She sat on her slanted roof, leaning back and feeling the fresh air on her cheeks. The sun had set, and looking towards the west, she could see the silhouettes of the evergreen trees framing the bright, crescent moon that was rising. An array of blue shades painted the sky, the perfect background for the faint clusters of stars that hung above her. Squinting, she tried to make out the tiny constellations, measuring her hand in relation to the North Star and making up names for the other distant pictures she saw.

With headphones covering her ears, she sat on the roof for hours, sometimes staring at the stars, sometimes staring at the dark field below her. She imagined what it would be like for the stars to come down and light up the field, how they would look dancing around in the wind. Stories of a place like that amazed her, and she would give up anything to be in that world. Even just to hear the song of the stars as they danced.

Oh, how she longed to dance with them, to see them surround her as she twirled. For now, she danced in the dark, but she couldn't stop herself from imagining what it would be like for them to fall like rain around her. She wanted to feel their warm light on her cool skin, to see them cast shadows across the dark trees, to hear their song echo through the cold wind. One day she knew she would dance among those stars, running and twirling through the floating lights. Nothing could stop her.

But it wasn't time yet.

How could she reach the stars? Why did they taunt her, but never come closer? For two summers she danced alone in the dark field, the wind blowing and the moon never full. The stars unreachable, and her desire to dance in them growing.

Soon.

Until the day the stars would come to her, or she would go to them, she waited on the dark roof, losing her mind in the faint lights and hoping it would never come back. Every night she climbed the small ladder to the roof, sitting in her spot and hugging her knees close to her chest. The cold, silent wind never carried the song she wanted to hear. One day, she knew she would hear the song and watch as the stars lit up the ground. One day she wouldn't have to dance in the dark alone. One day, she would finally dance amidst their warm light.

written by kay