Brighter Than The Stars: Book One

Alternate 1.3

As Madeline returned with the first aid items, she saw Elijah standing by her bedroom window, staring at the prism dangling in front of the glass. It was her first time seeing him in real light, and she couldn't help but freeze in place as she took in all that he was.

Elijah had been a skinny teenager. Tall, but with little muscle. He'd looked more awkward than anything, but she'd still found him beautiful in all his sorrow. It was what she connected to the most for some reason, despite the only sorrow she'd had in her young life was her dog's death, and feeling it radiate from him.

It was likely why she'd connected to him, though hadn't realized it until years later. He'd been the saddest boy she'd ever met, but around her, he smiled; laughed. A boy like that needed all the love in the world, and if she could even give him just a sliver of that, it could make that world a better place. Madeline almost felt powerful in that sense, even at such a young age. She'd been able to bring solace to the boy with a heart full of agony.

"You still have it."

Her window was directly across from her doorway, so Elijah had seen no reflection. Which meant, he was able to sense her now just as she had him three years ago.

"Of course I do. That prism and the necklace are the two most important things in the world to me. Most important material possession, anyhow," Madeline corrected as she sat on the bed and laid the items out on her blanket. "Sit on the bed so I can clean up that hand of yours."

Elijah dragged his finger down the length of the prism, then turned to sit on the edge of the bed. "So, what's the most important thing in the world to you that isn't a material possession?"

Her hands stopped moving around the bottles at about the same time she stopped breathing.

"You okay?"

Breath entered Madeline's lungs after he spoke, and she gave him a quick nod as she took his busted up hand into her own. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"So, you going to answer my question then, or..."

"The person who gave them to me," Madeline said, forcing the words from her mind out to her lips. She tried to distract herself by patting the damp cloth against his skin with her shaking hand. "I should probably find out if you punched any glass before I do this."

"I didn't," Elijah answered her quietly. "So, all this time-"

"I waited," she finished. "I know you said in your letter that you hoped I'd outgrown you, but I never did. You never stopped being my best friend. Sometimes instead of wishing on the North Star, I talk to it, like I'm on a one-sided phone conversation with you. There's the Vietnamese mythology of the man on the moon, and you became the man in the star."

Madeline got back to work on his hand, dabbing at the skin with a cloth. "Yeah, we're going to have to rinse this out. Come on."

Elijah followed her across the hall into the bathroom, and turned the faucet on, running his knuckles back and forth beneath the cascade of water. She went back to grab what she needed from her room, then returned, dabbing the ointment against the broken skin with a sterile cloth. After that, she placed a nonstick bandage over the top, then wrapped it up with the shortest gauze she could find.

"Well done," Elijah praised. "I take it you've done this a time or two?"

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "Try being the only sober friend surrounded by a group of partiers."

"That sounds shitty," Elijah replied honestly, then followed her out of the bathroom, back to her room across the hall.

Madeline collected all the things she hadn't used, and dropped them onto her desk. She could put them back in the morning. Right now, she just wanted time with him.

It was amazing how she'd imagined this a thousand times in her mind. Yet as Madeline rubbed her neck and bit at her bottom lip, she was now officially at a loss for words. Of all the things she'd wanted to say to him over the years, and not a single thing came to mind.

"Your cheeks are getting all red," he pointed out to her. "Something tells me you're as nervous as I am right now."

Madeline's gaze shot over to him. "You're nervous?

"Hell yes," Elijah admitted with a laugh. "I knew I was going to see you. I mean, not tonight, but once I got your current address, which apparently is here. I spent nine hours driving, going back and forth between what I was going to do with that fucking house once I stepped through the door, what I was going to say to your parents, and what I was going to say to you. Now I have zero recollection of what I came up with."

"You spent nine hours driving. Where from?"

Elijah went and sat on the bed, his eyes peering over toward the prism again, then scooted his way back until his head hit a pillow. "Stratford," he told her, patting the empty side of the bed. "Before that, Gildon. Before that, Rock Falls."

Madeline took the invite, and laid next to him on her side. "And you work construction?"

"Yup. I worked as a mechanic for the first five years I was gone. I like keeping my head and hands busy."

She looked down at the gauze wrapped around his hand. "I can see that."

Elijah followed her gaze. "Yeah, that wasn't one of my finest moments. But as soon as I stepped foot in that house, I snapped."

Knowing it was a sore subject for him, Madeline decided to shift directions. "You said in your letter that you pictured in your head how I turned out. How close were you?"

He let out a quiet laugh, then turned on his side to face her. His eyes shifted this way and that, all along her face, studying her. "I was right about the hair, and eyes, but my imagination pretty well crashed and burned."

"Same here," Madeline admitted. "You got wider." When Elijah scrunched his eyes closed and his good hand flung up to his heart, Madeline rephrased. "I meant, more muscular, you ass. You were never muscular before."

"Is that it?"

She shook her head. "Your hair's a lot cleaner, and I like that it's not sticking out all over the place. Facial hair definitely suits you."

"It gets itchy," Elijah admitted with a smile, "but if you like it, I'll keep it."

"You know what I don't like?"

His smile grew. "What don't you like, M&M?"

"You're filthy shirt on my bedding," she teased. "Go get your bag so you can change, then we'll talk some more."

Elijah laughed at her before rolling himself off the bed. "Be back in a minute. Don't you dare fall asleep on me."