Starsign, Chapter 1

You could never see the stars in the city. Maybe it was a little silly, but when she tipped her head back to see the scattering of just-past-dusk silver lights above the trees, Melody decided that was really the best perk to her recent move. Out here, she could see the stars.

“Mrrow?”

The familiar chirp startled her from her reverie, and she turned with a quiet laugh to the ball of orange fluff peering out at her from his ridiculously lavish window box.

“You hungry, kitty?”

“Mow-wow!”

She laughed again and headed inside. Leo jumped down from his perch and immediately oozed himself over her feet, purring like a broken lawnmower.

“I can’t get your dinner if I can’t move,” Melody pointed out mildly.

The cat didn’t seem to follow her logic, complaining in whining mews and batting lazily at her feet as she extracted herself from his fluff. She took the five steps required to get from the porch door to the pantry and began scooping cat food into his bowl. Her pocket began to buzz insistently as she did, and she bit back a fondly exasperated sigh. It was after her work hours, and she knew none of her clients would have been sending her an endless stream of texts anyway.

Sure enough, when she checked her phone, it was Mica.

OMG!!!

Did you see???

Are you watching Fright’s livestream?

Melllllllll you gotta see this!

SEriously look at your phone!

Mel

Mellloooooddddyyyyy

See what?

The UFO

jeSUS 😂

For real Mels login to SpaceFright’s stream something just passed over Maywood

Chuckling to herself, Melody typed out a quick reply as she slid into her desk chair and pulled up Twitch.

PLEASE tell me youre not on your roof w/ a “welcome to Earth” sign

Not yet lol

small mercies

🖕

“--where earlier today, the unidentified flying object was sighted passing through U.S. airspace.” Mica’s favorite “cryptozoologist”, a blogger Mel could only politely describe as eccentric, was chattering away animatedly with a rather unfortunately green-screened map of the West Coast up behind him. He traced the path of the–apparently sighted–UFO and a glitchy, dotted red line followed the motion of his finger. Rolling her eyes, she glanced down to see the “live” icon and a surprisingly robust string of chat messages scrolling up their little white box.

Gotta be faked

Airforce is Losing Their Minds omg

Okay, has anyone actually SAID aliens yet? Cuz like…

“Weather balloon” pffff how many times are they even allowed to use that one?

Her phone buzzed again and she glanced down to see it was a video call this time. Exasperated sigh at the ready, she propped it up against her laptop and answered, clicking off of the stream.

“Yo.”

“That’s all you’ve got? Really?” Mica was practically vibrating with excitement, lavender and pink curls threatening to tremble free of their short ponytail. “Mels.”

“What do you want from me, dude? This is like, the fourth time this has happened just this year. It never goes anywhere.”

“God, how can you miss the point so badly? Four times this year, Melody! Something is happening, and the CIA or FBI or NSA or whoever won’t be able to cover it up forever.”

“Meeks, our government has plenty more scandals and scarier conspiracies than aliens for us to be worried about.”

“Yeah, but those are less fun.”

Melody snorted. “Got me there.” She found herself navigating to her favorite interactive star map, unable to keep herself from…just checking, really. They were just ticking into Orion’s season, so from L.A… “You know, there’s so much cool shit up there that you’re ignoring when you’re so focused on these alleged UFOs.”

Mica scoffed. “Alleged. It is an unidentified. Flying. Object. The hell you think UFO stands for?”

She laughed and rolled her eyes at them. They sighed with faux gravitas and leaned back on one hand, holding their phone up above their face with the other to stare dramatically into the middle distance. “Listen, Melody, not all of us can be artists who gaze at the sky in wonder for all its natural beauty and then like slap some paint on a sheet and somehow make a gorgeous interpretation of Cassiopeia in like ten minutes. Some of us are just nerds who never got their time-travel roadtrip with the Doctor.”

“You say that like I’m not a nerd,” Melody chuckled, blushing a bit but refusing to respond to their comment about her art. She hadn’t finished a real piece–something she’d made just because she could, something done just to be beautiful, something not for a client–in nearly a year. It was the longest creative dry spell of her adult life, and she was actively trying not to think about it too much. She clicked away from California and back to Maine on the star map, zooming in as close as the cheap, online magnification would allow. “And I might remind you that I literally owe like sixty percent of my livelihood to nerds.”

There you are.

Orion. Then over, down a little–that one, the brightest star. Sirius. She had been thinking about doing a piece on the Dog Star for a while: maybe something entirely in monochrome, with a reversed brightness? Just something small, something to put up in the kitchen maybe…

“Babes, are you even listening to me?”

“Shit, sorry.” She shook herself and smiled sheepishly at the screen where Mica was pouting. “Just…thinking. Had a weirdly long day, sorta zoned out.”

“I’ll say.” There was no real consternation in their voice though, and their hazel eyes warmed as they asked, “How’s life out in the middle of nowhere treating you, anyway? It’s been…what, two months now?”

“Just about.” She shrugged and smiled. “Honestly, I really like it. I mean, Portland is great, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just…done with busy places. I like it out here. I can see more stars.”

“Well, don’t get too blissed out, Country Mouse, because I miss your butt and it is too damn cold up there for me, so you’re gonna have to get back to L.A. soon.”

“I will, I will, I promise–” Melody had to lean back abruptly as fifteen pounds of orange fluff vaulted into her lap and loudly demanded pets. She obliged, resigned, and Mica’s laugh rang down the line.

“Bring that little goblin, too, I miss the crap out of him!”

“Oh, he’ll be thrilled, won’t you, kitty?” Melody chuckled as she scritched under Leo’s chin. “He’s turning into a regular adventure cat. I got him a leash and everything.”

“Ohmigod you did not.”

It was well past eleven when Melody finally admitted defeat to their time zone difference and Mica let her go with one last enthusiastic piece of encouragement to keep an eye on SpaceFright’s stream over the next few days. She said she would, with absolutely no intention of actually doing so, and promptly collapsed into bed. Leo curled up contentedly on her chest, kneading at her side for a few minutes before he settled.

The moment he did, there was a flash of light that seemed to illuminate every window of their little house, and a fantastic BOOM that most definitely did not sound like thunder. Melody bolted upright as Leo screeched and flew under the bed. Light cascaded all around her, blinding and brilliant and beautiful. For a moment, she could do nothing, chest rising and falling in rapid pants as her mind tried to decide if she was still dreaming. Then she sprinted to the front door, blinking desperately in an effort to clear the after-image spots from her eyes as she tried to peer out into the dark.

Flickering light through the trees. Creaking and groaning as old wood fell or bent.

Something had just landed in the woods behind their house.

Read Chapter 2 here