I lay on my back under a tree in my back yard, watching the sky. Tonight there is supposed to be a falling star, and just in time, too. Today is my birthday. Some people say a falling star on your birthday is bad luck, I say that’s just superstition. Falling stars are beautiful, or, so I’ve heard. If I am right, I will get to see my first falling star tonight.

“Cressalynn?” comes a soft voice from the back door, my father. At forty-six Caleb Mathers is still in remarkable health, it might be because of his job as a farmer, or maybe he is just special. My mother, Crystal, not so much, her eyesight is failing. Not a good thing for a woman in Merrick, our village.

“I’m here, dad.”

He walks to me carrying something in his hand. I stand and hug him, hoping to convey my gratefulness at being his daughter. “What,” he chuckles, “you’re not gonna wait and see what I got you first? What if you don’t like it?” I could tell he was glad for the hug, despite his words.

“Dad, first of all you know you didn’t have to get me anything. Second, since you did, thanks. I’m sure I’ll love it.”

“If you’re sure.” He teases, handing me the package. “Open from that end.” he says, pointing towards what must be the top. I rip off the paper to find a small wooden box, only about as long as my hand. He must see my confusion. He laughs again. “Open it, Cress.”

I do.

Inside is the prettiest little telescope I have ever seen. Complete joy washes over me and I hug him again. “Thank you so, so much!” How had he known? I’ve been wanting a telescope ever since I first looked up at the sky to see the beautiful stars twinkling in the heavens.

As he hugs me back, he whispers in my ear. “Mom told me.” I laughed, of course. Mom was the only one to know of my silly passion for the sky at night. And only then because she’d caught me sneaking out to stare at them. Now I guess dad knew too. I look up and see a quick flash in the sky, a little line of white. My falling star.

“Caleb?” calls mom. She is standing just inside the back door, tears on her face. “They’re here.”

Dad pulls away. “Cress, stay outside, climb the tree, and don’t make a sound.” he says, more force in his voice than I have ever heard before. He doesn’t even use that tone on the mangy dog that roams the streets looking for scraps. Something’s wrong.

“Dad?” my voice quavers. “Dad, what’s going on?”

He looks at me, his eyes conveying the fear the rest of him won’t show,

“Don’t worry, Cress. I’ll be back soon.”

He turns and runs back to the house. Once inside he hugs my mother, I watch them for a moment before turning and climbing the tree. I’ve always been a good climber, it used to scare mom, a lot. As I got older, though, she began to worry less. Now I’m seventeen and she doesn’t worry at all. At least I hope she doesn’t.

I climb to the top of the tree and look down on my house, I can’t see, but I can hear faint voices coming from the front room. I strain my ears, trying to catch at least some of the conversation. All I hear is “Missed the last payment.” and “Punishment.” They come from an unfamiliar voice.

Soon I hear my mother crying, begging.

Begging for what? I wonder. I long to be down there with her. To comfort her.

“I’m sorry.” says the unfamiliar voice, it doesn’t sound sorry at all. I try to picture the face that could belong to such and unfeeling person. Cold and hard.

My mother screams. My hands clench.

Moments later, I hear our door slam closed, the stranger is gone. I scramble down from my perch in the tree. My hands are shaking. My whole body is shaking.

“Mom? Dad?” I call before entering the house, just to make sure the stranger hadn’t feigned their departure.

“Cress!” says mom, rushing into the tiny kitchen. She wraps me in a hug, holding me for several minutes.

“Where’s dad?” I finally ask, mom’s arms drop.

“Cress, you have to leave.”

I push away from her. “What!”

“Cress, please, you have to go, they might come back!”

I’m shaking again. Tears are welling in my eyes, threatening to break over the wall holding them back. “Mom, what happened?”

She beckons me to follow her into the front room. I do. Dad is there, sitting on a pile of old fabric, his head in his hands.

“Caleb, please tell her.” mom whispers. “I don’t have the heart to shatter another person’s world.”

I don’t even think about what mom just said, don’t even stop to consider what they could mean. Dad just nods. I sit beside him. “Dad? What happened.”

“We’ve been injected.” he says flatly.

My mind reels, my heart thuds painfully in my chest. “W-What!” I stutter. I know exactly what he said, but I don’t want to believe it. To be injected is to die. My parents are going to die.

The injections are King Casper’s form of punishment, the way he deals with criminals. No one knows what its named. It’s been called the injection for as long as it’s been around.

“Why?” I ask.

“We missed the last tax payment.”

I gasp, we aren’t rich like some families, but mom and dad have never, never missed a payment.

Realization crashes in on me. The telescope.

They missed the payment to buy me the telescope, this was, is, my fault. I caused this. Me and my stupid love of stars.

Maybe a falling star on your birthday is bad luck.

Mom looks at me. “Now you see why we need you to leave, if they come back, they’ll inject you too.”

I nod. Everything feels numb. Poisonous thoughts flow through me. You did this. It’s your fault your parents are dying. It’s all your fault. They hate you, that’s why they want you gone. You did this.

“Cressalynn?” mom’s voice breaks through the fog in my head. I stand. “I’ll go pack.” I say, tossing a small smile over my shoulder as I walk to my room.

My room is small. Only enough room for my bed and a small box that holds everything I own.

I open my box and grab the bag inside, I stuff my notebook, an extra pair of clothes and the telescope inside.

Next I go to the kitchen for a little bread and cheese. And the only water container we own. I hesitate to grab the bottle, but mom walks into the kitchen. She sees my hand reaching for the bottle, she nods. “Are you sure?” I question.

“Yes.”

I take the bottle and shove it in my bag. I don’t want to take it, what would my parents do without it?

Mom must sense my worry. “We’ll be fine.” she says, wrapping me in her arms, I return her hug. The tears I’d been fighting to keep away finally broke through my wall, spilling over and running down my cheeks. Mom wipes a few away. “Keep looking for the stars.” she whispers in my ear, smiling gently. I nod.

I run to the front room to hug my father. He sighs as I wrap my arms around him. It’s not a happy sigh, it’s a sad and dejected one. “I love you, dad.”

He looks up at me, I can see the unshed tears in his eyes. “I love you too, Cress.”

I can’t bear to look at my parents any longer. I run out the back door.

“Goodbye.” I call behind me, hoping they hear it.

I head for the forest. It’s the safest place for me right now, even if the rumors of a villain gang are true. Rumors from Merrick’s hunters keep coming in about a ragtag group planning to overthrow King Casper and his wife, Queen Anna.

Maybe the rumors are false, I’ve never seen anyone in the woods beside dad, or the occasional returning hunter. They like to use our yard as a shortcut back to the village. Mom would feed them if she could, often all she could spare was a cup of tea. Once I asked her why she made it her job to feed anyone who came to our house. She’d told me it was because before she was married, she’d always been hungry. Coming from a house with five other children, there was never enough food to spare. Then she married dad, and he always made sure we were fed. Now she’s trying to pay back dad’s kindness.

I tried to understand, but I’d never been starving. I was spoiled compared to the other village children, I always had enough to eat. It made me feel guilty when I wandered the streets of town. I tried to teach the curious children about the stars and constellations, but their parents superstitions got in the way, so I gave up. I also stopped going to town.