'Stars'

[Chickory]

Part I - The Events to the Rafflesia

“Couldn’t I just act special? I’m not normal.” A girl asked her tired mother one night. “I want to be recognized. I want to be noticed instead of sitting around and looking stupid.” She began into her frustration, the first event.
The mother sighed. “You will be thrown off the wall if they find out what you are.”

Her whole life, Ursula Dipper has had a malady.
Anger. Fear. Hate. Those were common feelings that the villagers had towards the beast-people. Their children lived in fear, and were taught, even in schools, to report people who displayed symptoms. Luckily for Ursula, hers was only triggered by terror and anger. She quickly learned to hide them.

“And just what am I, anyways?”
No reply.
“How did I become this way?”
Her angry voice echoed off the large glass window in her room that was already cracked from previous nights. Her frustration was morphing rapidly. As her mother had said nothing to her about the beast-man almost sixteen years ago, Ursula was quite understandably angry in her chagrin. Helena Dipper fled before she could get caught in the onslaught, leaving her daughter to rage in the dark.
It went this way most nights, but never this bad.

-

In her sleep, Ursula became a hairy mass. This usually happened, but this time was different.
The bear-girl woke with a bearish snuffle. She cast her eyes to the window. Sunshine poured in like shimmering water through the cracked glass. But, breaking the panorama was a small girl and boy peering through the waves of the old melted sand. Ursula lifted her head and the girl shrieked and cowered behind her brother.
The racket woke the bear half of Ursula up fully. It made her angry how loud they were. ‘Couldn’t a bear get some sleep around here?’ the bear-girl thought, annoyed. ‘Maybe they’ll go away if I scare them.’ And, forgetting that she was in hiding, she smashed the rest of the glass. This time, both siblings screamed, causing neighbors to wake up and check out the scene.
And then Ursula’s last nerve snapped. Paralyzed with fear, the children were quickly submitted to the wrath of the bear-girl. And with the problem eliminated, she promptly went to sleep with all the neighbors gaping in horror.

-

Suddenly forced out of her sleep, she immediately noticed that she wasn’t on the ground. She was being carried. And she had a sticky substance all over her. Then, as quickly as she had woken, she was hurtling towards the ground at a rapid rate. And then realization flooded her. She was being thrown off the village wall.

-

Back in the village, all was chaos and turmoil. What should be done about the beast-people and how, was the most unanswered question. A hand went up, which silenced the mob immediately. The hand’s owner whispered hoarsely to a translator, who cried out the message to the people of the village. A woman walked up to the raised level of ground which the village leader and his translator sat. Her proposal was met with a cacophony of cheers from all sides. The leader gave a nod. War had begun.

[Chickory]

Part Two – The Events after the Rafflesia

P’THUMPHF.
Ursula landed on a very large, very bad-smelling flower. She tried to remember how she had gotten there, but couldn’t seem to remember. She lifted her head and surveyed the flower. Rotten meat was what came to mind. Finding that she couldn’t move her body (other than her head, of course), she just lay back with her eyes closed. Flies were swarming her numb body. Ursula, unfortunately, could feel them land and crawl on her arms, legs, and face. The were a fine, buzzing mist in the air, but a ticklish nightmare on her skin. She blocked them out.
But then she heard a whispered argument around her. It was a strange, animalistic dialect, but it was still her language. And not for the first time that day, she was carried off, drifting off and succumbing to the tide of sudden weariness.

-

Ten days had passed since she had been taken from the Rafflesia. The beast-people mostly accepted her, and one of the males, just a little older than herself, had taken a liking to her. They frequently talked of stars and the Universe, of which Vine had a deep knowledge. His nickname for Ursula was ‘Little Bear’, just as her name.
As she got up for the eleventh day, she heard cries of pain and shouts of fear. The smell of smoke was thick through the air. Her tent flap was wrenched open, revealing Vine.
“Hurry! We have to get out of here!” he whispered, in partial fear of drawing direct attention. Their eyes met, and Vine jerked her off the floor of the tent. And together they ran.

-

Sweaty and cold, Ursula dove out of the cave after their little group. Other people had fled from the carnage, too, but their numbers had slowly dwindled to four. Still, after several days, the mob chased the group.
Winter was fast descending, and ice was forming on the waters. The broken foursome had no protective gear or shoes. Still, the mob tracked the ceaselessly.
Suddenly the other girl, Nara, screamed out and was hit with a heavy rock in her temple. The rock’s owner stood behind them, a crazed, rabid look on his face.
“We’ll make sure you die for causing us so much pain.” He half-growled. Ursula recognized him as the village’s shopkeeper. Horrified, she ran…straight into the arms of another man. She looked around frantically, frightfully, for her friends. Vine was struggling against the strength of a very large man, and Hanah, Nara’s mother, was standing next to yet another man with her head down. All the fight had gone out of her, as her husband and twin daughters had been killed. She had nothing left.
“Alright.” A callous-sounding woman walked into the clearing. “Take this scum back to camp.”

-

Vine and Ursula shuddered as Hanah was lashed to the stake. They watched in horror as small children, eyes dancing with the innocence of youth, placed copious amounts of kindling at her feet. Suddenly, the stake went alight. A torch had been thrown onto it. And there Hanah burned, tears evaporating in the heat.
That night, the hunters held a celebration of the burning. It was a horrible, rambunctious whirl of drinks and dancing. Ursula herself was sick many times. The effect this had taken on her was great.

-

The next morning, the hunters were like stones. They littered the ground everywhere. Vine, in a burst of genius, planned their getaway. In an hour, Ursula and Vine had broken free of their bonds and were on their way. But it wasn’t long before the mob caught up with them with a renewed vigor.
Finally, that night they were caught by the ravine.
Their many dogs howled, while the carrion-loving scavengers gathered around to await their share. The two friends lay in dirt like corpses, the chill of death already seeping into their blood. Pushed exceedingly far past their limits, they had no energy left.
The same woman who had spoken to the village leader, and the same that had plotted the destruction of the beast-people, walked forwards. “Does the beast-man have any last words?” she asked, sickeningly sweet syrup dripping off her words.
“Go drink poison.” Vine said fiercely, but hoarsely. The woman clicked her fingers, and in an instant, the dogs were on him, ripping him open.
“And you…Ursula….have you any words?” again, the vile woman’s voice was coated in syrup. It seemed so familiar to Ursula, and then her memory of before the Rafflesia came flooding back. Her eyes filled with tears, and somehow she found strength to stand.
“I have not words to describe my utmost sadness, mother.” She said, her head down. Her head lifted and she turned to face the cliff of the ravine. Not looking back, she slowly walked towards the edge and stepped off.

-

And there she lay. The stars Vine had talked to her so frequently about shining above her, and the ominous spider web of red ice below her. A haunting rattle left her body, and she was dead.