Minna’s Star

The sky looked like a sorrowful stone blue blanket speckled with glowing chrome stars and a titanic incandescent crescent moon. She had always loved the night sky, Zoey Jane recalled. Tiny teardrops flecked her eyelashes and splattered onto the plain white casket. She stood in complete silence until Mitch walked over and morosely put his hands around her waist. Her dark brown hair fell over her shoulder when she turned to look at him. After a moment, Mitch spoke quietly into her ears.

“I am sorry and I miss her, too.” She gave no motion to respond or even acknowledge him. She laid her head onto his chest and stared up into the sky, tears falling without end. Zoey Jane and Mitch stood quietly. She gazed up at the stars easily finding the star that had always appeared slightly blue. The star shimmered more dimly than the other diamond like stars but was unique in the fact that it was the only star that had a calming light purple mist swirling around it.

It was right that the girl in the casket was adorned with a light purple dress and was covered with a transparent glittering shroud. It was exactly like her star. Zoey Jane knew she would have loved to see herself in the mirror were she alive. Zoey Jane could just imagine her little pale fingers fluffing her long straight blonde hair as she swayed to a tune nobody else could hear in front of the tall mirror.

Zoey Jane lifted her head and went back to the casket. She kissed the blonde girl’s cold forehead. The girl looked so different in death. All of the hope in her green eyes and the inspiration in her sweet smile were lost. It was too painful to bear to see her. Mitch lightly tugged her away from the casket. Zoey Jane placed a hand on the pearly casket and forced herself to move backwards. She gave the girl a final lingering look, and then peered up into the sky.

Zoey Jane softly whispered, while sobbing gently, “Goodbye Minna.”

A tall brown haired teenage girl left the market area filled with quaint little shops and followed the cobblestone road on her way back home. In her right arm, she carried a basket full of varied foods, soaps and two bottles of milk. The small hand of a blonde child occupied her left hand. Together they strolled, hand-in-hand. The little blonde girl wore a sky blue dress with tiny white ruffles at the ends of the elbow-length sleeves and the hem of her dress.

“Look Minna,” said the taller girl, “A raven is with her nest up in that tree.” They stopped and she pointed to the bird. Trees lined the pathway, which had become one of dirt and moss. Tall green pines and orange and brown leafed oaks mingled in the large surrounding forest. The small blonde girl didn’t answer only gazed up to the trees and nodded. The taller girl was Zoey Jane. Zoey Jane sighed and took up Minna’s hand again. The trees grew shorter and less popular the farther that they walked until finally the highest plant was a bright green knee-high fern.

They walked two miles and then they came to an area full of boulders and knee-high greenery. Ahead of them stood a tiny wooden hut. The thatched roof had a few holes and the wooden walls had lichen growing all over it. It was a broken and rotting home but it was a safe home. Wolves and other wild creatures never ventured this far out of the forest to this area because boulders could not grow any plants and was not a suitable habitat for any mammal.

Zoey Jane wore a long draping dress to shield her from the brisk autumn winds that dictated the coming of winter. It was a plain square-necked dress that many would have called dull and hideous. It was the color of dried apple peels and was decorated with an assortment of squares the hue of the dead brown leaves on the ground.

They wandered inside the hut. Zoey Jane went into the kitchen to put the basket down. Minna went into her small room and closed the door without a word. Zoey Jane looked after her and sighed. Minna hadn’t said a word since their parents’ tragic death two months ago. She was only eight years old and Zoey would never forget the look in her green eyes when she found out about their parents.

Zoey put the bottles of milk into a metal bucket and tied a rope to it. She went outside and found a nearby skeletal tree. It was only a yard away from the hut’s door. She threw the rope over a low bough and pulled it. The bucket rose into the air four feet and then she tied the rope around the tree tight. Up there no animals could reach it and the milk would be kept cold because of the coming night air.

Zoey Jane returned inside the hut. She found half a loaf of bread in one of the baskets and browning strawberries inside another. Zoey Jane searched for a plate; there were only two and she pulled one of them out. She pulled out two slices of bread and a handful of strawberries and placed them on the small chipped china plate. She denied herself any food because her and her sister were running out rations. Zoey Jane went to Minna’s room and opened the thick dark wooden door. At the sound of the door, Minna jumped a little and stared surprised at her sister.

“Here, Minna. I know you like strawberries,” Zoey Jane told her sister as she bent down to hand the plate to Minna who was seated on the floor gazing out the window at the sunset. Zoey couldn’t help but smile as the girl took the plate from her.

“Mother and Father used to love sunsets,” Zoey Jane whispered sadly. Minna nodded and let a tear slip out of her right eye. Zoey Jane threw her arms around Minna and embraced her.

“It’ll be okay, Minna. Mother and Father are watching us.” Minna nodded again and wiped another tear away. Zoey Jane sat on her knees and pushed Minna’s straight blonde hair out of her face and behind her ears.

“I love you, Minna. I will help you to bed when you finish eating.” Zoey Jane quickly regained composure and stood up. She smiled brightly at Minna who smiled back a little smile then turned to look at the sunset. Zoey turned and left Minna’s room knowing that Minna would not turn back to her.

Zoey Jane turned to her right and went into another bedroom. It was her parents’ room. The bed was still made from that morning that they had left to go on a walk. Zoey stripped the bed anyway; she somehow felt the need to shake the blankets and sheets each day. That’s what her mother would’ve done. Zoey Jane shook a frail sheet and watched a cloud of dust billow upward into the low rafters. She laid it neatly on the hay mattress and patted it down flat. She walked to the side of the bed to the small table her father kept his books on along with a candle. She lit the candle and turned back to the bed. Zoey Jane beat the heavy blue woven blanket until all the day’s dust had fallen from it. She flung it onto the bed and neatly placed the two cotton pillows at the head of the bed. Zoey Jane then took the candle up in her hands and sighed again.

They were foolish to walk on that bridge, Zoey Jane thought. Especially after the heavy rains, they would have known not to walk on that bridge. She had contemplated the drowning of her parents excessively, trying to figure out why they died. Her father had taught her and Minna how to read. He was smart and would have known that the rain would have made the banking on the sides of the river damp and unstable. Mother would have known not to go on the bridge as well. She was always wary of that bridge and the rushing river that thundered underneath it. Zoey Jane could remember when she was eight years old. Before Minna was born, Mother had always told her to stay away from that bridge.

“The river would as soon as drown you as it would cool you off,” Mother had said one hot summer day. They would not have gone on that bridge. They should not have died. Zoey Jane shrugged again realizing that it was only an accident. She had no proof that anything else had happened and all evidence showed clearly that the muddy banking had indeed caved in. Zoey Jane left the room and her thoughts inside of it. She carried the candle back around the corner. Her feet creaked on the wooden floor.

Zoey Jane entered Minna’s room to find Minna still seated on the floor.

“Minna, did you eat your dinner?” Zoey Jane asked. In response, Minna handed her the empty plate. Zoey Jane was glad that she had eaten her dinner. Some children who lost their parents refused to eat and died of starvation. Minna refused to speak but at least she would not die of her grief. Zoey Jane placed the plate on a nearby nightstand and helped Minna get into the bed. The blonde girl laid her head on an old flat pillow. Zoey Jane had given her the pillow and had placed the spare in her parents’ room. She would rather sleep without a pillow than know her parents’ room was without their pillows. Zoey Jane pulled the thick quilted blanket over Minna’s shoulders and tucked it under the sides of her body, like her Mother had done.

“You should be warm with this quilt. Mother made it so we know it’s crafted strongly.” Minna smiled and Zoey Jane felt her spirit lift. If she could keep Minna happy then she would always be happy. Zoey Jane kissed the blonde girl’s forehead and sang a short tune that she had learned from Father.

“When the frost of Winter comes,

A flawless night will cover day.

With the waning of the sun

We will walk it again.

But in dreams

I can hear your name.

And in dreams

You always open your arms to me.

With the seasons of the moon,

We come to end of days.

In the dark, I see a girl.

You are calling me back.

So, I will go there and

Tomorrow I will be

Back again.”

Minna smiled and her eyes were damp from her tears. She closed her green eyes silently. Zoey Jane kissed her forehead again and wiped Minna’s tears away.

“Good night, Minna. I love you, darling. I will always be here for you. See you after dawn.”

Minna sat up before Zoey Jane could stand to leave and threw her small arms around her neck. Minna gave her a long tight hug and kissed her on the cheek twice. Then still smiling, Minna slowly lay back down and closed her eyes. Zoey Jane cried softly. The embrace had left an imprint on her heart. She felt a burst of joy, suddenly knowing that someday Minna would speak again. Someday they would get over the accident. Zoey Jane stood with the candle and closed her door behind her when she left. Walking from Minna’s room back to the kitchen and then to the right there was another room: her room. Zoey Jane crept into her room and put the candle down onto the bed. She took off all of her clothing and instead adorned a long sleeved nightshirt. It was a pale blue gray with tattered edges. Zoey Jane found a ribbon and bound her dark brown hair back.

Then she lay upon her own bed. It was her size and although she had no pillows, it was comfortably covered with two large black quilts. She quietly slipped into slumber like a cat curled up in a cardboard box.