Stars at the Beach

Stars were hard to see in the middle of the city. All the lights may look fascinating from afar, but you don’t know what you’ll miss until it’s gone. The wind picks up, blowing Holly’s bright, curly blonde hair every which way. She was already in a bad mood and the wind and lack of stars make her blood boil. She slams the window shut and turns up her music louder. She’s only lived in Jacksonville for three weeks and she hates it. No one at school talks to her and it’s so humid! Her hair can’t take any more. 

“Holly! Turn the music down!” Her stepmom calls up to her for the fifth time that night. Wrinkling her nose, she turns up her music for the fifth time. She ran her fingers through her fingers and looked around her small room. Her room in Stillwater, Oklahoma was a lot bigger. Granted, she didn’t live in the trash apartment house that she lives in now. I’ve got to get out. With impeccable timing, there was a knock on her bedroom door. Well, it was more like a pound because her music was giving the whole building a headache, but Holly could recognize the pattern of the knock. It was her brother, Chase. She turned down her music and opened the door a crack. At the sight of her face, he started laughing.

“What.” She replied with a growl. 

“Sorry, you look so mad I can’tー” Holly glared at him. He stopped and his face went serious. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

“Harper wanted you to get me out, huh?” There was a sparkle in her older brother’s eyes. He winked at her. 

“Maybe. But I do want to show you something. So put on your shoes and do something with that rat’s nest that you call hair.” Holly rolled her eyes and closed the door. She thought Chase was joking but looking in the mirror, she realized that her hair really was a rat’s nest. Not bothering to brush it, she wrestled it into a bun on top of her head. Not even changing out of her blue tank top, she just switches her sweats to jean shorts and threw on a pair of yellow flipflops.

When she emerges from her room, Chase jumps up from the couch and walks to the front door. 

“Let’s go!” Holly would’ve rolled her eyes, but her mood has already lifted. Chase always knows how to cheer her up.

“Harper, I’m taking the truck. We’ll be home in about an hour or two.” Chase informs their stepmom. Harper just gives them a thumbs-up as she tries to stop the newborn twins from crying. A pang of appreciation that she has never felt for her stepmom went through Holly. With their dad staying at work late trying to start up, Harper has been home with their restless twin daughters. 

The siblings took the stairs that led to the back door out of the apartment. They made a beeline to the big black ram truck. Once inside, Chase rolls down all the windows. 

“Hey! The humidity!” Holly shouts and rolls up her window. Laughing, her brother rolls in down again and locks the windows, making sure she couldn’t close it again. Then, Chase turns up the country station radio.

“Just trust me!” He calls over the music. He pulls out of the parking lot and starts to take a back road. Holly may have waited about ten minutes before asking where they were going, but she started complaining about the wind, the second after they started driving.

“Calm down for just a second. Breath in the air. You can smell the ocean!” He was right, Holly can smell the ocean, and for the first time, it was a comforting smell. Holly slowly starts to relax and puts her arm out the car window, feeling the warm air slice through her arm hairs. She can’t help but smile. Chase sees this and turns the country music up louder. Laughing, Holly closed her eyes and let her mind wander to pleasant things. Like how there was no one else on the roads, and how the smell of the ocean keeps getting stronger with every mile. Before Chase turns the corner, Holly knew exactly where they were at; the beach. She hops out of the truck.

"Hey, why are we at the beach? I've seen the water before." This time, Chase rolls his eyes.

"Why can't you just shut your mouth, and follow me." Holly was about to ask where he was taking her when he added, "And don't ask me where we're going. It's annoying, you aren't five." Holly huffs and folds her arms. As they walk, Holly could feel the sand getting stuck in her flipflops. While she walks, hopping on one leg then the other as she takes them off. 

Chase was about a yard ahead of her when Holly looked up from her feet.

“Chase! Stop for a second will you!” She shouts, annoyed.

“Well hurry up! We don’t have all night!” He laughs and starts running backward, his face to his sister, then he turns around and disappears behind some rocks. Just to prove a point, Holly meanders down to the water, making him wait longer. Once she sees her brother, she realizes that he had led her to a secluded cave. She sat down next to him, starts to draw lines in the sand.

The sound of the waves softly crashing against the shore was so serene, she almost didn’t notice the sky until her brother taps her on the shoulder. 

“Earth to Holly. I brought you here because I know how homesick you’ve been. I found this place a couple days ago, and I thought you’d like it. You know, because you can see the stars here.” Holly looks wide-eyed at the sky. The stars clustered together, filling the whole sky. It was like a dance, the way they shone around the full moon.

“It’s just like home,” Holly replied softly, scared that if she said anything, the stars would hide from her. 

It’s funny how the little things put everything into perspective. How one fact change can change your whole point of view, or how a different word can alter the whole sentence. Or how stars in the sky can make you realize that there’s a whole universe out there, and you are just one person out of thousands.