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Nov 19, 2023

Starry Anomaly: Part 1 - Anna Molly

Summary: Starry spends the majority of her life feeling lonely until one day a mysterious girl named Anna appears in her town. The two quickly become close but Starry soon realizes that there’s more to Anna than meets the eye.

Four part story. Each part is inspired by a different song.

Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Word Count: ~4.4K

Song lyrics from "Anna Molly" by Incubus.

A cloud hangs over this city by the sea

I sat on the edge of the boardwalk, behind the chains of course. I wasn’t allowed to go too close to the water unsupervised lest I fall in. Of course I knew how to swim, it comes with living next to the water, but there were too many horror stories of kids drowning in the ocean and my parents were worried.

So instead, I just sat and listened to the waves as they were pushed and pulled by the moon’s authority. The peace of the night was the best time to listen to them since there were almost no other sounds. It was also the perfect time to look at the stars. Most of the town’s lights were out, save for a couple street lamps, leaving just the cosmos to shine their brightest.

A chilly night breeze swept across my arms and I shivered. I pulled my shawl higher over my shoulders, squeezing the soft fabric around me for warmth. I knew it was getting late and that I should head back home soon but I really didn’t want to. Nightfall always made me feel better, the stars and anchored ships were good company. As soon as I got back to my room I would have to just stare at the ceiling while I fought with my emotions just to get some sleep.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt that familiar pang in my chest.

I watch the ships pass and wonder if she might be out there and sober as well from loneliness

An unexplained loneliness had followed me around for my entire life. Sure, I had a close friend and my parents loved me but those things only helped a little. I always felt like I was only half of a person, incomplete, missing some part of me that I would never find.

Finding my other half, if they even existed, felt impossible since I lived in a small, isolated town. We were on a jungle island off the coast of Esalezia and the only way to and from the town was by boat. We rarely got visitors either, most of the world didn’t even know our town existed. In turn, we didn’t know much about the world outside of the island. All we knew was what the sailors would tell us when they stopped by to get supplies.

My connections with my neighbors were weak and superficial. The only relationships I had that actually made me feel genuine closeness and comfort were with my parents and my best friend Ramona.

“I knew you’d be here.” Speaking of Ramona, I heard her harmonious voice behind me and I looked over to see her. She smiled when our eyes met and stepped closer to me. “Your parents sent me. It’s getting late,” she said softly.

“Just five more minutes,” I negotiated.

Ramona smiled again and sat down beside me, leaning back on her palms. She didn’t say anything, letting me listen to the serene sounds of the ocean. Out of everyone I knew, I think Ramona was the only person who could at least somewhat understand me. She was two years older than me, (lucky her, she’d already hit her growth spurt) so I often came to her for advice.

I felt like I couldn’t ask my parents for advice since they were adults. It seemed like they couldn’t remember what being a kid was like at all so they had no idea how I felt. Ramona was still a kid like me so she knew how hard it could be.

“Do you think the ocean would help me if she could?”

“Oh Starry, are you feeling lonely again?”

I’m always lonely, I thought. I didn’t answer Ramona’s questions, she already knew the answer.

“I think the ocean can help you. Have you tried asking her?” Ramona’s suggestion confused me. I didn’t know that you could ask the ocean for help. I thought that would somehow be out of line. To me, the ocean was a powerful being, multitudes larger than my world, the tiny island that I’d spent my whole life on. I felt it wasn’t my place to burden her with my problems.

We sat in the quiet night air for a bit longer and I knew we would have to go back soon. I looked out onto the dark sea horizon, wanting to lose myself in it just one more time that night. I stared unblinking, letting myself forget where I was for a moment.

A shape started to form in the obscurity. It was round on the bottom like a hull and the top was tall and pointy. As my eyes focused, a large sail came into view. A ship? There weren’t supposed to be any ships out at that time of night.

“What is that?” I asked.

“What’s what?” Ramona replied. I turned to look at her and was met with a confused expression.

“There’s a ship out there.”

“Where?”

“There..” I pointed in the direction that I saw the figure but when I looked back nothing was there. Just the blackened water that stretched on for miles.

Baffled, I stood up and scanned the port but there was still nothing. Ramona rose to her feet as well and joined me in looking around. She squinted her eyes and craned her neck to see better.

“I swear I saw one on the horizon,” I told her, hoping she would believe me.

“Maybe it was a ghost ship.”

I furrowed my brow and adjusted my shawl. Ramona put her hand on my shoulder and suggested we go home. As much as I wanted to argue, I was getting tired. I thought that maybe sleep would be good for me, especially if I was seeing ghosts. I had one more selfish request though.

“Okay, but can you sleep in my room tonight?”

Ramona simply smiled and nodded before leading the way back to my house.

~~~

I couldn’t get the image of that ghostly ship out of my mind. The mysterious silhouette haunted my dreams that night, eerily watching me from a distance. For some reason I felt like it appeared there for me specifically and I couldn’t tell whether it was a generous gift or a dark omen.

The fact that Ramona didn’t see it bothered me too. My vision has always been a bit blurry and unreliable. I could still see, just not as well as my peers. If there was a ship out there, Ramona would have seen it for sure. It just didn’t make sense.

Whatever it was, it had to have been sent to me by the ocean. I’d heard the tales of those who received presents granted by the sea. The bestowals were always a double-edged sword, meant to reward the pure of heart and teach lessons to the selfish. The ocean was never the entity to decide if the gift would be good or bad, that was up to the recipient.

But those were all just stories that served as warnings for people who had bad intentions or evil in their hearts. I didn’t personally know anyone who had received something from the ocean. It was all just a myth that my childish naivety persuaded me to believe in.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder. I always believed that anything was possible, so maybe the stories had some truth to them.

~~~

Ramona and I went to the market together the next day. My mom gave us money to buy some fruits and vegetables, as well as a little extra in case we found something we liked there. Ramona enjoyed collecting trinkets and crystals and the market was a good place to find that type of thing. She preferred stumbling across them out in the jungle but that didn’t happen often. So she usually settled for just purchasing them.

Once we got what we came for, we walked over to the handcrafted section. We went to Ramona’s favorite stall and looked through the merchandise. The man who worked at the stall knew us well and offered to show Ramona his newest items.

There were a few eye-catching items. A decorated rabbit skull that served as a candle holder, a supposedly haunted compass, a pocket knife made out of three different types of metal, among other things. Ramona didn’t seem interested in most of the wares though. She told the man that she was looking for “something special”, whatever that meant.

The man smiled at her and told us to wait a moment. He disappeared behind the stall’s curtain and then reappeared holding a small black box with a skull and crossbone emblem on the top. The emblem was made of some type of metal that appeared to be worn down from years of life’s erosion. He explained that the box was found on an abandoned pirate ship. He slowly lifted the lid to reveal a navy blue glass sphere that was covered with white specks.

I saw Ramona’s eyes light up with intrigue as she gazed upon the globe. The man explained to us that it was a star map that could show you the entire cosmos when held above a light.

Ramona was sold on it and she spent the rest of our money on the little treasure. I didn’t mind of course, there was nothing at the market that I wanted to buy anyway.

~~~

A cloud hangs over and mutes my happiness

I felt a wave of sadness wash over me as we left the marketplace. Gloomy clouds occupied the sky, blocking out the sunlight along with any chance I had of being in a good mood.

Winter is the worst time of year. It was always storming or windy on the island during that season and it got cold at night. The season’s only saving grace was the fact that it got dark out early which made most of the townsfolk retire to their houses sooner than they did in the summer. That way I could stay outside with the ocean and the stars for longer before I eventually had to go home.

I wasn’t allowed to go out if it was storming though. My parents were scared that something bad might happen to me if I did. They were right, the winter storms were dangerous, but I still hated having to stay in my room all night.

It looked like it was going to storm that night, which was unfortunate. I wanted to see if the ghost ship might reappear. I thought maybe if I went back to the same spot at the same time, the mysterious figure might reveal itself to me again.

“Are you sure you didn’t see a ship last night?” I asked.

“Positive,” Ramona answered. “I believe you saw it though.”

“You don’t think I was just seeing things? I mean, you know I can’t see very well.”

Ramona shrugged. “Is that what a ghost ship is? A hallucination?”

“I don’t know.” No one really knew what caused ghost ships to manifest. Some said they were hallucinations, others claimed they were a sign from worlds unknown to us. Some people even believed that they were evil. Bad omens meant to lure fools into the blue depths, never to be seen again.

A thousand ships couldn’t sail me back from distress

~~~

Romana and I spent the rest of the day in my room, waiting until nightfall so we could test out her new trinket. We didn’t do much while we waited. Ramona read me a couple chapters from one of my books but that was about it.

At sunset I sat on the edge of my bed and stared out the window while Ramona mindlessly drew shapes on my back with her finger. It was a game we played that both of us had gotten quite good at. Ramona would draw a picture on me and I would visualize it in my head and tell her what I saw. I got it right most of the time. In fact, we’d become so good at our little game that Ramona could write me secret messages on my skin. Small exchanges that only the two of us would ever know about.

On that particular night, Ramona was drawing a ship on my back. She must have been thinking about the apparition I saw the previous night, though she wouldn’t admit it out loud.

As the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon, Ramona’s drawing gradually became more detailed in my head. I wondered if the ship might have looked like that. I’d only seen the outline of it so it was hard to say.

Ramona stopped as soon as the sun was out of sight and got up off the bed. She walked over to my dresser at the front of the room and picked up the box that supposedly belonged to some adventurous pirates.

“Where’s your flashlight?” she asked as she opened the small black container.

I hopped off the bed and kneeled on the floor, reaching under my bed frame. I pushed past the myriad of my belongings that I kept underneath there and pulled out the flashlight.

Ramona sat back down on the mattress and I joined her. She instructed me to point the light at the ceiling while she held the mysterious glass sphere above it.

When the light hit the navy blue orb, it shone through the white specks and projected an image of the night sky on the ceiling. The two of us stared up at the display in awe. It almost felt like we were actually outside under the stars.

“It’s beautiful,” Ramona said.

“It is,” I agreed.

Ramona slowly turned the sphere, creating a new image with different constellations. I saw many that I recognized and they were all in the right spots. It turned out that the salesman wasn’t lying, it truly was a star map.

“It’s kind of like your eyes, don’t you think?”

I glanced at Ramona. She was referring to my namesake, my white-speckled midnight blue eyes that my parents claimed contained galaxies. Apparently they originally had a different name picked out for me, but once I was born my mom insisted that they name me Starry instead.

“I think this is prettier,” I said.

Ramona laughed and turned the sphere again, trying to see how many different images we could get.

A loud crash of thunder interrupted us and Ramona set down the globe to check her wristwatch.

“I should probably get home soon if it’s going to storm,” she said.

I nodded and turned off the flashlight. I wished she could stay longer, she only lived one house over, but I knew that her grandparents would worry if she was out during a storm. I thought about asking her to stay over again but then decided against it. She probably wanted to sleep in her own bed.

Ramona put the trinket back in its box and grabbed her coat. I walked her to the front door and somberly said goodbye. She gave me a hug and told me not to be sad. Then she threw her hood over her head and left to brave the already worsening storm.

~~~

I couldn’t sleep at all that night. I tossed and turned in my bed until the covers were twisted up with the sheets and falling off the mattress. The ghost ship was all I could think about. I desperately needed to see it again. I needed to know what it was and why it showed itself to me.

Giving up on the notion of slumber, I got out of bed and swung the balcony doors open. The storm raged on, blowing the curtains up into the air, rattling the wooden balcony doors, and tangling my hair.

Despite the angry winds, I knew what I had to do. I rushed over to my wardrobe and opened the bottom drawer. Pushing the clothes to the side, I grabbed a folded up rope ladder that Ramona and I had crafted so that she could sneak into my room at night.

I hurried out onto the balcony and closed the doors behind me. I tied the ends of the rope ladder to the railing with tight sailor knots. I had to learn how to make sturdy ties to make sure that Ramona wouldn’t fall whenever she climbed the ladder.

Throwing the ladder over the edge, I watched it unfold with gravity and I gulped nervously. I’d used the ladder before but never in a storm. Praying that I wouldn't be swept away by the harsh winds, I tied my thickest shawl around my waist and hoisted myself over the railing.

It was a shaky trip down but I made it to the ground safely. I untied the shawl from my waist and wrapped it tightly around myself. The storm was bad but I’d been outside in worse weather before.

I hurried to the boardwalk, having to squint my eyes most of the way there to keep the raindrops out of them. Luckily I knew my way around the island so well that I didn’t even need to see to know where I was going.

I went to the exact spot where I saw the mysterious ship the previous night and looked out at the endless waters. The rain created a static-like filter in the air, making it hard to see but I persisted.

At first it was just an empty horizon but as I stared at it, a shape began to form again in the distance. The ghost ship.

My mouth fell open in disbelief and I thought I must have been dreaming. This time I made sure not to look away, not wanting to lose sight of it again. I wondered if I should call out to it or wave my arms, do something to send a signal. That turned out to be unnecessary though.

Amazingly, the ship drew closer to the pier, moving faster than I’d ever seen a ship move before. It seemed to glide across the water’s surface, unaffected by the waves and currents.

I took a step back in surprise and I suddenly felt afraid. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there, like I shouldn’t be seeing what I was seeing. I thought that maybe I should run but it felt too late for that. The ship was nearly at the dock already, as clear as it could possibly be in front of my eyes.

Through the rain, I noticed a figure standing at the bow. Whoever it was was wearing a white mask that brilliantly reflected the moonlight and made it impossible to see their face behind it.

The ship eventually reached the dock and stopped, even though I couldn’t see any sign of a crew to tie it down. The vessel seemed to be moving all on its own.

Something compelled me to investigate so I ran down to the pier, not caring if I slipped on the wet path. My feet practically flew over the wooden dock as I raced towards the ship. I stopped next to the bow and saw that the masked person was still standing there. I could now make out more details about them. They appeared to be a small girl wearing a knee-length midnight blue dress. Short black hair stuck out behind the mask, dipping in under the string that held the mask in place.

“Hey!” I called. “Are you okay?!”

The girl turned her head to look down at me, revealing more of the mask. It mimicked a smiling cat face, with ear shapes coming out of the top and curved slits for the eye holes, squinting with happiness. A nose and whiskers were painted on the muzzle, which stuck out further than the rest of the mask. Aside from a couple blue-painted embellishments, the mask was a blank white color.

“You shouldn’t be out in this weather! It’s dangerous!” I hoped that she would heed my warning, I didn’t want her to get hurt. I wondered if she was with anyone. So far I hadn’t seen anyone else on the boat. It was strange.

Without saying anything, the girl turned and started walking toward the port beam. I watched as she unlatched the gangway and let it fall onto the dock. Despite the storm violently whipping the ends of her skirt around, she calmly walked down the gangway.

I rushed to help her so she didn’t trip, holding my hand out for her to grab onto. When she placed her hand in mine, I noticed that her skin was pale, as if she’d never been out in the sun before. I’d never seen a pale sailor before, I thought it was impossible.

When the girl stepped onto the dock, I realized she was the same height as me which meant we were probably the same age. I wondered what a kid was doing out on a ship all alone. Maybe she was a fugitive. If she was, I knew I had to help her.

“Come on, we should find shelter,” I said. Still holding her hand, I led the mysterious girl onto the boardwalk and started looking around for a place to hide out.

We eventually came to a small hut that was used to store firewood. It didn’t have a door but it would be good enough for the time being. It certainly wasn’t my first time being caught out in a storm so I knew what to do in the situation.

“We can wait here until there’s a break in the storm,” I said, sitting on the ground.

The girl nodded in response and lifted herself onto a box to sit. I gathered my hair up and twisted it together, wringing out the water. I stared up at the girl, wondering why she had been so quiet thus far.

“My name’s Starry,” I said. “What’s yours?”

There was a long silence before the girl answered. I think she was glancing around the hut, but it was hard to tell since I couldn’t see her face.

“Anna,” she finally said. Her child-like voice confirmed that she was about my age.

“What were you doing on that boat by yourself?”

Anna tilted her head as if she didn’t know what I was talking about. I figured she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Do you have somewhere to go?” I asked, hoping she at least had a place to stay. If my fugitive theory was correct, I needed to make sure she had somewhere safe to stay. At least, that’s what my parents always told me to do.

To my relief, Anna nodded.

“Do you know how to get there from here? When the storm breaks we’ll have to move quickly,” I explained. She obviously wasn’t from around here so I assumed she didn’t know what to do in one of our island’s perilous storms.

Anna nodded again. I could already tell that she wasn’t the type to talk much so I decided to just sit quietly until we could move. I understood not wanting to speak, I didn’t want to talk most of the time either.

Instead I just watched the rain fall outside of the archway, listening to the drops noisily colliding with the stone path.

Fate or something better, I could care less. Just stay with me a while

That was when I noticed something unusual. Since it was so late, I was tired and wanted the storm to break so I could go home but a strong part of me didn’t want to leave the hut. I was overcome with a calming sense of peace and content, a feeling that I could only assume was wholeness. My lonely heart stopped hurting for once and the feeling was alien yet comforting.

I looked up at Anna again and she looked back at me as if she could sense my gaze. My eyes searched the cat mask for any semblance of a human face but the only two holes in the mask were so narrow that I couldn’t see through them.

I wondered if Anna was the cause of my sudden tranquility. She was the only thing that was truly different that night. It made total sense, yet was completely nonsensical at the same time.

The wind started letting up soon and I knew our window of opportunity was coming up.

“Anna?”

She looked down at me again.

“Will I see you again?” I asked.

“I’ll be here a while,” she answered.

“Where can I find you?”

Anna tilted her head thoughtfully, kicking her bare feet. I hadn’t noticed until then that she didn’t have shoes on. I was too at ease to worry about it though. All I wanted to know was when I could be around her again.

“I’ll come find you, Starry.”

That answer wasn’t good enough for me but I couldn’t bring myself to argue. I sighed and willed myself to stand up. I knew I would never forgive myself for letting her go but I had no choice.

“We should go now. I think it’s safe,” I said.

Anna hopped off of the box and followed me through the archway, back into the pouring rain. I knew that goodbye was coming and I felt the need to leave her with some sort of direction. I pointed down one of the streets.

“My house is that way.”

Instead of acknowledging my last-ditch words, Anna grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly for a long moment before letting go. Without warning she ran off in the opposite direction, disappearing around a corner. I was certain that would be the last time I ever saw her.

I need you now, put me back together, make me right

I rushed home, crying the entire way back. My heart was aching again and I missed the comforting relief from it that I had just experienced.

I climbed the rope ladder and pulled it back over the railing. I untied the tricky knot, it was hard to see through my tears but I managed.

After hiding the ladder back underneath my clothes, I climbed into bed and hid under the covers. I wished that I could just disappear but all I could do was hope that Anna would visit me in my dreams.

#creative writing #long fiction #original story #original characters #oceancore #sailorcore #anna molly #ghost ship #writeblr #Starry Anomaly

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