Constellations of Vivia

All lights flickered and died. 

Vivia gasped and her heart fell at the black screen that took place of the essay she forgot to save the last three pages of. 

"No, no, no!" She stood and threw a glance to her window. "It's not even storming!" 

But a white light like lightning did catch her eye. A glow, like the moon in her backyard. Upon closer inspection, it was a boy with glowing white hair, staring at the sky. 

Vivia squinted through her closed window. *"What the heck, dude?"* she yelled at the glass. 

*Ice crystals* crept up the window like snakes as the boy's glowing white hair faded to black. His head turned slowly to look at her and she could have sworn she'd seen him before. 

"There's a meteor shower out tonight." His voice was stranger than his hair. Like water, ice, and steam, all rolled into one sound, piercing the air, too sharp, even through her closed window. 

"You cut all the p—" Vivia started, but he glanced to her roof and sliver glinted in his eyes as power came back in a hum. "H...hey..."

Vivia stepped back and frowned at the lights and the strange boy outside. Fixing her jaw, she left her room. 

Winter's chill filled the air of the kitchen as Vivia reached the sliding glass door and threw it open. The strange boy still stood, staring at the sky in her backyard. 

*Please don't leave me...* The words whispered like a memory in the frigid air. A shiver ran through her and she braced herself before telling the boy off. 

"You should be wearing a jacket!" she called against a gust of wind instead. 

He contemplated her and then a 'lost, but found' sort of smile graced his flawless face. "Don't own one." 

"Well," Vivia crossed her arms against the door frame. "You shouldn't be here." 

A soft mew came behind her and her cat, Silky, padded into the grass to rub against the boy's legs. Vivia scowled and the boy gazed down at the *four-legged friend.*

"It's good to finally meet you too," he said, his voice still calm and cold as ice. Starlight glinted his eyes again and he crouched to pet Silky. Snow began to fall...only around him. He looked up and grimaced. "Hm. Cold."

"H-how are you..." Vivia pushed off the door frame. "Who are you?" she breathed. 

His eyebrows pinched slightly in a painful kind of sad. "Humans are so forgetful." 

And he closed the distance between them and reached his hands to hold hers. Her eyes widened and she tried to push him away, but the moment her hand met his arm, her vision flashed.

*"You can't come! You're pregnant!"* her dad yelled.

"You can't go!" Tears sang their way to the floor before her mom. "I'm pregnant!" 

And Vivia, too young, looked up to a star, wishing for peace.

*"Saint Nicholas Day." Vivia breathed, back in her backyard with the strange boy. "The last day they ever fought," she looked at the boy, "like that. You're... the star that brought my family back together."

His irises were constellations and his mouth craved a smile again. "A joint effort really. Stars can't do much without a wish."

The galaxy was in his eyes. For a moment, Vivia forgot the cold. "That...wasn't the only wish though."

"I know," Laughter rippled under his voice and Silky purred below them. "You sort of claimed me after that." 

Something changed in the air. Like a wave of sorrow, the ground shook and cracked before them.