The Assignment

Numbing cold, hopelessly forlorn, that’s how she felt. Yet, she was not. There were others around, a myriad of them, who just like her were freezing in solitude. To the stranger’s eye, however, they resembled a busy hive. Each little bee working hard toward some grand design, each little cog vibrating in a complicated machine programmed to better life somehow.

So many differences drove them apart, still altogether they made perfection. She did not feel perfect, or special, however. It is a cumbersome task to define oneself, a task which she kept failing at. Many an hour she had spent in vain attempts to seek out her purpose, to delineate a path to follow.

Hope burgeoned within her very core every time someone stopped in their tracks to lose themselves in her beauty. Stunning she was, but so were many others. Whenever a set of eyes rested on her, she knew they were not going to linger and rightfully so, for within a fleeting moment, they moved away from her captivating charm and she sank back into her ocean of loneliness. Evanescent were the few instances she got to peruse her reflection.

At a certain point, she merely gave up, deeply convinced there was never a scheme that she fit in, that she was a superfluous element in a puzzle beyond comprehension.

All until one day a curious little thing came wandering her way. An auburn-haired girl of about six, with gorgeous bouncy curls and dazzling blue eyes she was. The petite lady was searching for something, adamantly, devotedly. An important quest that seemed to come to a fruitful end once their eyes met.

The girl instantly knew she had found the friend she had been seeking and as if they had known each other for eternity, she started talking with a voice most gentle and sweet. A confidante, a dear someone, she had never pictured she could be, until that darling child had given her a purpose within a mere beat of her heart.

Maia as the girl introduced herself spoke warmly of her beloved mother, who worked in a library and would find the most enchanting fairy-tales to read her daughter goodnight. An older brother Maia looked up to, was next in her stories, a valiant hero that could never do wrong he seemed. A father who albeit travelled far and wide, was never absent from the girl’s heart concluded the family circle that Maia kept talking about. There were so many stories she shared at length, so many wishes she had for their future. What was baffling was Maia never desired a single thing for herself.

Day after day, the two friends met at dusk and the lives of both seemed so much happier and fuller for it.

A breathtaking sunset it had been that day. The sun melted away in a palette of pink, red, orange and purple, kissed each summit, each wave and flower good night before wrapping himself in the dark mantle of sky. She waited impatiently, eager to paint another bit of the cosy picture of Maia’s family. Alas, Maia did not come.

 A few evenings later, she noticed a new bee had joined the hive. A little star was born and was shining right next to her, as close to her dear friend as she could. Maia no longer had flowing hair or a melodious voice, but her dazzling eyes transformed the star into a precious jewel that decorated the sky, an eternal reminder of all the love she had. And then the lonely star was alone no more. For in a sea of love, she was a beacon for all those below who have lost hope. They just had to look up, long enough to realize it.

The door opened with a muffled creak. “Are you ready with your physics assignment, pumpkin?”- Mom inquired with a voice that revealed she had just caught glimpse of the little journal the girl was trying to cover with a blank notebook.

“On it, Mom.”

Statistical data slowly started filling the page under the topic of the assignment due the following day: Life of a Star.