Hallo! I'm Larissa! This is my first short story, so any constructive criticism you lovely readers my have is greatly appriciated. Please don't jusdge to harshly, I'm still working on my writing skills. Anyways, thank you for reading! Have a good day/ night!

I had always dreamt of being among the stars. It's so quiet, only my breathing to keep me company. The stars and galaxies shone like millions of diamonds in front of me. It was truly the best place to be in a time like this, thought who knew I would be here?

---

"I'm gonna live up there someday!" A young girl exclaimed to her father on a starry night in the park.

"I have no doubt, my little moon," He smiled, looking at his six year old daughter. They had been stargazing, looking for Mars since it's the closest it would be for the next few years. "Luna, look! I've found your home planet!" the little girl laughed. It was a running joke among them that Luna was secretly a martian.

"You found Mars? Daddy! Daddy! Let me see!" She jumps around her father and the expensive looking telescope he had brought home from work earlier that day.

"Here," He lifts the small girl to look into it. "Do see the small red dot? That's Mars."

"I see it! That's where I'm going when I grow up!" She giggles as her father hugs her.

"Yes you will! I believe in you!"

---

When I opened my eyes, I could see Earth. A beautiful blue, green and white marble. It's early morning at the moment, a breathtaking sunrise above the clouds. Earth! I immediately send out an SOS signal, hoping against hope someone will be near, maybe the space station, other nations' space stations! Anyone! I just wanted to go home! Home to my family, my friends.

---

"Mommy, where are you going?" My adopted daughter, Kylie, asks from beside my best friend Nova.

"You're Mommy is going to space! Can you believe it!" Nova picks up my four year old as I walk towards where they stand in my doorway. They had just finished helping me put a few things into the trunk of my car.

"For real? Take me with you!" She reaches out for me, as I smile.

"Maybe next time, my little star," I hold my smile as I take her from Nova. Holding Kylie close to me in a hug.

"How long will you be gone? Will you be back in time to take me to school?" She looks up at me with her sparkling blue eyes.

"Baby, I'm not gonna be home for a little while. Aunt Nova is going to take you to school, but she is going to send me lots of pictures! And you can tell me all about it when I get back!" I reassure her after her smile falls from her face. I'm going to miss that smile, but I'll be back soon.

"Promise you'll be back?"
"I promise, baby, I promise," I kiss her forehead. She squirms under the affection, giggling.

"Auntie Nova! Will we be able to call Mommy in space?" She asks, looking at her with a shimmer of hope in her dazzling diamond eyes.

"Unfortunately not. Where Mommy is going, our call can't reach her," Nova smiles a small, sad smile. I asked her to watch my little star while I was away. NASA had asked me almost a month ago if I would lead a team to Mars to fix a failed satellite, and I said yes. Who wouldn't? I would only be gone for about two months, but I would still miss a lot.

I hand Kylie back to Nova. I pull them both into a hug, letting a few tears slip as I tell them I love them both so much. We wave to each other for as long as possible while I get into my car. Even after I'm out of sight and they can't hear me, I'm still telling them how much I love them and how much I will miss them.

---

I receive no answer to my call for help, no one hears me. I'm slowly drifting towards Earth, her gravity pulling me in. I sigh, causing the glass on my helmet to fog up. It doesn't matter though, it's just diamonds among swirls of purple and black. I've been staring at it for the past who knows how long. It's been more than a few days, telling by how hungry I've become.

I hear a small voice in my helmet, Low Oxygen, return to spacecraft now, warning, low oxygen. The first noise I've heard in awhile. Either I'm gonna suffocate, or I'm going to starve. Either way, I'm breaking my promise. I had lied to my little star, my Kylie. I wasn't going home, I was living in the stars.

---

We weren't very far from Earth when we got the notification something had come loose on the outside of the rocket. One of the three of us had to go out and fix it. I was brave, and the captain of the mission so I took the task. Gearing up, double checking, and even triple checking. Everything was fine, I went out and tightened the loose piece. I pushed off from the craft and gave my tether a pull, signaling to the others to bring me back. I wait a moment, before giving another tug. Why haven't they brought me back? After waiting a while I decided I would pull myself back, they would see me coming. After pulling at the tether for a while I realize I'm not going anywhere, then I reach the end of the tether. It had broken.

"G-guys, come in. I'm in need of assistance," I comm the others. One of them could come get me. I wouldn't have let go if I knew! I would have held on, not drifting into the void of diamonds and ink.

"We're here, Luna. What's the problem?" I hear Link over the comm, other voices and static in the background.

"The tether, it snapped! I'm drifting out directly behind the point I've fixed. Send someone to come get me," I respond. Hoping they get here before I'm too far gone.

"Sending Molly out to come get you, try not to panic," I can hear the voices in the background are panicked now, the static covering their conversation. I soon see another person in an identical suit to mine, push off from the ship in my directing. They're moving faster than I am, so they will most definitely reach me before I'm too far.

Once the other person comes close enough for me to see their bright pink hair, I reach out my hand. Trying to get my body to move towards them, and not back the way we came. Molly does the same thing, but is jerked to an abrupt halt as the tether ends just inches away from my outstretched hand.

"No! Molly please! Reach!" I plead to my pink haired teammate as we both extend out as far as humanly possible. Only a few inches between her fingers and mine.

"No, it's okay, it's okay. We'll find another way to reach you!" She promises. She gives a tug on her line, and she is immediately retracted, "I'll find a broom or something and you can grab onto that! I promise I'm gonna bring you back!" She says as she's pulled back.

"We'll get you back," Link promises over the comm. I'm still slowly drifting away. By the time Molly returns with something in her hands, I'm too far to reach the object. Eventually we had run out of options. If they used any fuel to move closer to me, they wouldn't have enough for the rest of the mission. I was too far. So we talked to each other for as long as possible.

"When you guys get home, tell my little star that I love her. I love her so so much," I choke as I'm talking to them. "Tell Nova that I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't come home like I promised," Nova was the legal guardian of Nova if anything ever happened to me. Now, Nova agreed to this but she still didn't have any plans to be responsible for a child for a good portion of her life.

"Will do captain," I hear Molly's voice crack over the comm with emotion. All of their voices were becoming more and more staticy as I got farther and farther away. I had tears rolling down my cheeks, I felt so bad for everyone. This was the rarest of rare scenarios, it's crazy that it just so happened to be my fate.

"You have to inform ground control as soon as you can, but don't abandon the mission. Tell ground control to inform Nova of what happened. I don't want her to find out by not seeing me walk out of the craft."

"Moon please, there has to be another way, we can't lose you! How are we supposed to continue the mission after losing our captain?" Link asks.

"Th-there's no way to reach me. The craft is so small now, and your voices are cutting out. By the time I reach Earth, the space station will pick up my body. You can have a funeral. I'm not gone forever," I could hear everyone losing their composer over the comm link.

"---- tell every--- how --ave you were. Ev-- till the end y-- thou--t abo-- oth---." The static overcame the comm link, I didn't catch what Link had said but I'm sure it was something sentimental and sappy. It's kinda what he's known for.

I wasn"t sure if they could hear me but I talked to them anyways, "th-thank you all, s-so much. I'm so sorry I couldn't come back, little star."

I could hear the static over my comm that told me they were talking again but it was impossible to hear words. I turned off my comlink, disconnecting myself from my team for good.

---

I open my eyes again as speed starts picking up, Earth's gravity pulling me ever closer to my demise. The warning rings in my ears yet again. It was getting harder to breathe as my oxygen thins. Black spots forming at the edge of my vision. I broke my promise, I wasn't coming home. I never saw Kylie on her first day of preschool, I would never meet her first friend, I was lost among the stars. I start losing grip on my consciousness. I remember telling my father, who worked at NASA behind the scenes, that I would live among the stars some day. Here I was, 15 years later, living among them. It isn't so bad though, having the beautiful swirls of purple and balck speckled with glitter, as the last thing you see.

I close my eyes as I send a final goodbye to my little star on Earth, totally slipping into unconsciousness.

---

"Auntie Nova, can we go outside?" a little voice asks. She looks away from the computer screen, and down into the dazzling blue eyes that shine like the stars above them.

"It's almost your bedtime, and you're in your Pajamas! You silly girl, why do you want to go outside?" She asks the four year old girl by her side. It wouldn't be too bad to let her go out and look at the universe. Besides, Nova wanted a break from doing the taxes.

"I want to say goodnight to Mommy. Please!" Kylie stood on her tippy toes, and touched her nose to Nova's.

"Okay, we'll go say goodnight to Mommy," She picked up the preschooler with a chuckle, opening the back door. You could see everything under the light of the stars. The messy backyard had chalk and a few toys littered across the vibrant green grass from their busy day earlier.

Nova sat Kylie on the grass and plopped down next to her, both of them looked into the vast ink, dazzled by the beauty of the universe. After a few seconds a bright streak of light stretched over the sky, the tail long and beautiful. A shooting star, falling with grace and glitter.

Both girls marveled at its beauty, "Quick Kylie, make a wish!" Nova said, a smile plastered on her freckled face.

"I wish to see Mommy!" The little girl giggled, her blonde hair bouncing slightly.

"That's a great wish! Now let's get you off the bed little star," Nova scooped up the little girl and carried her inside.

Little did either of them know, that was the last time Luna was seen.