Frankie sat across from her great grandmother. Her white hair was in a messily done braid that laid over her shoulder. The diamonds shone on her ringed finger that clutched a mug of tea.
"Now, young Felicity, do you want to hear a story?" Her name was Francis. But great grandmother Diana didn't like that name. So whenever she came over, Frankie went by Felicity. Because Diana thought that it was a better, more feminine name.
Frankie bounced on the pillow that she sat on. Her great grandmother told the best stories. "Yes. Yes, please!"
She chuckled and leaned back in her heirloom rocking chair. "Alright, here we go." She clears her throat. "A long time ago, long before you were born, all of the gods made a decision. The decision was that no one religion would get to claim the dead. You see, Hades and Thanatos, Satan, Hel, Anubis, Mictlantecuhtli, and many other gods of the dead wanted to claim the souls for themselves." She started rocking back and forth while trying to remember the rest of the story.
Frankie started fiddling with the tassels on the embroidered pillow. She couldn't stop moving. Her foot kept tapping against the floor as she waited for her great grandmother to continue the story.
"So, every god of the dead came together to make a collective decision." She leaned forward. "And do you know what that decision was?"
Frankie shook her head excitedly.
"That when humans die, their body will be consumed by our Mother Earth because Mother Earth rules over every god. And their souls. . . Their souls will go up. Up through the clouds" —she reaches her hand up like she is reaching for the sky— "and past the sky. All the way up and create stars." She dropped her hand back down and pointed at Frankie. "That is what constellations are: families coming together. A mother, a father, and their children."
"What constellation will you go to?"
She exhaled. "You never know. But, I hope that I get to join the other stars in the Ursa Major."
The rest of the night, Frankie debated and thought over what constellation that she would go to, or which one she wanted to go to. She lay with her head hanging off of her bed and kicked her feet. Her curly red hair hanging down and grazing the carpeted floor.
But one question pegged her mind. Who was Mictlantecuhtli?
YOU ARE READING
I Can See the Stars
RomanceFrankie Finnegan has a been a loner for as long as she could remember. Ever since her older brother died in a car accident with her in the car. She has always stayed on the outside, never being in the spotlight. Her only friend, Coralline, could be...
