This story is about a special star. People say stars are just suns that are very far away. I do not believe that is the case because of an experience I had when I was around 20 years old. I had gone for a trip to the deserts of Egypt alone. Looking for some adventure, little did I know what an experience I would have. One day during that trip, I spent almost the entire day walking, for about 5 hours in the deserts. When I got back I was exhausted. All the water that I had packed was finished I had to sit down near the tent I had set up. There was nothing for me to do except light a fire for me to start cooking some raw fish I packed for the trip.
With no one to narrate to about the day I had just faced, I just looked up to the sky and started talking to a specific star. It seemed to shine brighter than all the other stars in the sky. I told it about my day; about how I found some tombs with interesting things in the. And how some Arab men I had met lent me some of their water to drink. I had so much to speak about that I forgot about my surroundings and it was the smell of the burning fish that jolted me back to reality. It was as though the star was actually listening to me. That night, I slept very well.
The next day, the same thing happened; I got back from my long walk, eager to talk to my star but this time something seemed different. The star that I had been talking to was much closer than usual but I didn’t think much of it. In fact, I just assumed that this was something normal. Day by day, as I continued narrating my daily adventures, the star kept on getting closer. This is until one night when the star just started hurtling toward me just as I was just about to go to sleep. It landed about 20 meters from where I was. I quickly ran to it in shock of what had just happened.
What I saw was just amazing. The star lay on the ground stuck. It had five sharp sides and a smiling face in the middle. It somehow looked like a starfish but much bigger. I asked it about what had just happened and what it was doing. “I have come to talk to you my friend, I have always heard your stories but I have never been able to talk back to you but now I can.” It said.
And while this was exciting to hear and experience, I began to notice that the star was slowly losing its shine. I realized that the earth’s atmosphere was not really good for him. The star needed to go back to the sky to be able to survive.
Right then, we were faced with a dilemma. He did not know how to get back. I, even though I was desperate to save my friend, did not know how to get him back. Nonetheless, I quickly took a picture and posted it on social media. I wrote the story of how he needed to get back to space and how we needed to help him. I knew this could have been dangerous. The possibility of having the government come for him was real. They perhaps would use him for experiments but as they say, when one has no choice, a drowning man clutches a straw. For us though, everything turned out well. The post was read and shared by many people who informed many rich and important people who in turn had a special rocket made for him.
The star was eventually launched into space and the experience was in the news and in the newspapers for weeks thereafter. For I was just so happy talking to him for those few days we were together. This is an experience that I will never forget because for once in my life, I felt like I was never lonely in the first place.
Moral: Friendship can come from the most unlikely of places.
