(Fair warning, this is about to be brutal.)
I still remember it like it just happened. I remember missing my mom terribly. She was on a tour of the stars, doing science stuff. That’s all I really knew to call it at the time. She was my mom the scientist, and I loved her. She was trying to find cool plants and animals to show other scientists.
Father tucked me into bed that night. I remember him looking down at me with a warm smile and admiration in his eyes. He put a hand on my head and he said. “Mom will be home soon.” He said, “So go to sleep, then I can tell her you were a good girl while she was away.” I smiled back and him and snuggled under the covers. “That’s my girl.” he said.
Slowly I drifted off, I couldn’t wait to see her again.
And then I did.
She was standing right in front of me. She was like an angel looking back at me with violet eyes just like mine. Her hair was long and dark blue. It was blowing in the wind like she was in a high-up place. I ran to her and hugged her tightly. I was so happy to see her. She laughed happily. “Hello little one!” she said.
“Vardon said you were going to be eaten by a Kiltik!” I said in a voice that wasn’t my own. “He said you weren’t coming back!”
“Well, Vardon was just being mean, I’m right here little one.” She ruffled my hair and kneeled down with a smile on her face.
“Your warriors were very brave. We managed to catch one of them. I can’t wait to study it, there’s some much we can learn from it, to help Cathar, and the Republic.”
I didn’t really know what she was talking about, but I was glad she was okay. She had always been so nice to me. I spent the day following her around. My dad started to tell me to leave her alone, but she said it was alright. While she did some tests on the Kiltik she told me I reminded her of her daughter. She said her daughter’s name was Sasri and that she really missed her.
In the dream, that wasn’t my name. It was some other little girl’s name, another little girl somewhere in the galaxy, far far away from me. We talked about a lot of things, it was getting late though so we started walking back home. Miss Chizou had been staying with us in our home in the upper branches. We were almost home when the fireworks began. They were so pretty! I had no idea they were going to do fireworks that night!
Miss Chizou though, looked like she had seen some kind of ghost. She told me to get inside, I tried to ask her what was wrong, and that’s when we saw something falling from the sky. No… a lot of somethings. There were big fireballs raining down around us. She started to shove me towards the door. Something crashed behind us! The shockwave knocked us to the ground.
My head was spinning and my heart hammered in my chest. I heard my father shouting, rallying our warriors. Miss Chizou picked me up and started running. Behind us was a monster, bigger than a Kiltik! It was like a big lizard made of metal. More monsters were landing all around us, with little monsters on their backs. They were shooting everything in sight. Blaster bolts kept flying past us, I had never been so scared in my life!
She ran all the way to the shelter, with me in her arms. There were some people already inside. It wasn’t long until they sealed the door. Everyone inside was so terrified! We heard the warriors fighting outside and then… then it stopped. Miss Chizou held me tightly. I could hear the big monsters stomping around outside. It all went quiet, and I thought for a moment that it was over. That we were safe… but we weren’t.
The door exploded, a piece flew right past us and it hit one of the elders… he fell to the ground. There was so much blood! The monsters came in. Everyone in the shelter screamed as they started shooting. One of them looked right at me and raised his blaster. Miss Chizou tried to shield me. He didn’t hesitate. She fell to the floor with a hole in her chest.
I shook her, I shook her as the screams filled my ears. I begged her to wake up. I begged her not to leave me. “Miss Chizou! Miss Chizou!” Then the monster fired again. I fell to the ground. I reached my hand out again, still trying to wake her up. I felt the pain spreading through my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe at all. I saw everyone else dropping around me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe at all…