Through the Glass

It was night, approximately 21:04 when 13-year-old Phoenix and 12-year-old Sapphire decided to go on the top balcony and stargaze. Their mother was in the kitchen washing the plates, and their father was in the living room watching news broadcasting of news on the building of a massive space station that could carry human beings out of Earth.

It was something that all of them were fascinated by; space. The stars that twinkle and the swirls of colors that they can see. The beautiful planets show up when they want to be seen. It was something that held their family together in a way that no one or nothing else could.

"Phoenix, do you think we'll see a planet tonight?" Sapphire said, her voice nasally as she was just recovering from a cold. With tissue in her right hand and her left hand free, she rubs her nose and then continues to sniff loudly, so loudly that Phoenix flinched a bit.

"Well, we might! My book says that we should be able to see Venus clearly through the telescope and that Uranus is right behind the moon! Maybe we could see both?" Phoenix replied, watching her sister continuously rub her nose.

"That would be awesome." And as that was said, the sisters began to set up their telescope, making sure that it is positioned in a way to see Venus directly. They already saw it, as the sky was clear and above them was a bright circle, twinkling every 10 or so seconds as if it was saying hi to them. They both couldn't help but smile, and when they were ready, they took turns in looking through the telescope.

"I thought picking a favorite planet would be hard, but I think Venus might be it." Sapphire looks through the telescope for more time and then decides to let Phoenix look, and as Phoenix started to question some things.

"Hey, Saph...you know that Earth is on the verge of breaking, right?"

"Well yeah I do, why?"

"Do you think Earth will end up like Venus? A thick atmosphere that makes the planet hot. I mean, it is the greenhouse effect after all."

"Hm, you're right. Well, I would hope not, because I would like to visit Earth again once we leave." Phoenix stopped and looked at Sapphire, who was holding two pieces of mail in her hand, one for her and one for her sister. Phoenix grew wide-eyed, looking at the sky, then the mail, then Sapphire. Soon a big smile came onto her face.

"No way! Are these what I think they are?" she exclaimed.

"Yeah! Mom gave them to me earlier but I wanted to wait to open them together. It's from ISSAFE."

"Well, let's open it!"

Phoenix grabbed her letter from Sapphire and then opened it, Sapphire opening hers too. Phoenix took out the letter, scared to read the words. The letter read:

"We hope that this has reached Phoenix Everlot. This letter is from ISSAFE, and we would like to congratulate you and 5 other participants in making it into our crew! Your other crew members and you are expected to come to our meetings starting next Monday. We hope to see you there!"

Both Phoenix and Sapphire looked at each other and read each other's letters. Luckily, they had both got in, and they spent their night screaming in happiness, getting extra cinnamon rolls from their mother and warming hugs from their dad.