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Valeria Musume did not consider herself a superstitious woman, but ever since her daughter, Anya, had left for space, she had felt a powerful sense of dread seeping into her mind, which became more pervasive every day. As if something terrible was about to happen, but it was already far too late to stop it…
Although they were close, she and Anya had been fighting a lot before she left. Her daughter had a strong will to the point of stubbornness. Eight rejection letters from nursing school had still not been enough to deter her from pursuing a career in nursing.
Valeria knew that it sounded cruel, but she wished that Anya would just let it go, and not only because the exam fees had drained all her savings. Her baby girl was a compassionate woman, one who would be very at home in a the role of a caregiver, but clearly the universe was trying to tell her something about her insistence of getting into nursing school. Anya could still help save lives, there were other ways to help people beyond treating physical injuries. If nothing else, she could see that all the rejection and failure was starting to affect her daughter’s confidence and sense of self worth.
Usually when worried, Valeria found solace in the night sky. On clear nights, when the moon was full and bright, she found it easier to soothe her mind of its woes. On her daughter’s first trip up into space, they had parted on better terms, although Valeria still wasn’t happy about her leaving. The journey was far too long, and she and her daughter had never been so far apart before. Anya had claimed that whenever her mother looked up into the void of space, Anya herself would feel her presence and look back.
Over a year later, after Anya returned, she’d informed her, sadly, that there were no windows on the ship.
Now, looking up into the starry heavens just made Valeria uncomfortable, as if some small detail was out of place somehow. She couldn’t possibly say what it was though, and it was consuming her mind. Eating away into all her other thoughts.
The days ahead dragged on endlessly, and the nights even longer. She tried to rationalise her worries. She was just concerned about Anya because they had been fighting before she left. Her daughter had been on several hauls already, and what she had heard from Anya, the ship itself was perfectly safe and serviceable. She had mentioned that she thought of the Captain as being a kind and trustworthy man, and that the other members of the crew, the mechanic and the co-pilot, mostly just kept to themselves.
This time, when Anya returned, Valeria would never allow her to go away up to space again. No matter how much Anya insisted that she needed to do this. She would have to find a different way of making money. If she was still so desperate to try and take the nursing exam again, Valeria would support her, even if she had to take out a loan to pay for it. She would find a way to fix things between them.
She thought she had left religion behind her, but lately, every night before bed, Valeria found herself on her knees praying, begging, for Anya’s safe return home. For some small piece of hope. She always ended up praying in front of the windows, as if someone looking down could actually see her.
However, one night, something seemed to change and her tiny flicker of hope for seeing Anya return went out. She couldn’t explain it, but it had suddenly hit her. She felt it. While it was still months before her daughter’s ship was supposed to make port, and nobody would declare it missing yet, she somehow knew that Anya was never coming home. That out of place detail in the night sky wasn’t fixed, it was no longer there at all. It was just gone.
Days later Valeria still couldn’t sleep, she barely ate, not even watching the stars helped anymore, but still, something urged her to take a walk in the brisk night air. She was an old woman. She no longer feared whatever monsters might be lurking in the shadows, seeking out their prey. The night was silent and not another soul was out this late.
As she passed through the park, however, something cut through the silence. The wail of an infant? Impossible. Her deluded, sleep deprived, mind must have been playing a cruel trick.
However, the crying only got louder, more desperate, as she continued forward. Valeria hurriedly moved towards the sound, eventually reaching a lone park bench upon which a small box had been placed.
Inside the box, swaddled in a red and yellow blanket, was an infant; screaming for its life. Valeria gasped, quickly pulling the child out of its makeshift crib and towards her chest on pure instinct. The baby whimpered in her arms, looking up at her in confusion, as if unaccustomed to the warm, comforting touch of another human.
She looked at the newborn. A quick peek told her that it was a boy. Where did he come from? What had happened to his parents? How long had he been out here all alone? In her arms, he almost looked…familiar? While his skin was a soft shade of tan, nothing like her own pale, pallid complexion, his eyes were deep and dark. Soulful. The same as her own eyes. The same as her daughter’s eyes.
Maybe it was a coincidence…but it felt like more than that. It was almost as if some unseen force had compelled her to come out to this place tonight. Maybe she was fated to find this boy. This small piece of hope was her responsibility to protect now.
She looked up. The moon was full tonight. A bright sea of tranquility in the endless abyss of darkness. She hoped that wherever her daughter truly was, she was at peace now.
She rocked the newborn in her arms gently. Soothing him in the same way she had once done for Anya.
“Come on, my little one. Let’s get you home. I’ll take care of you now.”