Two strange things happened that day. The day the stars from the sky fell, Laila came face-to-face with her wishes, and she rode on them like a chariot into the night.
Laila sat beside her father while they grilled the last batch of sweet potatoes they had harvested from their small farm. The evening was crisp and quiet around the hill where Laila and her father camped in their little hut made of clay and thatch. Only the melodious sounds of crickets and chirping birds could be heard around. Laila listened intently far down the hill. The distant sound of villagers retiring was the highlight of her day.
The children playing beneath the moonlight, farmers returning with their sheep and produce, and traders singing their tales with their wares on carts. Those and more were all the sights that Laila longed for when she would sneak down the hill after her father had retired to bed.
She would let her hair down, start from the village square all through the nooks and crannies, then through the woods back up the hills. The nightlife made Laila burst with a sort of thrill that she couldn't explain. Neither speaking nor looking directly at anyone, Laila would soak at the moment as she soiled her feet on bare sand. She loved the life she knew around her and she wanted more.
She would dream a thousand tales of adventures she would have beyond the walls of her little village. Her night escapades usually ended at the edge of the cliff that separated her village from the world beyond. Laila would sit there for hours musing and creating worlds in her head. She would paint a perfect picture of what the world beyond looked like. She would marvel at the bright stars and make a wish. Then she'd often wonder where the wishes went.
Her mother would say to her on cool evenings, “Look closely, Laila. Do you see the sky? Every star you see up there is a wish. Our dreams, no matter how big or little, become our stars. When we believe in them, they'd take us on a ride to wherever we want to go in life.” Her mother loved to tell her sweet tales beneath the moonlight. She missed the woman dearly.
“I never believed in the star tales your mother told you. But ever since she left us to join the heavens, I believe she is placed right among the stars. I think she sees us right now.” Her father's words interrupted her train of thought. It was like he knew exactly what she was thinking about. She had been lost in the sky with a smile on her face.
“I know that you want much more from life Laila. I see the light in your eyes and how much you yearn to be out there. I also see how quickly that light dims as we climb up the hill.” Her father's tone went from being tired yet cheerful to low and sad. She looked at the bags that had formed over the years beneath his eyes. “My little Birdy wants to fly so bad. I promise you girl when you are older, I'll let you out of this cage of a hill you feel trapped in. You will fly my girl. You'll see the world.” With that, her father stood up, patted her back, and went into his hut.
That evening after Laila was sure her father had gone to bed, she let her hair down and set out into the night again. After she had experienced the village and its people, she finally came to the cliff. The atmosphere there was always different from the rest of the village. The air smelled sweet and cozy.
Laila sat at the edge of the cliff watching the sky. The full moon looked so elegant in its pure white form. Right there, she made a funny wish to visit the moon. For the first time, she looked “closely” as her mother would often instruct and she noticed something. As soon as she made that wish, a star aligned itself above her in the sky. She thought that was odd so she made another wish immediately. Just then, another star came to align itself with the first one.
“Wow. What's happening right now?” Laila stood up. Her eyes popped and her curiosity intensified. She started to recall her burning desires making more wishes. As she spun around watching the stars, hundreds of them aligned forming a cluster. They began to glow and take shape. Laila marveled and burst with excitement. Her heart raced. She wanted to scream out loud.
She watched as the stars took the shape of a horse. Before her very eyes, the glowing horse began to descend from the sky. She pinched herself when the horse halted in front of her. There it was, her wishes as a twinkling horse. The horse neighed and the sound came out like a sweet serenade. It humped its back gesturing for her to mount it.
“This is a dream,” she yelled. Excitedly, she got on the back of the shimmering horse. With one more neigh, it went over the cliff and into the sky. The atmosphere then changed like a blindfold had been lifted off Laila's eyes. She began to see several stars taking the shapes of horses. She saw hundreds of other people in the sky. Just like her, they were riding on horses made out of twinkling stars.
She had never felt such a surge of euphoria in her entire life. Everything looked surreal yet she felt life in her bones. As the horses galloped in the sky, she wasn't sure if the moment was real or how long it was going to last. One thing she was sure of was that her adventures had only just begun.
