It was a quiet autumn night. The town of Riverside lay under a cover of glittering stars that shone brighter than it ever did before. A refreshing breeze filled the air faintly with the scent of pine as it blew. There was no gleam of light in the dark streets but for the soft yellow glare of street lamps. And no one knew that night something magical was going to happen.
Jenny was of an idealistic temperament, felt that there was something in the world which had a message for her. She lived in a little cabin, on the skirts of town where the woods have stories to tell and the stars were nearer to them than anywhere else. Her evening walks under such skies gave her ample time to dive into thoughts and the glinting expanse above her. That wasn't one of them.
Something caught Jenny's peculiar attention while she was walking along the riverbank. The stationary motion of the stars at night, celestial in their dance, started to shimmer with an elegance as if almost in time to a silent tune. She stopped there, drawn toward the clearing near the old oak tree from which this sudden change had come.
There, it seemed that night came alive. The leaves rustled to each other's rhythm, and even above, the stars twinkled brighter than usual. She thought that it felt as if the universe awakened, aware, and now waits for something. Then, to her surprise, a voice echoed in her mind.
"We've heard your dreams."
She froze at this. Her heart was pounding furiously as she scanned every corner but there was nobody in evidence. "Who. who is here?" she breathed, struggling to catch her breath.
"The stars," the voice said low and gentle as a lullaby. "We've always listened, Jenny."
Years listening to the stars twinkling overhead, Jenny sometimes wondered if they heard her wishes. Often she'd whisper through the night, speaking of adventure and love, of understanding the mysteries in this world. Now, standing in the clearing, she realized that the stars had been listening all along.
" You have waited, but it is time. Your journey starts."
But before Jenny could run or scream, in front of her stood a shining pathway lit with small lights that seem to fall as stars. She was now running without thinking, this after fear had replaced excitement mixed with curiosity. The trail took her deep into woods as night sounds became vague and were superceded by quiet calmness.
But at the foot of that path stood a giant figure wrapped in starlight, giving off no heat whatever. "I am the Keeper of Dreams," it declared. Its voice rumbled with an undertone like the hum of galaxies a million miles away. "Your dreams have a power, Jenny," it said tonight, "and tonight you'll learn how to make them real.".
It seemed as if stars up there pulsed with an energy all their own, and Jenny's heart welled to the purpose she'd never known. The figure raised its hand, and before her eyes, the stars bent toward her embracing her with soft light. Air around her hummed with possibility.
Each desire, each hope you ever had was a seed," he said to me. "Tonight, you sow them in the sky," he ended.
She brandishes one arm suddenly and shoots the sparks up from her fingers to meet the stars on the great bright canvas of life above. And every one was a dream, a wish she had about her since life began. The very brighten as they rise to take their places with constellations that reach the horizon upon her head.
AI Generated Image
Your journey, the Keeper says to her niece, starts at the waking moment. Trust your dreams, Jenny; for they are the stars to follow.".
And the stars settled back into place, and night resumed her stillness. Jenny stood there, dazed, knowing she had been a part of something far greater than she thought was ordinary at all. The stars had listened-and now were a part of her dreams, woven into the very weave of the universe itself.
And so, the following morning, when she opened her eyes, all was fine again, or so it appeared-but not quite all that usual. The world was alive, connected. Jenny knew she would never go on living in the same manner again. Stars had given her this gift of belief: to believe in them but also in herself. From then, Jenny moved away and kept living quietly. The stars continued to keep on keeping shining down, watching her, guiding her, reminding her of when one speaks his dreams aloud, they do not fade but instead grow stronger, waiting for the day they shine.