• The sun dipped into the vast ocean, its last light lingering in the eyes of a girl who sat at the peak of Home. Beneath her were piles of soft velvet leaves, fresh from the beach shores. The branches of the large tree supported her weight as she stared at the dark horizon.
    “Eya” a husky voice behind her said.
    Eya turned around to face her older brother, Dash. “Yes? I was just watching the sunset…” she said nervously.
    “You know it’s late!” Dash says angrily.
    Eya looked down onto the clock at the sand; a big round rock with twelve markings evenly carved on the outer side, and noticed that she was past her bedtime by three hours.
    “I’m sorry brother; I just like looking at the sky when the sun goes down. It changes so quickly, and the colors are amazing! Look—the stars” she points into the sky.
    Dash reluctantly looked up and added sharply, “What about them?” he poked at her side and said, “Get your mind back to Earth” and he turned and left.
    The wind blew shivering air. It blanketed Eya’s body and skipped down her spine. She sneezed but stayed out despite the cold. She didn’t want to go inside yet. The night sky was too much of a wonderful thing to look at.
    The small island of Fetrona was surrounded in a never ending ocean. People who lived there survive on fish, clams, and fruits grown in the tiny forest. They sleep in a giant tree which they call Home. It’s located on the edge of the forest that transfers to beach sand.
    “EYA!” her mother, Rose, shouts from inside.
    Eya quickly got up and dashed into the archway behind her. She ran down the stairs and stumbled into her room. Everything, of course, was made out of wood since it was carved from inside of the tree.
    “Yes mother?” Eya huffs, arms straight to her side like a robot. It’s not just her that’s afraid of her mother; it’s all the people that live on this island. She’s a very intimidating woman, but very respected because of her skills with carving.
    “Dash told me that you were staring at the stars again” Rosa says without eye contact. She was crafting a box.
    Eya was surprised that she didn’t say anything about staying up late again. “I’m sorry”
    Nothing was said after that so Eya walked off to bed, made with the same velvet leaves from outside, and laid down.
    I wonder why it’s such a bad thing to look at the sky, she thought, why won’t anyone tell me why its so wrong?
    She turned over and closed her eyes. Dash entered the room and yawned. When he saw his sister trying to snooze away, he laughed. Eya grumbled at him and covered her ears. Dash laughed louder for the heck of it and it annoyed her even more.
    He closed the door behind him and laid on his own bed. There was a long moment of silence between them. It wasn’t unusual but Dash—for the first time—had something on his mind.
    “Why do you like the sky so much?” he asks.
    That wasn’t a surprising question coming from him but the way he said it now was sincere. “Because it’s so…strange” she replies, “It’s so mysterious and I feels like it’s pulling me in”
    Dash swallows, shocked that Eya actually answered his question. “But you know that it’s disliked to think about the sky in Fetrona. We made an oath—“
    “I never took part of the oath”
    “—that we would never take part of the sky. It’s forbidden to be near any sky beings”
    “Like birds? It’s forbidden to be near birds?” Eya says angrily. “I don’t care what everyone says.”
    “Eya” Dash hisses, “The sky is what brought us here to this island; leaving our ancestors here to struggle”
    Eya had no idea what he was talking about because no one had ever told her this before.
    “Generations after generations, we’ve learned to survive. It’s not all that bad now but that doesn’t mean it was okay that we were token away from our real home”
    “But this is our home—“
    “That we were forced to live on because of the sky!” Dash huffed. “To admire the sky is to admire our death bringer”
    That was the end of it. Dash didn’t say anymore and neither did Eya. Both lay quiet on their beds, thinking. Dash was cursing himself because he said more than he meant to, while Eya was angry about the whole thing. She was mad that the sky is hated. She was mad that the sky is a killer.
    It can’t be. The sky is where the sun shines life on plants, and where the moon scares away evil shadows. There’s no way it can be evil. Eya refused to believe any of it.
    There was four more hours until the sun rose again. Daytime is longer than nighttime. This was always normal to the people of Fetrona. As crickets chirped lullabies to all of the homes, the wind was picking up a strange odor from far away. Nobody noticed for they were fast asleep.

    part 2