Story time : RUN!
After their ancestors came to the planet generations ago, it’s been a tradition for the children to help out with the village’s power supplies. The Boy had been going down to the sea shore along with the other village children to catch shooting stars since he knew how to walk. He still remembered the first night Sister brought him along. The pebbles in between his toes felt smaller than how he remembered them from that night. He had grown so much in these past 5 years, which is why the pebbles probably felt smaller. Sister had gotten so much better at catching shooting stars since then. All the children have. Except for him. He could never catch them like the other kids. But he had grown the most. And he could outrun even Sister. She didn’t like it when he beat her in a race.
Mother told him it was jealousy that he was feeling. He didn’t like how the word sounded. But he didn’t like how all the other children kept on catching more shooting stars than him even more. Their pockets kept them warm, preventing them to cool off and die out. He hated seeing the smiles on the grown ups proud faces when the children emptied their pockets back at the village every night, full of glowing shooting stars. He didn’t like their glow, but it was the glow on Sister’s face every morning that made him angry. Father forbid him to bite, hit or scream at Sister, so ever since he tried to learn to mindfully recognize uneasy feelings before acting on them. Every day during their time with Teacher, he managed to cool down completely - especially if he convinced any of the children to race him during a break. Then, he could prove to them that he is as amazing as they are. And today, he felt especially proud, because after beating her in a race, he showed Sister how to run a bit faster, too.
By the time night came and all the village children needed to go to the sea shore to catch shooting stars, his uneasy feelings returned like clockwork. Anywhere he looked, children were laughing as they were filling their pockets with shiny shooting stars. He grimaced when he saw Cousin put the biggest shooting star he had ever seen into her pocket. Yes, it was jealousy that he was feeling. Sister recognized it on his face, too. Standing a bit further away from him down the shore and with a smile that only older Sisters can have, she pointed at his feet. He lowered his gaze down, away from the other children and gasped. All around him lay dozens of shooting stars, some still dimly glowing and beautifully illuminating the pebbles. He had been looking with jealousy at other children for years, while being surrounded by shooting stars every night. Sister gestured him to run. She was right, he could run and gather a lot of the shooting stars that lay amongst the pebbles, before they dimmed out completely. He was fast. And now, he finally learned where to look.