Nova's Dawning

Later that afternoon, Osiris and I went out for a while. I needed fresh air (even though by this time of the year it was like two degrees), and I really needed coffee. We went to our place, which was starting to put us on a first name basis with everyone who worked there. The cashier’s name was Amanda and our favorite barista was Kevin. He was a dorky kid a couple of years younger than us, but he was funny.

“Where have you guys been? I was starting to worry Kevin had scared you off.” Amanda said.

“No way, he’s the reason we came back.” said Osiris and then we took our usual spot. This booth was filling up with a lot our memories, from our first date to practically once a week coffee dates, sometimes more if we got too bored. As small as that little town was, we never ran out of fun things to do. However, that night, right after we returned back to my dorm, thunder cracked across the sky. We put in a scary movie and cuddled in my bed. The rain poured so heavy you could hear it on the roof, on the window, and even the pipes seemed to be groaning a bit more than usual. Our movie ended and we were anything but tired.

“Hey,” I said to him as I rolled over, looking into his eyes.

“Yes?” he said, kissing the tip of my nose.

“You want to go play in the rain?” I smiled at him and his face lit up. He threw the blankets off of us and kissed me as we put on more sensible clothes.

We raced down the stairs and found ourselves splashing and jumping around in puddles. He kissed me softly, and in those few minutes, I had never loved like that at all before. It was as if everything was right, the whole world was bright and warm, even though the rain was dreary and cold. He lit up those elements of darkness, and as the sun was setting in our part of the world, to me it had never been higher in the sky.

“May I have this dance ma’am?” he asked me in some loud foreign accent. I laughed so loud and so full.

I held out my hands and he swept me off of my feet twirling me and bending me down to depths I never thought I could reach. Michy’s yoga exercises had been paying off. Lightning cracked against the sky and I began to sing an old song from when I was younger as we danced to the beat of it and the rain.

“I love you, Starlite.”

It was the first time he had said it out loud to me, and I smiled.

“I love you too, Osiris.”

We laughed and kissed, while the sky lit up, and that’s when I went cold.

“Star?” He sensed it too, because my body tensed up as if I had been shot. “What’s wrong?” He put a hand to my forehead and then shook his head. “Maybe we shouldn’t have stayed out this long, you are freezing.”

“We need to get inside.”

I still don’t remember saying those words, but for some reason, I just bolted inside. The floor was slick, and I was a thick woman, so I slid awkwardly through the halls as I ran back to my dorm.

“Star, wait!” He stumbled behind me, but as I fell into my room my phone started to ring. “Seriously, over your phone?” He grumbled.

I answered it faster than lightning, however it was then that lightning lit up the room.

“Star... Something happened to Sam, we need you to get to their apartment as soon as possible.” Bee’s voice disconnected from the line, and not only that, but the power went down as well.

The once beautiful and melodic rain was now ominous and overwhelming as Osiris drove me through it towards his home.

“I don’t know what we are going to find, but whatever it is, don’t get lost. Please.” His words took me aback but I knew he was just worried about me.

“I appreciate that, but I will do whatever it takes to help our friends.” He smiled at me, and I realized we were both pretty wet still. He had convinced me to change before we left, but our hair was soaking us. “Do you realize that every stoplight is out?” He didn’t respond.

When we got there, Mo was there to let us in the complex. It was obvious their power was out too.

“What happened?” I asked, and as we approached their door, I saw that everyone was standing outside, except for Sam. “Where’s Sam? What’s going on?”

“Star... Sam had an accident. She was outside when it started raining, and we don’t know what happened really, but Bee speculates she was struck by lightning. We found her glowing and we were able to get her inside, but then she came to... and...” Jack said, his voice cracking towards the end.

“She lost her fucking mind.” Mowgli interrupted. “She’s probably fried everything in the house by now, and I don’t know how, but I think this whole power outage is her fault.” Bee slapped his arm.

“I want you and Osiris to come in with me to see if maybe I can heal her. You calmed her down the first time, right?”

I nodded and looked to Osiris. “Can you use your shield on me and Bee? More importantly can Bee get close enough to Sam to heal her with the shield on just Bee?”

He thought about it and sighed. “It might work. Unfortunately, Bee, if you touch her the shield will disconnect from you and I wouldn’t be able to reconnect without putting me and Star at risk.”

Bee nodded, fully aware of the consequences. “Could I use my power through your shield?”

“I don’t know honestly, but it’s worth a try, don’t you think?” Bee took a deep breath and then took my hand, and then I took Osiris’s. Our friends wished us luck, and then we headed into the apartment. It was as if all the light from the city was inside their tiny apartment. The walls were covered in tendrils of assorted colors, most of it was blue, but there were some that were pink or green. We could see them hit the shield and reflect off. Osiris winced. I squeezed his hand and we made our way toward the source, which was Sam’s room.

“Sam? Honey, are you okay?” I asked.

“NO! Don’t come in! I’LL HURT YOU!” her voice was filled with tears, and I could tell she wasn’t anywhere near okay.

“Honey, listen to me. You can’t hurt me, because Osiris is here. A better question is, are you okay? Were you hurt?” I heard her take a couple deep breaths and then a good sniff.

“I don’t really remember. I think it was lightning, it just happened really fast, and when I woke up, I hurt Mowgli pretty bad, and I don’t want to hurt anyone else!”

“You can’t hurt us. We’re in the shield. I promise. Do you mind if Bee takes a look at you? She’s in the shield too, but I’m going to need you to take a few deeper breaths for me okay? I need you to try to relax.” Bee opened the door and we slowly made our way into the room as she let go of my hand. The tendrils were very, very slowly moving back towards Sam. Bee got in front of her and put her hands up and began to try to heal her. “Sam, I want you to close your eyes.” She was laying down on her bed, the covers over her, and she was still lightly crying.

“I need you to picture a field. A big green field, filled with tall soft grass.” I noticed that Bee’s gift wasn’t able to go past the shield and she frowned. She took a deep breath. “The grass is so tall that you can’t see over it, but you know that there’s a maze filled with a bunch of treasure. This treasure is stuff out of your wildest dreams, and I heard there’s also exotic women.” Sam smiled and I saw that Bee was taking deep breaths as she rubbed her hands together like a defibrillator. The blue between her hands was growing with each breath. “Now Sam I need you to start walking through the maze. It’s actually a pretty easy maze and you like that. You can tell that you are getting closer and closer to the prize.” Osiris’s hands were sweating, and Bee was just about ready. “Now you turn the final corner Sam and there it is! You get to it, and when you open the chest, you find all the chocolate in the entire universe!” Bee slammed her hands down on Sam’s chest, while leaving our bubble, she screamed, Sam gasped, and Osiris pulled me into his arms.

“BEE!” The lights flew back on and one of the bulbs popped from too much power.

“It’s okay!” she said as the energy tendrils started to disappear completely. Sam’s breathing was labored, but she seemed much better due to her no longer glowing like the star on the top of a Christmas tree. “As long as I’m conscious I can self-heal.” Bee smiled at me as she stood up, but when she took a step toward me, she fainted and fell into my arms.

“Osiris, help me.” We carried her out to our friends so they could care for Bee, and then Osiris took me back into Sam’s room. By the time we returned she was sitting on her bed, with her knees tucked into her chest.

“I’m sorry I’m such a burden to everyone...” I ruffled her shaggy hair and she swatted at my hand.

“Don’t apologize. I threw my mentor through her house the other day so I mean you aren’t the only one with control issues.” She smiled at me and then sighed.

She stood up and brushed herself off. “I guess I should avoid storms from now on,” and she gave a fake chuckle.

“Probably.” Osiris said, smiling. He had always cared for Sam and sometimes it was hard for me to remember that they had all been friends for a long time.

I went out to see Bee standing, drinking a glass of water. “Good thing to know you’re basically indestructible.” I said, giving her a hug.

“Well, not from age.” she said, smiling. She gave Sam one last heal with her magic hands and then hugged her. “When it stops raining, go to Violet and sit in the theater for a while. It’ll help more than I can.”

Sam nodded and then yawned. The sun was completely gone now, but it couldn’t have been later than seven if not closer to six, although it was hard to tell with all the rain.

“We should all have like a sleepover type thing. Osiris and I can go get popcorn and candy, and you guys pick out some movies to watch. Is anyone in?” Mo, Jack, and Sam were down, but Bee decided she would head back to Oren’s. She was working at the hospital early the next day and needed more sleep than any of us. Sam invited Thea over, which I was okay with as long as Jack didn’t do anything stupid, and then Osiris and I were back out the doors to get candy and popcorn while they bickered over films.

“I love you.” Osiris said to me, out of the blue, I still wasn’t used to it, but I loved the sound.

“I love you too,” I said, “but what makes you say it at this moment?”

“Well, cause it’s true. You are literally so great with everyone.” He held my hand. “You’ve always done your best to help everyone, and that’s one of the things that makes me so attracted to you. Your compassion.” He kissed my palm, and I felt my face go warm.

“I really appreciate it, Osiris.”

At the store it was easy to forget we were gifted, with gifted friends, and control issues. He picked up a box of Reese’s Pieces, (my favorite candy) drew a face on the box, and then proceeded to chase me around the store with the box. Not only that, but he was FLOODING our cart with individual popcorn bags.

“Why not just a box, babe?” I asked him.

“Because box popcorn is nothing compared to the individuals.” I shook my head at his response, but eventually he put them back and grabbed a variety box, in case anyone was picky, which they weren’t. “This movie idea was really great, Star.”

“Well you’re really great sooooo.”

He laughed and I remember thinking in that moment, that I really did love this guy I had met a couple months ago. I thought about how our short time together was rejuvenating, and not only that but it was refreshing. It made me feel like things were going to work out and that I would get a shot at being a normal college student.

When we finally returned to the apartment, practically everyone was asleep. Sam was out, Jack was out, and only Thea and Mowgli had remained. They had been talking and thankfully Thea seemed to be in a good mood.

“How was Sam?” I asked Thea as we put in the first movie.

“Better.” When she said it, she sat up and the pink revealed from under her hair. “It took a lot out of her mentally and physically, but I understand that.”

I nodded, getting under the big blanket we were all sharing.

Mowgli and Osiris were fumbling with making the popcorn, and I smiled thinking about how wonderful it would have been if we could all be friends forever.