STARS GOT THINGS STARTED

Sarah was feeling cold, she wasn't sure why, as she was standing outside on a beautiful summer's night, looking up at the stars. They were spectacular, but she was shivering. Something wasn't quite right, she had a feeling like feathers touching her all over.

I'm outta here - she thought - actually shouted - to herself. Quickly she gathered her books that she'd bought out to read before the sun had started to go down and started back to her house. It wasn't too far, but she felt this strange sensation and felt it hard to walk very fast.

As she slowly went on, there was a shadow that was moving towards her. She had no idea what the shadow was, there were no trees or bushes around, just a nice clear parkland.

The shadow became bigger and blacker and moved towards her, right in front of her, slowly swaying.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, "what in heavens world is this?"

"Don't take another step," a deep voice said. "This could be the end or the beginning for you - make a choice!"

"Who are you?" "What do you want - I can't even see you!" She was not quite shouting, but her voice was loud and she was actually feeling quite brave, even a bit angry.

"You don't remember, do you?" said the deep voice. "You came to see me a couple of years ago to get your fortune told. I'm Patrick, the clairvoyant. You were going through a tough time and came to me for advice, and I told you to follow your dreams and do whatever was in your head. After a little while of sitting with me, you said your only dream was to meet the perfect person, you said you wanted someone who did exactly as you wanted them to do, never question a thing you said, to abide by all your wishes, to be like a shadow to you." "Well here I am, the shadow you always wanted."

Sarah, almost burst out laughing - "Yes, now I remember going to see Patrick - he was called the "Clairvoyant's Clairvoyant". I remember leaving the meeting and thinking, what a lot of rubbish. He didn't tell me anything worthwhile, just gave some stupid advice that anyone down any street would give me." After a moment of silence, with the shadow still hovering almost over her, she came back to life and began to think logically and started to question what was really happening. Dark shadows don't just appear out of nowhere, and talk to you - I must be going nuts - she thought.

The shadow started to move, began taking shape of an almost normal looking human. Almost normal - but not quite - there were two arms, two legs, a body, a head but no face.

The voice started again "So Sarah, what is it you want to do? You said your dream was to have someone who did exactly what you wanted - always - so here's the start...tell me."

"Well," said Sarah, "to start with, I want to pretend that this is real and I'm not going nuts. I'd like to have a bit of fun and get you to do everything that I've been wishing for. So I'm going to play along, as I really think I'm in some sort of trance and this is all imagination, so I'm not going to freak out but play along for a while. How does that sound to you?"

"It sounds fine - to start with - but eventually you're going to realise this is for real and whatever you want, have been wanting for some time, will happen. Some of it might be good, some of it....well we'll see what happens." The voice sounded very genuine, wasn't trying to make her frightened, wasn't threatening, just going along with her.

"Ok, the first thing I can think of what I really want, is to get my father to drop dead! He has been an absolute pain to me all my life, and is still going on giving me a hard time. He has been a criminal, robbed people, been caught, blamed it on me, beaten me when I have refused to take the blame....so many horrible things he has done to me all my life - I just want him to go!" She said this easily, without giving it any thought, the point just came from her as naturally as breathing. For anyone listening, it sounded like she was stating a fact that had been in her mind for a very long time.

"OK," said Patrick "Let's get on with it." The shadow bent forward slightly, the head appearing to being almost resting on the chest. The stars were still bright and Sarah was now feeling warm and unusually relaxed. She couldn't understand why this weird experience was actually making her feel calm, very much in control and like it was an every day occurrence.

The sound of sirens fairly close by made her become alert after being so relaxed. What were sirens doing out here in the park area? They got closer and eventually she could see two police cars stopping just a few metres from her, four police officers stepped out of the vehicles and started to approach her. One officer moved a bit quicker than the others and came directly to Sarah and said "Excuse me Miss, I have been directed by a source to find you here. You are Miss Sarah Wind? Yes?"

"Yes, that's me," replied Sarah.

"Well," said the Officer, "I'm afraid I'm putting you under arrest for murder. Your father's body has just been found with a confession note attached to his clothing, giving very direct details regarding his cause of death, which was having his throat cut, testicles removed and his heart cut and hanging out of his chest. The note was signed by you with instructions as to where you could be found."

Sarah was numbfounded, she hadn't performed this act at all, but was not having any tears of grief or shock erupt. Instead she looked around for the shadow to see if she could get some response from Patrick. The shadow was gone, but the Police were still there with handcuffs at the ready.

There was actually a smile appearing on her face, the thought that her father was actually gone, eventhough she wasn't the cause of the death, she realised the experience she had just had with the shadow was real and her wishes had been granted.

As the handcuffs were secured around her wrists, she looked up at the stars and said a very loud and genuine "Thank You!"