Andromeda //Burr One-Shot

The district is quiet. It's long past dark and most of the citizens are curled up in bed. There's an unspoken curfew among the young of the district- don't be out past dark. Mama isn't worried about big kids hurting me, it's the Peacekeepers. They scout at night and give anyone left out a hard time, especially if you're a girl. Andromeda is a girl but she doesn't have to worry about Peacekeepers, she lives in the stars above our heads. It is eternally night up there, or so I think. That or she sleeps when the sun is up. When the sun is gone and the stars are out that's when she plays.

I'm sorry I forgot to mention, Andromeda isn't real. Well, I like to think she is real but my brothers say she's fake, that she's just a dumb story, and an imaginary friend. I'm writing her down so she's not imaginary anymore. I spent the whole day digging through trash bins and dusting dirt off of old paper left on the ground. 

Now, with my little bundle of precious paper, I sit on my Mama's little house. The roof is old but supports my thin body as I stare up at the stars. I do this almost every night because I don't want to miss when Andromeda comes out to play.

I start to write down what she's wearing because it seems so vivid in my mind: a dress down to her knees that's a magical mix of dark blues and a misty clear color. It's spotted with bundles of light that shine out like the stars she hangs from. Her hair is down, moving around her shoulders like ripples in a pond. It's dark as well, a deep blue color. Her skin is dark the darkest kind of dark that dark can get. Like a shadow. Her eyes are little stars her Papa took a hold of and shrunk down for her to use. This little shadow dressed all in space and stars swings from the glowing orbs fighting against the monsters drawn out in the sky.

One day she might wake up early and help me with my monsters, but I don't want to ask that of her she's a very busy girl.

I try to be like Andromeda. She's brave, fearless, and willing to talk to anything or anyone. I don't talk to anyone but my brothers and my Mama unless I absolutely have too. I'm afraid they'll make fun of me- most people do. The people in class already know what I'm like so they tend to leave me alone but when they get bored... well I've tried calling on my inner Andromeda but I just don't have one.

Andromeda has a sword made of smoke that can cut through anything, all I have are bug eyes and little bundles of paper. I've tried asking for extra paper at school but the teacher won't give me any. Little does she know I rip pages out of the books sometimes- not ones with a lot of text just the ends of chapters with lots of empty spaces. I don't read those things anyway I'm sure the other kids don't either.

I'm frightened though. Andromeda lives in darkness and thrives but I am not a creature used to nothingness. I'm going to be a man soon, that's what my Mama keeps saying. "You're gonna be a man, Burr, and men go down into the mines."

Except, I don't want to go into the mines. My brothers always come back covered in soot. I've heard terrible stories from there, and sometimes explosions rock the ground form the activity beneath our feet. I take solace in the sky above and being so far down into the earth does not seem safe at all.

Mama says I need to be like my "little space girl or whatever she is" and be brave. It's easy to be brave when you're made of stars, all I'm made of is... well whatever people are made of I guess.

I know it is getting late but I haven't filled my paper yet. I've only described Andromeda a little bit and she still hasn't fought anything. You know what, maybe she should have a day off. She can't fight monsters all the time!

Andromeda climbs onto her home star, nuzzled in the bright white light. Warm and safe and without a foe to face. With nothing to do she counts her toes, and then her fingers, and then starts counting the dots in the sky. There are too many to count but Andromeda can do it. She stops when she gets to a star that doesn't look like the rest. It's a weird blue green color, something she's never noticed before in her space adventures. Looking down at it, she imagines a little boy lives on the strange bluish green star and that he fights monsters of his own- not space monsters like herself but monsters that live on that little spec. They're harder to fight because they don't always look like monsters, most of the time they look like everyone else. She admires this little boy and all he does and the little blue dot he lives on. Even if he's just a part of her mind, he's real enough for her.

Sleep is calling to me now and as I fill up my little pages I smile to myself. If I know about Andromeda, then she can know about me as well.

I stack my papers and put them and my pencil between my teeth before climbing down the side of the house. I land quietly- don't want to wake mama- and slip through the back door. It always squeaks real loud but I know how to hold it just right to keep it quiet.

I tip toe past my brothers and my Mama's room to my little one in the corner. Our house is small and while my Mama wanted me to have privacy we didn't have enough rooms for the youngest to get one. So my haven is the corner of the main room set apart by curtains and sheets and quilts my mother has made hanging from the ceiling. I slip through a ratty quilt and an old pair of sheets, pulling them closed behind me. Sitting down on my mattress on the floor, I carefully lay my new stack of papers on top of my current stack. The paper surrounds my bed. Stacks encircle it all the way around. All the papers are filled with stories of Andromeda but this one I made tonight is special. After thinking it over, I take the fresh story back from it's stack, kick off my shoes and yank my quilt over my head. I put the papers right beside my pillow to ensure their safety through the night.


Tomorrow, I'll start my story up again.