Lara lived with her mother, her brother and her grandmother in a small village next to the river. She always wore torn clothes and shoes that were two sizes too big. She went to school in the mornings and helped her brother on the farm in the afternoons.
What was the best part of the day? The night! Always the night!
After dinner, she would go out onto the porch and become enchanted staring at the stars.
“Careful, you’ll wear them out from looking at them so much!” her grandmother said with a mischievous wink as she passed by.
“Someday I’ll touch the stars,” Lara said excitedly.
Lara dreamed of being an astronaut. She imagined herself walking on the moon, looking at Earth from there, and doing somersaults in space. She imagined the oceans, the mountains, and the silence in space. She loved science and dreamed of being a researcher.
“How fun it must be!” she thought, although she knew it would be difficult.
“Dreaming again?” whispered a voice as a hand with a coin between its fingers slid in front of her nose.
It was Daniel, that foolish boy who never stopped doing magic tricks. He passed by her house every night. He said following the river was the shortest way between the garage and his house. She knew that wasn’t true, but she enjoyed his visits and always waited for him.
“No, I’m not dreaming. I’m looking at what I’m going to be when I grow up,” she said a little annoyed.
“Well, you’ll have to keep studying and learning,” Daniel said.
Daniel liked magic. He wanted to create the greatest magic show in the world. He liked being the center of attention and enjoyed leaving everyone speechless. Lara loved his tricks, but she was extremely annoyed when he disappeared in the middle of a game and she had to look for him afterwards. They were good friends, though very different.
Lara liked discovering the meaning of real things, while Daniel seemed to never have his feet on the ground, literally. “Come,” he whispered with a big smile. “This is the forest of a thousand opportunities. If you look closely, you can choose from hundreds of paths that will each lead you to a different destination.”
“I’m only interested in the stars,” she said a little annoyed.
“Come, I’ll introduce you to someone,” Daniel extended his hand.
They headed towards the river and saw the moon reflected in it. The water was calm and the crickets were chirping. The sky was intensely black, and the stars shone in a very special way. They kept walking, but there was no one there. Lara knew Daniel always had an ace up his sleeve. She had the feeling that something was about to happen.
“Where are we going?”
Daniel didn’t answer, he kept looking at her with a sweet smile.
They continued walking along the riverbank. Everything was deserted and increasingly quiet.
