Brighter Than The Stars: Book One

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒪𝓃𝑒: 𝐵𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝐹𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈

𝟙𝟡𝟡𝟡

"Did you know you're going to be eighteen in three days?" Maddie asked the boy across from her, careful not to tip her cards so he'd see them. Not that it mattered. Even if he did, he'd choose a number she didn't have.

Instead of smiling, Elijah bit the corner of his mouth, keeping his focus on his cards. "I did know that, M&M. Do you have a six?"

Maddie shook her head back and forth, her body swaying along. "Go fish!" She told him in triumph. "If you're turning eighteen, why don't you look happy? Isn't that a big birthday?"

"It is a big birthday," Elijah confirmed. "There's just some things I'll have to do once I'm eighteen. Some of it's exciting, but other parts I'm worried about."

"Do you have a two?" Maddie asked. When she saw him shake his head, she grabbed a card from the pile. "Like college?"

Elijah let out a slow breath, his green eyes refusing to leave the cards in front of him. "I'm not going to college, M&M. I slacked too much during high school, and I wouldn't have the money for it, anyway. Do you have a king?"

Maddie pouted as she handed her two kings over to him. "I bet my parents would help you pay for college if you really wanted to go."

"They probably would," Elijah agreed. "But I still don't have the grades for it, and I didn't apply anywhere. Do you have a seven?"

She handed him three more cards. "Maybe it's all the hair gel you used to spike your hair. It probably sunk straight into your brain."

Finally, Elijah laughed. He normally laughed a lot around her. Even when he walked in with the weight of the world on his shoulders, which was most every night, she had him smiling and laughing within the hour, all the way until it was time for him to go home, and sadness took over him again. But this week, he'd been different.

"Do you have any fours?" When Maddie shook her head, he grabbed a card from the deck. "You could use some hair gel, you know. Those curls are getting out of hand."

"I'm only nine, so mom won't let me use it yet."

"That's fair," Elijah said, siding with her mom. "I don't want you growing up too fast, okay M&M? I want you to be young and happy for a good long time?"

Maddie wasn't sure what she could do about it. Birthdays came every year. But she didn't question him about it. "When I grow up, will we still be best friends?"

Although Elijah smiled, it wasn't the same as when she told a joke or said something cute. It almost didn't feel like a smile at all. "You will always be my best friend, Maddie. No matter where life takes either of us, that won't change. But you'll probably grow out of me. In a couple of years, you'll start sixth grade in the bigger school, make all these new friends, and start all these fun activities."

She didn't like the idea of him not being her best friend anymore. Elijah needed her. Only she could make him laugh and smile. Her parents did too sometimes, but not like she did. It was her superpower. She didn't have a ring, like The Phantom, but she still felt special all the same.

Elijah's dad had superpowers too, but he used them for evil. He could scream loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. Even though she lived next door, Maddie knew the Hanson's at the end of the street called the police on him just last month for making so much noise.

He also left bruises on Elijah. Sometimes he could hide them from her, but she still knew. If his dad was yelling the night before, she'd see Elijah in a sweatshirt the next day. Even in the middle of summer. One time, his dad broke his arm.

That's why Maddie's superpower was so important. He needed her to smile.

"I don't want to play anymore," she told him, setting down her cards.

"Why not?"

Maddie crossed her arms and kept her eyes on the table. "Because you don't want to be my best friend forever and ever. I don't want life to take you away from me, and I don't want to be taken from you."

"We always have the North Star, M&M," Elijah reminded her. "It shines bright, just like you do. No matter where I am, I can follow that star, and it'll lead me to you."

"That's not how the North Star works."

"It does when the person I'm looking for shines brighter than the stars."