Since the last couple of days, the weather wasn’t really good. It was raining cats and dogs in our city. The bad weather was just as frustrating as my high school life at the moment.

What was irritating me the most was that there was no electricity, which meant no internet too. I literally had nothing to do except my homework and that made me feel upset even more. My parents were also restless because of the power outage, which is of course frustrating for everyone.

That night, I was sleepless and restless. I kept turning in my bed from right to left, and left to right. At last, I stood up and sat near the window. Around 3 am, the sky became clear. There were no clouds. I could clearly see thousands of stars shining brightly, all under the empire of big round and sparkly moon.

I suddenly felt at peace. It looked as if it was soothing the turmoil inside me. I couldn’t control myself. My eyes became watery, I felt a lump in my throat.

My first tear ran down through my cheek. But no one was beside me to wipe my tears. I felt as if life was not being fair to me. The girl I knew was lost somewhere. I wasn’t the girl who would get scolded by every other teacher, no amount of hard work could increase my marks, I didn’t have the confidence to face anyone and people would ask me if everything was okay.

I just didn’t know what was happening with me. My life at school was literally giving me stress. I had no idea how to make things right.

I read somewhere that “Man can live for 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only one second without hope.”

I was busy thinking of this, when I noticed a star blinking so brightly that I had a flashback of grandma and me sitting at the rooftop. I remembered the conversation we had. I asked, “Grandma, the stars are so beautiful! I want to become a star.”

She replied, “Becoming a star is not easy, we have to shed blood for it, face the absence of our loved ones and no matter how bad the situation gets, we don’t hesitate. We must remain positive and act wisely.”

At that time, I couldn’t understand what she was saying. But now I felt she was right. I felt as if my grandma was holding my hand and smiling, as if reminding me to be always hopeful. I felt an unseen energy in me, I wiped my tears and smiled at the stars. So now whenever I feel down, I go to the rooftop and lay down under the sky full of stars — because they give me hope and I start every day with positive energy.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 19th, 2022