Chapter 11

In the mist of the bright lights, she found a way to her night stand. She turned on the light and opened the curtains. They were swirling in a circle below her appartement. The moment she opened the curtains, they drew in a circle before floating towards her. She stepped back, not wanting to get too close to them. They didn't seem to notice and flew past her window. Now, they were in her room. She heard a voice say, "Hello, I can grant you a wish." 

"Who are you?" She asked quietly. 

"I'm a genie," the voice said. 

"What do you mean? Aren't you using magic?" She asked. 

"Yes, but I can grant people's wishes," it said. 

She shook her head slowly, the lights hovered for a bit before disappearing from her room. She sat on her bed in silence. She did not know why a genie appeared in her room and asked to grant a wish. There must be someone behind it, she thought. But she had for too less clues to find out who it is. She had guesses who it might be, but couldn't be sure. The person who wanted to give her a book seemed to be monitoring her, he seemed to know what she is thinking. 

The thought made her shiver. What if he saw her covering up her door and knows how to open it? She walked quietly into the living room and looked at the pile of books again, there were "How to build a sand castle", "Flying through the clouds" and "A brief summary on letter writing". She put them back onto the shelf and went back inside. 

Stella woke up in the dark, it was still dawn and quite chilly. She closed the window in her room and got up slowly. She is going out with Chloe and Ian today. She quickly left her appartement and trotted to the bus station. 

She arrived at Pines and searched for them. They were standing at the entrance. Chloe waved happily as she saw Stella approaching. "Shall we go inside?" She asked. 

Chloe nodded and they went in. They went to the first shop in the shopping centre. Chloe searched out a dress in blue and showed it to Stella. "What do you think?" She asked. 

Stella looked at the dress. It had a wavy pattern on the hip and glitter on top. She nodded and said, "it looks pretty. The wave pattern makes the fabric stand out and the glitter suits the setting." 

"I'll wait for you," Chloe said. Stella looked around. Most of the dresses were in this corner. She picked a pink dress and went to the cabinet with Chloe. 

"How is it?" Chloe asked. 

"I think it fits me," she said. "What about yours?" 

"Mine too," Chloe said. 

They bought the dresses and went home. Stella looked outside her window and searched for the lights again. They were nowhere to be seen. Just as she was turning around, a knock came from her door. She hesitated and opened the door. "Hello," the person said. "I wanted to ask you, if you're going to the graduation ceremony." 

"Why do you ask?" Stella said. 

"Because I probably won't be there and I wanted to ask you, if you could bring their gifts with you," he said. 

"Um, okay," she replied. "Why aren't you going? I think it'll be a pity, if you couldn't make it." 

"I've got to finish writing a thesis," he said. "My name is Samuel Florence." 

"I'm Stella," she said. "Stella Kastello." 

She closed her door and felt exhausted. She did not think it was a good idea to take the gifts for him, but couldn't find an excuse to deny the proposal. She thought about telling Chloe. Chloe had told her that he didn't need to put the books on the table. Looking back at the table, she walked inside her room again. Inside her room was flickering a dim glow. She looked around, but did not see where it came from. She quickly shut the curtains and covered up her door from inside. It remained there in her room, hovering in a cluster. She wanted to tell it not to come again, but hesitated. Then, they slowly dimed out in the darkness.