Chapter Text
Our story begins a very, very long time ago with a young girl.
One night, that young girl crept out of her home. It was a cold and starry night. Despite the temperature, she was dressed in nothing but her nightgown; she had just gotten out of bed. Hugging herself, she ventured into the night. Her vision was blurred by both the dark and the sleep in her eyes, but it didn't matter. She knew exactly where she was going.
As she walked, memories of past bedtimes flooded her mind. Every night, her mother would tell her a bedtime story. Tales of princesses, witches, fairies, ghosts, anything that would come to mind. The young girl smiled fondly. She could practically feel the warmth of those memories shield her from the cold of the night...but then her smile faltered.
She hadn't received a bedtime story tonight.
Soon enough, she had reached her destination: The tree on the hill. If there were ever a place where this had to work, it was here. The young girl did what was becoming routine to her; she looked to the stars. She recalled her favourite bedtime story: The Story of the Wishing Star; a star that had the power to grant any person's wish, so long as they chose right. A star that supposedly appeared no different than any other star in the night sky, but once someone makes their wish, it emits a beautiful emerald green glow and falls to Earth. As the young girl scanned the sky, she started to wonder if what she was doing was silly. She may have been young, but she knew many bedtime stories were just pretend. How could a star do something so wonderful for someone from so far away?
Then she saw it.
A star with a familiar shine, a shine that reminded her of the gentle twinkle that once lit up her mother's eyes. Surely, that had to be it!
The young girl looked intensely at the sky, her eyes illuminated by not just starlight, but hope. She took a deep breath, and begun to sing the lullaby that accompanied The Story of the Wishing Star:
"Twinkle, twinkle wishing star,
How I wonder where you are,
Out in space so bright and clear,
Can you see me way down here?"
As she sang the lullaby, the sound of her mother's singing echoed in her head. Tears began to prick her eyes, but she had to keep singing.
"Let me pick the star that's right,
And pick the wishing star tonight,
Like finding a needle in a haystack..."
She raised her hand carefully, making sure that on the last word of the next line she was pointing at the exact star she wanted. She had to do this right.
"Eeny meeny miny mo and jack
Wishing star, please hear my plea,
Grant one wish, one wish for me."
She lowered her hand back down to her chest, and clasped her two hands together next to her heart, ready to wish upon a star. She closed her eyes, and whispered so softly that she was certain the sound of her voice was drowned out by the sound of her pounding heartbeat:
"I wish you would wake up."
The young girl opened her eyes, tears falling freely. Maybe it wasn't just the Wishing Star. Maybe it was...
"That is you up there, isn't it mother? Please, come back down. Wake up."