Beginning of a Novel Series by Charles Schnell
Charles outlined a novel/series. He liked it, so he wrote how he imagined it would begin. This is its prologue.
Dashuri Jetë was a small, short-haired, blue-eyed, five-year-old boy looking through his telescope at his window. He gazed at the stars freely. His imagination was bursting out of his heart as he hopefully and anxiously pictured all those other worlds out there, wishing he could go to them.
He usually peered through the telescope with his right eye, but tonight he looked with his left, for his right was bloody and swollen. His knees were scraped; his soul desolate.
Behind him, the sound of his door slightly creaking open interrupted his thoughts as his mother pushed it open all the way.
“Hi, Mommy,” the young boy said.
“Hey,” she replied, “I’m sorry I was late picking you up today, honey.”
“It’s okay…”
“It’s not okay. Look at what those boys did to you.”
“They woulda’ done it anyway….” Dashuri spoke quietly as he kept looking at the stars.
The pale blue and yellow-painted walls of his room were covered with various decorations, ranging from posters of sports stars to celestial charts. Toys, games, and papers used for writing stories layered the tan carpet. The fan spun quietly and slowly, as if it was peacefully dying. His two bookshelves were filled with comics, puzzle books, and children’s literature pieces such as The Magic Tree House, Geronimo Stilton, and Reddy Freddy.
“Why were you late, Mommy?”
“I had an important meeting with my publisher, sweetie.”
“Pub-lish-er?”
“I’ll explain it to you when you’re older…”
Dashuri turned back to his telescope and focused in on the biggest, brightest dot in the vast, freckled dark.
“Hey, what’s that star?”
“Which one, Dash?” His mother walked over and took his place behind the telescope.
“That one.” He pointed at it.
“Hmm, it’s probably Venus.”
“Can humans go there?”
“Not yet, but maybe someday…. Perhaps, you could be the first.”
“I want to do that.” Dashuri again looked through the telescope. “I want to go to a star, and stay there forever.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like this world. It’s mean.”
“Why don’t you try to make this one nicer?”
“I can’t.”
“Of course you can.”
“But it’s not my fault. It’s everyone else’s. I just want friends. Friends are only on a better world.” He rubbed at the lens of the telescope. “I want to live in a better world, a nicer world,” he said peering through the telescope again.
“When you’re an adult, baby, you’ll have more friends than you could ever want.”
“Really?”
“I promise. With hard work and faith, you can do anything… Except convince your mother to let you stay up past your bedtime.”
“But Mom…”
“It’s a school night, Dash.”
“Can you at least read me a story?”
“Of course I will.”
Dashuri’s mother pulled his blue Buzz Lightyear sheets over him, and opened another fairy tale. Dashuri always laughed when she read it to him. Her delivery was perfect.
His mother put the book away and stood at the door frame saying, “Goodnight, Dashuri.”
“Goodnight, Mommy.”
He fell asleep quickly, dreaming about all the worlds the universe holds. And, there was one world, many galaxies away . . . .
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Editor: Brennan Nick
so I jumped into the left trash can, and my friend hid in the one on the right.
–by Ashley Zhou
