The brightest star

I was looking at the stars while standing in the balcony. When I was a child, my mom used to say that people who die become stars. It was absurd. But as a child, I believed it. I used to search for my dad in the sky. Gradually, as I grew up, I realised it isn't true. There is no way the people who are gone will come back. There is no way I can even get a glimpse of those people. I realised that people becoming stars was a lie. But today, I want to believe this. I want to believe that the people who are gone become stars. As such, I will be able to get a glimpse of my little girl, my little baby girl. Baby Annie, daddy believes that you are living on as a star in the sky. My baby girl must be the brightest star in the sky.

With this hope, I had set my eyes on the brightest star. It was dazzling. I could somehow see my daughter's face in the star. She was smiling. I could feel my eyes tear up. The sky became a bit blurry. But I continued to look at the star. I felt the star had grown a bit in size. Maybe, it was my hallucination. I rubbed my eyes, adjusted my spectacles, and looked at the sky again. To my surprise, the star looked even bigger now. It was growing in size. The star soon looked like a big ball of fire in the sky. It was now about the size of a full moon. I couldn't believe my eyes. Not only was the star looking bigger, but it was also getting nearer. 

It was getting nearer and nearer. I was shocked and I got up from my chair. It was shooting from the sky. It was coming nearer and could crash at any moment. I kept my eyes on it. It finally made its landing in my garden. I was flabbergasted. I ran to my garden. There it was, a huge crater. I walked towards the crater. I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw my 4-year-old daughter standing in the middle of the crater. I ran to her, picked her up in my arms, and spun her around. I kissed her and hugged her tightly. I couldn't believe what was happening, but I was happy. I was happy beyond measure. I looked at my little girl. She smiled at me. 

I hugged my daughter again in my arms. I took her into the house. She sweetly calls me, "Daddy?!" I looked at her. She says that she misses the food that I used to cook for her. Her favorite dish is macaroni and cheese. I place her on one of the chairs in the dining room and go to the kitchen to cook. After some time, I bring out a delicious serving of mac and cheese, just the way my daughter liked. She smiles and digs into it. I pat her head lovingly and ruffle her hair a bit. She looks at me and pouts. I smile back at her. She gives a hearty laugh and goes back to eating.

Then, she says that she wants to go to her room. I take her back to her room. There is a swing in her room. That's her favorite place. I place her on the swing. I get on the back and swing her gently. She is happy. Through her giggles, she says, "Daddy higher!!". I ask her to hold on tightly and push her a bit higher. After some time, she gets bored with the swing and asks me to play hide and seek with her. I agree and close my eyes and start counting. After I counted 50, I opened my eyes and said, " Annie, daddy is coming for you". She starts giggling when I say this. I could hear her faint giggles. I knew she was hiding in the closet in my room. I walk to my room. I get to the closet and open the door. There she was, with eyes closed and trying to hide her face with her hands. I look at her and smile and say, "Gotcha!!". She opens her eyes and starts chuckling.

I pick her up and take her to her room and lay her on her bed to sleep. She says she wants to hear a story. I take out her favorite storybook. It was "The sleeping beauty". I start reading it to her. She gradually goes to sleep. I sit by her side and look at her until she is in deep slumber. I get up and keep the storybook aside. I take another look at her. I still can't process what is going on. I don't want to process anything as long as I have my beloved daughter with me. I bend and place a kiss on her forehead. I turn back and start towards the door. I feel someone holding my wrist. 

I look back and see my daughter holding onto my wrist tightly with eyes wide open. I ask her what happened. She doesn't reply. She gets up from the bed. She looks at me, straight into my eyes. I see her eyes changing color. It turns into a bloody shade of red. I look at her scared. I try to free my hand. Her grip gets tighter. She doesn't let me go. She is looking at me as if she will engulf me at any moment. I cannot stop looking at her eyes. I cannot close my eyes; I can't divert them away. I feel her growing in size. She turns into a shapeless shadow. I start drowning in that shadow. Everything becomes dark around me. I feel as if I am blending into that shadow. There is no light, only darkness. I silently close my eyes. 

When I open my eyes, I find myself in a dark place overlooking my house. I am trapped in what appears to be a cage. The cage is bright and is shining like it is made of light. I look down at my house from up. I see myself standing in the balcony and looking up at the stars.