She was walking down a busy street. There were vendors on the sidewalks, fancy ladies in matching dresses and parasols, scraggy dogs running everywhere, pigeons picking at invisible seeds. But when she looked closer, everything was made out of tiny, little stars! she looked up and saw her father and mother smiling down at her, laughter escaping their lips, and small stars escaped from between their lips every time they parted.

Then, all the stars started to disappear. The street slowly dissolved, and gradually, the pigeons, the dogs, and the ladies faded away. The girl gasped, and looked at her parents, half gone.

She tried to call to them, but nothing came out of her mouth. Her parents’ smiles twisted with sorrow, and right before they also disappeared, her mother’s graceful finger swooped down and wiped away the single runaway tear from her cheek.

The girl woke up, her wet cheek steaming against the sun’s palm. She slowly traced the path her mother’s finger had left, blazed into her memory…