Robbie

word count: 241

Robbie listened to the night’s silence. The only sounds came from chirping crickets and the wind wailing under the eaves. Assured that everyone was asleep, he climbed out his bedroom window and lowered himself onto the roof.

The roof is where he felt safe. Here, he pretended he lived in a tower and all things around him were good. His kingdom was the night and the vastness of the dark sky above. He traced Orion with his finger, and then the Big Dipper and wondered how much water it would hold.

Stretched out and flat on his back, Robbie stared up at the stars and tried to forget the lie he had told his teacher. Shame washed over him when he thought about his morning at school.

Mrs. James had stopped him in front of the entire class. “How did you get a black eye, Robbie?”

“I fell down some stairs, Mrs. James.”

“Just a black eye and no broken bones, Robbie?”

“No broken bones, Mrs. James,” he had answered and then lowered his head and hurried to his desk, while his classmates pointed and snickered.

The children’s laughter still rang in his ears as he looked up at the Milky Way and suddenly he saw it. A falling star streaked across his domain and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Robbie made a wish.

“I…I wish the beatings would stop and I didn’t have to lie to Mrs. James.”