Chapter 1: A Fallen Star

Okay, to start, let me get some shit straight. I guess for starters my name. My name is Jae and I'm just your typical, average 19 year old college student trying to survive. Black hair, brown eyes, around 5'11... shit couldn't get anymore generic to be honest. But I swear I'm far from the average person. For example, I try my best to keep my distance from people. Wait... that just makes me sound like I'm a loner or that I hate people. It's not that I hate people I swear, it's just that I don't tend to trust others so easily. Especially ever since that time.

I guess it started back when I was nine. The town I grew up in was strange to say the least. Nothing much happened in this town, but something always felt slightly off about it. Maybe it was the silence, the starless nights or maybe it was the fact that there was only one bus stop in the whole town. Whatever it was, it was always quiet, nothing ever happened in this small town.

But something very strange happened that night. I was sitting on my living room floor watching whatever cartoon show was on at that time. It was late, so everybody else was asleep. As I was watching, my attention turned to the living room window. I don't know what made my head turn that way, towards that certain direction, at that moment and time, but what I saw changed my life forever.

A shooting star. You might say that's normal to see at night, but this was different. Like I said the sky was always empty, just an endless void of space. Hell, if you were to grow up your whole life in this town, you would think that stars were a part of fiction, make believe, the type of shit you would read about in fairy tales. But despite the fact that this was the first star I saw in my life, what made it even stranger was its direction. It was headed right towards me!

I quickly ducked behind the couch for cover, as I heard the thud from the impact in my backyard. I peeked over the couch staring at what just crash landed in my backyard. Some sort of mysterious object was sitting there in the middle of my backyard. I mustered up the courage to leave the safety of my couch, and ran to the backdoor. Something about it was calling me towards it. I carefully approached the strange object. It was big enough to fit a human inside, and as I got closer I noticed it was some sort of capsule made out of a strange metal. I reached out my hand and as my hand was a fingertip away from touching it, it started opening.

Smoke burst from the outer edges of the shell, and a mysterious figure rose from the depths of the capsule. As the smoke dispersed into the air, she stood there in front of me, staring at the blank sky. A beautiful, slender girl with purple hair stood with her hands behind her back. She was wearing what seemed to be a high school girl's uniform. I couldn't say anything so I just stood there and stared. She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life.

"Hm... no stars..." she said as she continued to stare at the sky. She then turned her attention towards me. Her eyes felt like they stared through my soul as her lips moved slowly, "Hey kid, what year is it?"

Her eyes kept me entranced. Fascinated. Those glowing purple eyes that lit up in the night sky. It was the first time I saw eyes like that.Trying to speak, I was barely able to blurt out some words.

"I-it-s 20-08"

"2008?" she looked back towards the sky with a puzzled expression on her face. "That can't be right. Where are the stars?"

"Stars?" I was surprised by her statement. In all nine of my years I lived in this small town there were never any stars.

"Yes! Stars!" She exclaimed. "It's 2008! This is a small rural town! The sky should be filled with stars! Hundreds! No, thousands!"

I was surprised about how enthusiastic she was about stars. But the fact still remained... "Miss, stars aren't real."

The expression on her face turned into one of pure shock. "No! That's not right!"

She jumped off the capsule and started pacing back and forth on the ground. By the expression on her face you can tell she was deep in thought. Thinking. This continued for a couple of minutes as I stood there silently, until eventually she spoke.

"That's it!" she blurted out, disrupting the silence around her. "Hey kid, what's your name?"

"It-s Jae!" I replied, startled by her sudden question.

"Jae? I see..." Her face grew dark for a slight moment. But as quickly as that moment passed, she had a smile on her face again. "Okay Jae! Follow me!"

She quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me with her as she began running towards my house.

"Where are we going?!" I was in shock. A random, pretty girl falls out of the sky and now she's grabbing my hand, telling me to follow her? I couldn't tell if I should be scared or if I was the luckiest boy alive.

"On an adventure!" She said, smiling towards me. "Don't you want to see a real star?"

I think she must've noticed then, but my eyes lit up by the sound of those words. A real star. I've always wanted to see a real star. An object only in fairy tales, to see one in person has always been a dream. But something still seemed off to me though, for instance, why is she searching through my house?!

"Um miss? Why are you so interested in my house?" I was confused by the sudden turn of events. She said we were going to go see a real life star, but why is she searching through my house?

"Obviously because something is amiss here, my dear Jaeson" She continued her search through some cabinets in the kitchen.

"That's not my name..." I pointed out awkwardly.

"I wasn't supposed to land here this early, but something about this house drew me towards it." As she explained her attention turned towards a picture frame. She picked up the picture and looked at it. The picture inside the frame was one of my family and I. We had a stranger take it for us at a picnic a couple of years ago. She placed the picture frame back to where she found it, and stood there silently for a moment before speaking.

"Hey kid, that reminds me..." She said, "Where are your parents?"

"Huh? My parents?" Her question took me aback.

"Yes. Your parents." She responded. "A random object falls from the sky and lands in your backyard but where are your parents? If they were here they surely would have woken up..."

My parents? Where were they? I'm pretty sure I have parents. I still have memories and pictures of them, but why is it so hard to remember all of a sudden? Why? My head was starting to hurt trying to remember. A piercing pain on my right temple. I could see something in my memories from a week ago, but what? What was it?

A bus... I remember now.

"Oh my parents? They're on a business trip right now. They left last week." No, that's not right. Even if it was, it still wasn't right.

"That's not right." She spoke softly, interrupting my thoughts. "Why would two caring parents leave their child unattended for over a whole week?"

She was right. Our family never had any internal problems before, at least none that were major. We were the normal, traditional kinds of families you would see on TV. Dad would work Mondays through Fridays and bring home enough bread for the table. Mom didn't even work, just took care of the house and me. So why would she go on a business trip with dad? What changed?

The bus... but what about the bus?

"So... where did they go?" Her face was right in front of mine now, her eyes staring into mine. I was too busy thinking that I didn't realize she got so close to me.

"I don't know!" Startled, I stumbled backwards falling to the ground.

Where did they go? A mysterious business trip that made my parents leave in the middle of the night. And my head... my head. Why is there a sharp pain everytime I try to remember?

"Hmm... strange." Backing away now, she starts walking towards the front door. Looking out the window she says, "Both their cars still seem to be here. If they didn't take the cars, how did they go on a trip?"

Both their cars were still parked in the front driveway. That's right. If both their cars were still here, how did they leave? The answer was so close, right at the tip of my tongue. It was so obvious but why couldn't I think of it? Why couldn't I remember?

The sharp pain continued getting worse the more I thought. My head feeling like it could explode any second now. I let out a sharp scream as my hands were on my head trying to stop the pain.

THINK!

"Jae!" worried she ran towards me, placing a hand on my back.

"The bus...they took the bus." I was finally able to remember. "They went to the bus stop."

That's right. There never was a business trip. They went to the bus stop that night. The only bus stop in the whole town.

And they never came back.