Chloë’s Stars

“Daddy, Daddy, a star is missing!” Chloë called down the stairs from her bed. She peered out the frosty window as she listened to her father’s steps coming up the stairs, across the landing and into her bedroom.

“Chloë, it’s bedtime, you should be sleeping. What are you calling out about?” Daddy said.

“A star is missing!” Chloë repeated. “Normally when I lay here in my bed I can see five stars. Tonight I can only see four.” Daddy looked out through the window.

“It’s probably just behind a cloud Chloë. You really need to go to sleep,” Daddy pulled the curtain closed, kissed Chloë on the forehead and left the room. Chloë listened to his steps retreating back across the landing and down the stairs. She knew it couldn’t be a cloud hiding the star. One of her stars was missing. She felt sure the other four stars were not shining as brightly as they usually did, perhaps they were missing their friend.

“I wish I could do something to help them,” she whispered sadly. Chloë rolled over, cuddled her doggy Scruffy, and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, a flash of bright light and a roaring sound filled the room. Chloë jumped out of bed, uncertain and a little afraid. She rushed to the window and threw open the curtain, just as a bright pink rocket landed with a thud in her backyard. The roaring sound slowly softened until her room became dark and silent once more. Chloë grabbed Scruffy, raced down the stairs, pulled on her pink and white striped wellies and ran out the backdoor. The cold grass crunched under her boots as she slowly approached the rocket. She walked around the rocket and then, not sure what else to do, she lifted her fist and knocked three times on what appeared to be a door. Chloë stood there, waiting. After a moment, and a loud clang, the door began to move. Chloë held her breath as the door slowly lowered to reveal a little girl. Her skin sparkled bright green, and three large feet with webbed toes poked out beneath a red dress. Chloë looked into her smiling, freckle dotted face underneath tight, curly orange hair.

“Brrr, it’s cold out, isn’t it?” the girl said, rubbing her arms. Chloë nodded. She didn’t know what to say. “My name is Flick,” the girl continued, “what’s that you’ve got there?” She pointed to Scruffy.

“This...this is Scruffy,” Chloë said. “He’s my special one and only.”

“He’s adorable.” Flick said. “Now come on, I need your help.”

“My help?” Chloë said, surprised. Flick nodded. 

“Come on!” she said again. Taking Chloë’s hand, Flick led her onto the pink rocket. Chloë looked around at all of the flashing lights and couldn’t believe her eyes. She was standing inside a space rocket, a real space rocket!

“I know you noticed that one of the stars has gone out,” Flick said and motioned for Chloë to sit down. “I need your help to get it shining again. Hold on tight.” Flick snapped Chloë’s seat belt up and flipped some switches. Once again, Chloë heard the loud roar of the rocket’s jet, she felt pushed back into her seat as they blasted off into space. Chloë looked out the window and saw her house getting smaller and smaller as they flew further and further away. Soon her house was too small to see, her home town of Newbury was too small to see, England was just a tiny little spot on the face of the earth. Chloë turned to Flick and said, “Flick, I don’t understand what I can do to help a star.” Flick smiled.

“The star is feeling sad. I need your help to cheer it up. You’re the only one who can do it.” Chloë didn’t know how she could do that, but she sat back and watched the planets and stars all zoom past the windows of the rocket as they made their way deeper into space.

A little while later, Flick started flipping switches and called out, “ok we’re here!” The noise of the jet slowly melted away until they were drifting silently through space. Up ahead Chloë saw a faint glow, could it be her star?

“No wonder I couldn’t see it from my bedroom window, it’s barely shining at all,” Chloë thought. 

“Ok, spacesuits on and out we go,” said Flick. The little green girl helped Chloë into her bright white spacesuit. It was so big and bulky, even her wellies fit. Flick clicked the helmet on and pushed a button on the side.

“Now we can talk through the comms,” Flick said after clicking on her own helmet. “Can you hear me?” Her voice crackled in Chloë’s ears. Chloë gave Flick a thumbs up. After making sure that they were securely tethered to the spaceship, they made their way out into space. Chloë felt a little frightened at first, but Flick gave her a reassuring smile.

“Over there,” came Flick’s voice again, “that’s the star.” Chloë looked where Flick pointed and saw a flickering outline of a star. It looked like it was trying to shine, but it just couldn’t quite make it work.

“Hello, little star,” Chloë called. The star seemed to flicker in response to her, but it still didn’t shine properly. “What do I do Flick?”

“Try talking to it. Tell it how much you miss seeing it shine,” Flick suggested. So Chloë told the star how much she enjoyed looking out of her bedroom window at night and watching it twinkle there and how she and her dad liked to count the stars as they came out at night.

“I felt very sad when I couldn’t see you shining through my window tonight. Daddy said you were just behind a cloud, but I knew something was wrong.” The star seemed to shine brighter for a minute, but then it went out again. Chloë didn’t know what she could do to help, and then she had an idea. She cleared her voice and began to sing,

“Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are.” She sang it again and again. Soon, Flick joined in, and the two little astronauts sang as loudly as they could. Soon, Chloë could see the middle of the star shining brighter and brighter until the light spread all the way to the edges and the points. Soon it shone so brightly that Chloë and Flick had to shade their eyes. They stopped singing, Chloë blew the star a kiss, and they headed back into the spaceship.

“Great job, Chole!” Flick said after they were seated in the ship again. They snapped their belts on, and Flick flipped the switches again, and they started heading back to earth. Chloë smiled as they flew through space. Her daddy would never believe what she had done tonight. As they flew, Chloë’s eyes grew heavier and heavier and soon she fell fast asleep.

Chloë’s eyes snapped open. Above her, she could see the ceiling of her bedroom. She sat up, confused.

“How did I get back here?” she thought. Chloë grabbed Scruffy and looked out the window. She counted the stars. 

“One, two, three, four...five! It worked! My star is back!” Chose shouted. “Woohoo!” 

“Chloë? What’s going on?” She heard Daddy call from his bedroom. Chloë listened to his steps come across the landing and into her bedroom. 

“Daddy!” She shouted as he walked through the door. “It’s back! I went into space like an astronaut on a bright pink spaceship with a little green girl called Flick. We went all the way out to space and sang to the star to help it twinkle again. Look! Now all five of my stars are shining again.” Daddy smiled and shook his head. 

“Oh, Chloë. You have such an imagination. I told you, a cloud had moved in front of the star. You were just asleep and dreaming. Go back to sleep now please.” Daddy pulled the curtain closed, kissed Chloë on the forehead and left the room. Chloë listened to his steps, retreating into his bedroom. 

Chloë knew it had been real. She knew she had been an astronaut and helped the star shine again. It hadn’t just been a dream….had it? Chloë sighed and pulled her curtains open. She looked out and saw her five starts shining brightly down on her face. She smiled. 

“Well if it was a dream it was a wonderful dream,” she thought. She looked up at the last star, the one she had sung to. It shone and twinkled in a way that made it look like the star winked at her.