former girl screamed for help, but the silent wind drowned her cries. Then an awkward silence enveloped the two girls. They know they were slipping apart. The once beautiful snow seemed now only an accomplice to death, for its coldness bitterly stung their hands. Gradually, their hands fell apart...

"Nooooooooooooooooo!"

Star woke up. Her heart was rapidly pumping, and she was sweating in fear. She looked around and slowly calmed down. I’m in my room! The same dream again?! Star laid down quietly listening to the tranquil silence. A warm glow of sunlight stretched out onto her bed. Then she glanced at the clock...

"Ah! I’m late for school!" Jumping out of the bed, she headed for the closet, and in frenzy, dug for her school clothes. She then rushed to the bathroom zealously and brushed her teeth and hair in an exaggerated speed of light!

Shouting out loud, "Gotta run!" she dashed out and bumped into her little sister. "Lily! Oh no! I’m sorry, but I can’t walk with you to school today. I’m almost late myself!"

"I know..." yawned Lily apathetically. "I’m fifteen, already! I can walk myself."

"Good! Gotta go." Turning around, she suddenly hesitated!

"And don’t stick out that tongue at me or it’ll stay that way!"

"Humph!"

"Also make your own breakfast, lazy head!" Star ran down the stairs and out the door, then suddenly remembered... Darn! I forgot my own breakfast! But no time! Oh!

Almost reaching the street corner, she surprisingly stopped. A strange and foreign feeling chilled her spine. Star knew that someone was watching her. But the presence was eerie yet harmless. She looked up toward a tree that shaded her. A seemingly long and tiresome silence enveloped her and the mysterious objective she was staring at.

"LOOK OUT!"

Star abruptly twirled around but... Wham!

Papers scattered, two bicycle wheels were spinning upside down, and a boy landed right on top of her!

"Are you okay?" he asked.

With a familiar tone, "Yes! Couldn’t you watch where you are going, Eric?!"

"Well, you shouldn’t have just stopped there so suddenly. I kept yelling at you to move but..."

Blushing with embarrassment at her carelessness and that he was still on top of her, "Eric! I could feel better if you are not on top of me. Please get off!"

"Oh, sorry!" Eric swiftly scrambled up and helped Star up as well. "Why did you stop anyway?"

"I don’t know. It was almost like instinct. I just felt that I was being watched... Now don’t you laugh at me!"

"I’m not." He said, but still holding onto his smirk. "Don’t be silly! I don’t see anyone for miles. Come on! I’ll take you to school. You are late you know."

"So are you!" She whacked his head with some of the papers that fell out of her school bag. Eric picked up his bike. With a smile, Star hopped on and held onto him. They rode all the way to school on the crooked-wheel bicycle. But somewhere up on the tree, two small eyes watched them leave.