Boy From the Stars

Celest successfully made it past her house in a round about way through the woods. She was chilled but figured she’d better get shopping over with quickly lest she run into the news team, or worse, that odd boy.
 
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The store was warm and decorated thickly for Christmas just like all the other stores in the street. Celest grabbed a basket and meandered through each of the aisles. She picked up plenty of things so that she could stay hidden in her house if she needed to. Eventually she replaced the basket for a shopping kart. She didn’t know how she was going to get all of this home. After nearly an hour of walking through the store she pulled up to the cash register and emptied her trolly. Nearly one hundred pounds later she was  walking out of the store with her arms loaded with bags. She was half tempted to take the trolly home with her but she realized how ridiculous that would look and she slung the numerous bags over her arms and walked home with as much dignity as she could muster.

On her way back she refused to think about the odd boy. She hoped by doing so he would understand that she didn’t want to be bothered by him and he would find someone else to pester. With every step the bags became heavier. She made it to the woods behind her house before dropping the bags and taking a break.
 
After the cold became too much she groaned and picked up the bags once more. She started off towards her house when there was a loud riiiiiip! With utter dismay she looked down to see that one of her bags had burst open thanks to the shrubbery. They were just cans and she could come back for them later. She dropped the remaining bits of the bag and stormed off to the house.
 
She wasn’t quite ready to brave the cold again so she unloaded all of her groceries. She finally went back into the woods and towards the broken bag. When she got there she was surprised at what she saw. All of the cans had been stacked neatly in order and they were sitting atop another non-broken bag.
 
Immediately she looked down to her chest to see if it was glowing brighter. It seemed to glow when he was close. It wasn’t shining more than usual but this couldn’t possibly be the work of anyone else. At first she felt frightened that he might know where she lived, but then again she was grateful. But only slightly.

The next day went by as monotonously slow as the other two. There wasn’t any sign of the odd boy and she was beginning to wonder if she had made him up from her loneliness. She was glad that there were still a couple days of school left before the Christmas holiday began. At least she’d get to interact with some people before spending the next month from school practically alone.
 
She turned off the impatient alarm clock and got ready for school. She grabbed a piece of toast and ran out the door, grateful that the news team wasn’t staking out her house anymore, or at least it as too early for them to be there. She locked up and walked to school in the dark morning. She looked up wondering why it was so dark and she saw large heavy snow clouds threatening to open up and pour snow out on top of her. With her luck it might happen halfway to school. She trudged along in the snow losing interest in seeing her breath with every step she took. Instead she took to rubbing her hands together beneath her gloves to warm them up on the journey.
 
When she made it to school she realized her actions may have been a bit overzealous. She was one of the first to arrive this early and she only saw janitors opening up the school. She walked in and waited by one of the many heaters stationed around the school.

Gradually students began filing into the school and congregating in their normal groups. Celest was completely warmed by the small radiator that she had begun removing pieces of clothing. She refused to take off her jacket because she didn’t want to see the glow. If she saw it, it would confirm that the boy wasn’t a dream.
 
“Hey Celest!” One of her friends called  from behind. Celest turned and instinctively crossed her arms over her chest.
 
“What’s wrong with you?” Another of her friends asked and went over to hug her, “Forget to wear a bra?”
 
They laughed but Celest was silently relieved that they didn’t see anything. She had been avoiding looking down. They went to class hand-in-hand. Despite the confirmation that no one could see any glowing she still refused to take her jacket off in class. It was sweltering. She found herself unable to concentrate and her mind began to wander.
 
“I wonder if I called him if he would come?” she asked herself.

Suddenly one of the windows in the room was shoved open and a gust of air and snow blew in. There crouching in the window was the golden haired boy in all his majestic beauty. The wind blew his hair in his face giving him an oddly more mystical look. He looked concerned and serious, this new look suited him. It finally made him look normal compared to his perpetual grin.

 The students near the window screamed at the commotion and out of reflex Celest had jumped out of her seat.

He made eye contact with her and a grin spread across his angelic face. He lunged at her, arms open wide and before she could think he had wrapped his arms protectively around her and held her tight.

“You called?” he whispered gently in her ear.

"what do you think you are doing? Get out!" she tensed up beneath his embrace. Immediately the boy released her and flew backwards out the window.

Some of the students screamed as they watched him fly backwards but by the time Celest scrambled to the window to see if he hit the ground five stories below he was gone.

Celest silently prayed that no one noticed him embrace her. It had all been so quick! The professor tried to settle the students down. One girl had started crying while others were still hanging their heads out the window to see if they could see anything.

Celest walked back to her desk in a daze. She sat down and realized her hands were shaking, but it wasn't because she was scared. In that split second of him holding on to her she had been engulfed in such a heartwarming heat that when he left she felt incredibly cold. The room was still the same temperature despite the open window, but the heat he brought made the warmth seem freezing. She placed her head down on her desk. Why did he have to fly out the window? If he got hurt because if her she would feel terrible! It seemed he did whatever he commanded and from his ability to defy physics, it didn't seem like he could refuse any order she gave him.

It didn't take long for the rumors to spread around the school of a boy appearing in a five story window and then almost immediately jumping back out. It got to a point where police came to investigate. Thankfully it seemed no one noticed his embrace.

As soon as the final bell for class rang Celest made a mad dash out of the school. She hadn't been able to concentrate all day thanks to that strange boy's actions earlier. She couldn't help but feel concerned for him, but how had he gotten up to the window in the first place?

She didn’t want to, but for some reason she felt the need to walk past the park. It was better than going back to an empty house for the rest of the day. She hesitantly changed directions to take the long way home. As she got closer to the park she wondered if she really should be doing this. She made it to the entrance without any trouble. She was expecting at least a few news reporters around because of the story that morning but there wasn’t anyone. Just couples walking around holding hands. She looked around but didn’t see him. She sighed in relief. Maybe he found someone else to bother.

 Suddenly with that thought she had an odd feeling in her stomach, almost like she didn’t want him to be with anyone else, no that wasn’t right. Why would she care if he showed interest in someone else? She brushed it off as feeling protective. She gave one last look around but she didn’t see him. She turned to go, feeling a little down when she looked at her chest. It was glowing.
It hadn't glowed since the day before when he had followed her. She threw her hands over her chest to hide the light in case anyone saw. No one seemed to look at her funny yet. Maybe this way she could find him. She released a bit of the grip on her chest and saw that a faint beam of light pointed in a certain direction but faded out. Before it showed where it connected. She walked towards the beam. It led her through the park and past couples holding each other tight to keep the chill of the snow out. She continued to follow it until suddenly it stopped. It continued to glow but there was no more beam to show her which direction to go. She went over and brushed off the nearest park bench and sat down. This was confusing. She most certainly didn’t want to call him, but she also kind of did.

As she sat she noticed that her beam instead of pointing in a forward direction was pointing up. She followed it up and there she met eyes with the boy in the tree, only he wasn’t looking at her he was looking around defensively.

“What are you doing up there?” She called, not knowing what else to say. The boy looked down at her, not at all acting surprised, he knew she was there. He jumped down and smiled at her, once again the bright connection between them growing stronger. He bowed deep and low towards her, one hand going high in the air above him, and he bent more than halfway over at the waist.

“Good afternoon m’lady!” He said while righting himself. “I was keeping a look out for strange people.”

“Strange people?” She asked.

“Yeah…they kept pointing things at me.”

“Pointing things at you? Like guns?”

“Is that what you call them?” he whispered under his breath as though trying to put a name to them. “I think so yes. Like that-“ he said pointing to a group of people coming towards them.

“Oh, those weren’t guns. They were cameras.”She said realizing they were a news team. “Hurry! Lets run!” she exclaimed and ran full speed towards the old exit at the back of the park.

Celest ran until she was safely across the enormous park and safely behind the stone wall out of sight. This entrance to the park was rarely used and faced a less-than-pleasant side of the town. She could see a bum about halfway down a lane sitting with his back against the wall with a cardboard sign next to him.
 
Celest leaned over to catch her breath and realized her chest was glowing brightly. She glanced to her right through her hair and recognized the golden tassels of the odd boy. She up righted herself and took a step away from him. He wasn’t out of breath at all and had a small smirk on his crescent moon lips.
 
“Why did you follow me?” She asked, still trying to catch her breath. It was collecting in rather large clouds of steam from the cold.
 
“You asked me to.” He replied and glanced into her eyes with his shining golden ones. Instantly she had that odd comforting feeling leak all over her. She glanced away from him and focused on a crack on the sidewalk with a weed struggling to survive protruding out of it.
 
“No I didn’t!” She defended.
 
“You said, ‘let’s run.’”
 
“Must you do everything I say?” she asked exasperated. Celest didn't know why she was asking him questions. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know him. He was just some odd kid that said he fell from the sky.
 
“Yes.” He said with a grin.
 
“Can’t you go find someone else?” She asked.
 
For only the second time in meeting him Celest saw his angelic face show some other emotion besides complete joy. It looked alarmingly sad. She instantly regretted asking so boldly.
 
“Would you like me to?” he asked and he turned a bit so he was leaning against the wall. He leaned his head down and his golden hair fell around his face so she could no longer read his expression.
 
“Well- yes.” She said, hoping that she had that option.
 
He was silent. It felt very painful standing next to him, and she realized the feeling wasn’t in her mind. Celest actually felt pained. The warm glow connecting to her chest was becoming surprisingly cold. It was almost as though She could feel what he was feeling in that moment.
 
“Could you find someone else?” Celest timidly asked a second time, hoping to rephrase it so it didn’t sound so harsh. She didn't know what else to say. He would be much better off with someone other than her anyway. Any girl would go crazy to be this close to a guy with a face such as his. She just knew he would be disappointed. She wasn’t some special talented person. She just lived in a giant house all by herself for most of the year. She couldn’t do anything special except cook.
 
“No.” He nearly whispered.
 
“Oh.” Instantly she regretted bringing up the subject in the first place. She should have started with a different subject and eased her way into this.
 
Celest slid down the wall and sat next to him, bringing her legs up to her chest to keep as warm as She could. They sat in an agonizing silence for a moment. The glow connecting them continued to stay cold and almost seemed to get cooler.
 
“Why were you in the five story window of my school?” She asked, dragging her gloved hand in a collected pile of snow that had started to fall.
 
“You called me.” He said sounding utterly dejected. His thick caramel voice was not as smooth as it had once been.
 
“No- I mean why the five story window? Couldn’t you have used the stairs?” The glow on her chest slightly warmed.
 
“Was that not correct of me to get to you as quickly as I could?” he asked and the glow continued to get warmer once more. The sadness was going away with the cold.
 
“You could have gotten hurt! You flew backwards out the window too!”
 
“Were you concerned… for me?” He glanced over at her through his golden strands of hair and his shining eyes pierced through hers.
 
“Well- anyone would be terrified for someone jumping out a five story window. Of course I was worried!”
 
Suddenly a rush of energy burst across the glowing beam connecting them. It filled her chest with a light feeling and warmth. It spread out quickly and continued to fill every inch of her being. She felt like she was about to burst! Instantly she blacked out and was unconscious before she even hit the ground.