A SHORT FICTION AND LI WEEKLY EDITORIAL

The Starry Night

A Kid and his Mother, searching for their loved ones

Antariksh’s stare moved towards the sky. Bestowed with millions of shining stars, the sky seemed pretty, as if emitting small shining balls of light, in between the darkness. The darkness, which would have had otherwise engulfed the whole sky into a permanent state of nothingness, into some eerie sense of blankness, as if nothing else exists, ever. He noticed a star, twinkling. What was it, he wondered. Why did it twinkle? His six-year-old brain could not decipher the reason behind that. He kept staring into the vastness of the sky, as a gentle layer of breeze caressed his face, making the sweat beads that had formed on his foreheads disappear momentarily.

As the winds started gaining momentum, Alizeh’s hairs started ruffling across her face, as a result of which, blinding her from staring in the sky. She didn’t make any effort to caress them back behind her ears, she kept laying down in the grass, waiting for the wind to subside. One part of her brain was lost in a song that entered her through an earphone connected to one of her ears, whilst the other part of her brain listened to the winds and tried to decipher what it tried to say.

Antariksh’s eyes kept track of that twinkling star. It seemed to glow brighter every passing minute. What is wrong with it? Or is it his mistake? Is that star really his grandma? As Mom had explained? That Grandma is now a star! Is she trying to contact him by shining brightly? Should he wave at her now? He suddenly got excited and stood up. The winds had picked up speed, and the sky, all of a sudden started turning black. The stars seemed to vanish, as some layers of black clouds came, layering the skyline with blackness. Antariksh knew he had little time before the shining star would permanently disappear behind the clouds. He ran a bit towards the star, but then realized it is too far. He has to wave from here, hoping Grandma sees his wave.

Alizeh switched off her song and wondered. She wondered about Vaayu. What she needed now was a calm, composed wind in the form of Vaayu, which would neutralize her tension-laden mind. But that was not possible. There is no Vaayu, with her, now or ever. When she was young, mom had explained, in the end, all of us turn into stars in the sky. And there is this strikingly bright star today, shedding so much more light than the others. She smiled to herself for thinking it to be Vaayu, waving at her. Some say, when looking at stars, we are actually looking into the past. Many of the stars we see at night have actually died. Who knows.

Antariksh could no longer wait. He stood up and waved, with both of his hands up, in the sky, frantically trying to make the shining star who could be his grandma, understand that it was him, Antariksh, waving at her from down below. Would she know it is him? He, again, fell into a labyrinth of thoughts, as the rain-laden clouds covered up the sky completely. The winds had increased further, as thunderclaps could be heard in the distance.

Antariksh kept waving until that particular star got covered fully. He now noticed Mom, too, waving at the star, was she waving at the same star as he did? Or was it some other ones? He knew she must be waving to Dad.

They smiled at each other and got up. Antariksh buried his head in his mother’s lap as they rode back home, he did not like the thunderclaps. Alizeh kept caressing his head, he knew his mom has his back. He hoped to return back tomorrow, again, to wave back at grandma. He looked up at his Mom, she smiled and kissed his forehead, and he smiled back and landed a kiss on her cheeks.

Our National Poetry Month Event has just begun. Please navigate to the below link and participate; we have some amazing prompts lined up in the course of this month!

Kindly Inviting the below writers, to send in their beautiful scribblings and participate in any of your favourite prompts. We are waiting with all the enthusiasm to read your imaginativeness in the form of words. We apologize if we’ve missed anyone out, but please feel free to contribute:

Matt Ray Wild Flower David Rudder Dr. Preeti Singh Samantha Lazar Paroma Sen Jack Herlocker Dennett Jessica Lee McMillan James G Brennan Sahar Kebriaei Ivette Cruz Niaby Shaista Tree Langdon Susan Brearley Dave Petri Jenine Bsharah Baines Susan Brearley Gurpreet Dhariwal Florence Wanjiku Tally Deborah Barchi Bingz Huang Pierre Trudel Shalini C Iva Hotko Dr. Jackie Greenwood Vinitha Dileep Carolyn Riker Ora Francesca Lembregts Georgia Lewitt Lindsay Soberano-Wilson Imad Kim McKinney Erika Burkhalter Ruchi Thalwal Francine Fallara Sтepн Tнoмpѕoɴ R. Rangan PhD Chris Mooney-Singh Manasi Diwakar Eli Snow Joe Barca R Tsambounieri Talarantas Era Garg Aimée Gramblin Sanka Rathnabarana Amy Marley Aparna Das Sadhukhan Svetlana Smith Sylvia Wohlfarth MDSHall Wolfie Bain Michael Stang J.D. Harms Shringi Kumari Jonah Lightwhale Erika Burkhalter Pablo Pereyra Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)

For this week, we have the below exquisite pieces published on LI, please do give them a read:

General-

Poetry: Birthing a Poem by Sylvia Wohlfarth Fiction: A New Disease by Svetlana Smith Poetry: Oh Covid by Annine Massaro Poetry: She is gone and I am not even broken by Obinna Uruakpa Poetry: Suburban Nightmares by Joe Barca

National Poetry Month-

Day 1 Prompt: Fragmented View-

A fragmented view by Literary Impulse (Shabd Aaweg) 360-degree Analysis by Dr. Fatima Imam Chalky Sidewalks by Josie Elbiry Stepping on a Bee Barefoot at the Beach by Jenine Bsharah Baines Sillage by Era Garg Fragmented View by William J Spirdione Fragments by Shalini C Through the looking glass by Tree Langdon Pixels by Somsubhra Banerjee

Day 2 Prompt: Thunderclouds-

Thunder by Jenine Bsharah Baines Thunderclouds by Florence Wanjiku Perforated by Literary Impulse (Shabd Aaweg) Out In The Thunderstorm by Saurabh This Thundercloud by William J Spirdione Their Crown of Thorns by James G Brennan Notebook Page by Era Garg Cumulus Clouds by Dr. Fatima Imam The Thundercloud And The Bud by Somsubhra Banerjee

Day 3 Prompt: Cloning-

Cloning by William J Spirdione Dividing the Dots by Era Garg Talking with my clone by Literary Impulse (Shabd Aaweg) The Story Of My Life by Priyanka Srivastava Genetically Identical by Dr. Fatima Imam A Movie Scene by Somsubhra Banerjee

We thank you all for your gorgeous contributions and look forward to so many more following the upcoming prompts/ general submissions!

Dear Readers, we would request you to read through each one of them, and leave comments and/or claps to help us identify the best interpretations for the Day 3 prompts.

Happy Scribbling, Somsubhra Banerjee Executive Head, ShabdAaweg

Medium Editors/Readers: Priyanka Srivastava, Literary Impulse (Shabd Aaweg), Elisabeth Khan

Do let us know in the comments if you want to be added as a writer, and we’ll do the same.

We are actively promoting the work of our writers across Twitter and Instagram. Please keep an eye on the proceedings there, too.