The Sky That Night: Flash Fiction

11 years ago I woke up at 3 AM in the morning. I patted over my cousin who had come for a sleepover to wake up. She woke up with tired eyes, so much willing to go back to sleep. I reminded her of what we were going to see and her ever round eye opened bright. I would have slept myself but the thought of what we were going to see was too exciting to fall back asleep.

Then it was my turn to wake my mother. We were all going to witness it together. I held an old binoculars that papa had bought long ago. I can still feel its weight over my hand.

We climbed the stairs. I couldn’t contain my excitment as we approached the terrace beside the kitchen. How was it going to be like? Would I be able to see it?

We opened the door and stepped out. The city was asleep. And it seemed as though we were the only ones awake at that moment. But the dead silence did not scare me just then. I was so sure that we were going to witness something wonderful the moment we climbed the vantage point.

I looked up at the sky. It was empty, but there were stars of course and the moon as always. But it wasn’t there. What I had come searching for at the brink of dawn wasn’t there. I used the binoculars and checked every corner of the vast sky that was visible to my eye, but it wasn’t there.

‘Let us go back and sleep,’ said mamu.

My mother knew that whatever we were looking for was not going to show up. My little cousin seemed disappointed, so was I. But I tried to hide my diappointment to persuade them to stay.

Both of them left soon after. I decided to stay a little longer. The dark night somehow did not manage to scare me, because I was so sure I had come in search for something that I was going to find. It got colder, but it did not show up.

Finally, I had to return.

Few days earlier the newspapers claimed the planet Saturn would be visible to the naked eye during that night and two more nights to come.

The next day I read over a paper that people had lined up at the Science and Technology center to see the mighty planet with rings through a semi powerful telescope.

I couldn’t manage to wake anyone up the next night. I fell asleep myself.

I hear there is going to be a meteor shower next week, so will you be up?