Home

The stars are twinkling and shining; filling the earth with their beauty. It was a pity she was yet to grasps the beauty. She raises her hand as she tries to remember the names of some stars, maybe the weird circle one was Orion's belt or something, she doesn't remember.

She looks at her twin children, the happiness that exudes from them is enough to make her laugh. Like their father, Jones, they love looking at the stars. Whenever they went star watching, Jones would pick out two distinct star and name them after their children. It always made them feel special. 

On a random day, she had asked him, why he never bothered to name a star after her, he had laughed and told her,

"Maria, Tu es mon étoile et mon soleil, why would I put my star up in the sky when I can have her right beside me ?"

After that day, he began calling her mon ètoile, my star. Whenever he did so she would laugh because Jones lacked the accent needed to carry the word. Jones was an amazing husband and father. He loved her with everything. To her, he was a necessity. Something she could come back home to. Someone who she could depend on with her life. Before him, she was trapped inside a cocoon, resigned and tired of life but he had destroyed the cocoon and taught her how to fly. Her life began when she met him.

"Mum, look at this new Star" says Mirabella

She smiles at her daughter and pretends to see the star. All stars look exactly the same to her. There was nothing special about them. Just balls of fire waiting to explode.

"Aww, honey, I can see it, it looks so pretty and distinct, what do you want to name it ?" she smiles as she lies to Mirabella

Mirabella scrunches up her face as she tries to think for a name. Mirabella or Mira as she calls her child wasn't going to name the star, that she was sure of. It going to be Arabella. It was the way the twins worked. One would discover and the other would name. It scared her sometimes.

"Why don't we let Mom name it, she's never done it before" Arabella says

The surprise shows on Maria's face, they usually jumped at opportunity to give stars weird name. Really weird names. She has no idea what's she's going to name the star.

She had always had a displeasure for stars untill she met Jones. Her mother had always told her,

" Child, don't try to touch the stars, only those who are feeble minded do so. They are misleading and the only place they can take you to is uncertainty. Look at the ground, the earth, it won't lead you astray "

She took her mother's word to heart. She never tried to reach for the Stars. When everyone was leaving their small barren town searching for greener pastures, she had stayed behind. After all, it was her ground. She didn't want to follow a path of uncertainty. She stayed in the house her parents and grandparents died in. She had buried her first child with her own hands. He was sick, the little hospital couldn't do anything. Her mother advices her to let the child go. She said it was the will of God. She had let him go.

She met Jones when she was twenty six. He was an explorer wishing to overturn the earth while searching for it's treasure. She was a brittle woman who was afraid to breathe, fearing that it may upset the fragile balance of her life. He had dragged her out of the town where no one lives long. She is grateful. 

After the birth of the twins, she suffered from postpartum depression. She felt fear whenever she saw the twins. It was as if they could disappear anytime and there would be nothing she could do. Jones had taken full care of the twins, all she needed to do was breastfeed them. After a while, she grew comfortable with them. As the twins grew up, they became dependent on their father. It couldn't be her. Whenever they had any trouble, she would tell them to meet Jones. He had encourage the twins to do whatever their heart felt. When Arabella said she wanted to go to a prep boarding school, she had frowned. To her, Arabella was aiming too high and she was going to get disappointed. Jones had encourage her to take the exams. Arabella wasn't accepted. At that point, her mother's advice rang in her ears.

She had despise her mother for always holding her down. She thought of her mother to be selfish and cruel but having her own children taught her otherwise. She understood the numbing fear that made her want to hide her children away from the world. To lock them inside. To shield them from every disappointment. To not be able to explain to your child why the world was a cruel place. 

Guiding and leading the family was always Jones work but he wasn't here anymore. When Jones left, all she wanted to do was take them to a little secluded village where she could protect them. She had bought the tickets and was already planning on selling their house. Running away and hiding was what she knew. Confronting life was never her forte. She was stopped by her children, they said if she wanted to run away, that she could do it alone. She was surprised but at the end, she had stayed.

Life was never easy for her. It was always full of disappointment and tears there were certain times where she had felt the pressure to give up, but she doesn't. Jones demise broke her. One moment he was there, and the next he was gone. People say death never took a person's personality and attribute before taking them away. Jones was no exception. He was the unluckiest. Death didn't take him once. It had collected his body in little pieces. The doctor said it was cancer, she doesn't believe him. She thinks his death is her punishment for trying to touch the stars.

"Mom, just give it a name, it doesn't have to be anything special" Mirabella whine

"Any name ?" She asks the twins

Arabella smiles and nods

"How about home?"

It wasn't just the little star Mirabella discovered that she called home. It was all the stars. From the ones that were the most brightest to those that were about to flicker away. From the ones that were about to be born and those life had been taken from. The stars were Jones's home, it was where he resided watching over them. The stars represented her family,her children's hopes and dreams. There were high flyers, one day they are going to leave her nest. So she would need something to keep her looking up

"Home, that's what took you forever to come up with ?" Mirabella asks as she throws herself back on the grass

"It's home because that's where your dreams are. The both of you have an affinity for touching the Stars. So whenever you see the star, I want you to think of your father, me, yourselves. I want it to remind you of home" she says with a smile.

She looks at the twins and smile. Tears are falling from her eyes. She doesn't bother to wipe it off. They twins are smiling widely and crying. She wraps her arms around them. They stay like that for a while.

" Hey, I thought we came up here to to look at the stars, what's with the tears ?" Mirabella asks

Maria smiles, Mirabella was always the strong one among them. 

With their arms still linked together,they watch the stars and makes wishes for the future.