• The Moon Girl
    I was thinking about discovering a new place other than a silver crater when it came. It roared down so fast and loud that even I, who was always brave was a teensy bit scared. It was a big white rocket that I could see held three humans inside. Two big men and a girl who might have looked a little bit like me.
    I had never seen them before, these humans. I had never really seen anyone who was alive before, not even myself. But I knew I had pale glowing skin and silver hair. I kept on observing. One man had a mop of curly brown hair and a clear lens over each of his brown eyes. The other man had black hair and blue eyes. They were talking to each other.
    The girl was more interesting, she looked so sad, but I could tell she was excited. She pulled hard on a switch and a clear wall appeared between them. The men reached into a green metal box and began to suit up, putting on layers and layers of clothing and equipment. I thought it was amazing because after they finished, they didn’t even look like humans anymore.
    They lumbered out of an opening in the rocket and started bouncing around and jumping super high. I wanted to learn more so I walked right through the rocket walls and tapped the girl on the shoulder.
    I then spoke in a language I never heard or spoke before, the words just sort of poured out of my mouth.
    “Hi Sophie,” I said, wrinkling my nose and wanting to sneeze. It was musty inside and was filled with something weird that I recognized: air. Sophie was the girl’s name, I was sure of it, but I didn’t know how I knew. She was twirling one of her golden curls. She spun around and stared with her jaw hanging open.
    “Are you a dream or something? Because you weren’t here when we left earth.” She asked suspiciously, narrowing her brown eyes into slits. Sophie looked like a mean and almost scary person. “How do you even know my name?”
    “It, err… slipped out,” I shrugged and I put on my best smile, “Anyways, I’m Luna, the moon girl, keeper of The Crater, protector of the moon,” I loved my important sounding titles. Silence. She just stared at me like I had sand covering my face or something.
    “Wow, great joke you a moon girl ha!” she laughed and suddenly became serious pulling her face into a frown. “Not funny, I know that you’re a stowaway or something and you can’t fool me!” I wanted to prove Sophie wrong because I could tell that she was used to being right all the time.
    “Look,” I said slowly, “My name is Luna and I live on the moon. I can show you,” I walked toward the wall of the rocket because as you might already know, I can walk through walls. Sophie grabbed my arm and pulled.
    “Wait, don’t go!” she wailed, “there’s no air out there, and you’ll suffocate!” I then changed my mind, Sophie wasn’t mean, but she was absurd. “You’re crazy, girl, I’ll tell Adams and Gary to take you back home.” She smiled uneasily.
    I pulled hard and flew out of the rocket and twirled in my special pattern that I had been practicing, spelling out Luna in midair. I love flying because it makes me feel so free and hopeful. I grinned, triumphant as I landed back inside the rocket. Sophie was awestruck; I bet that humans don’t fly.
    “How in the world are you still alive?” she screamed crazily, pulling at the ends of her hair. “There’s no air and you FLEW right through the wall.” I waited for her to finish and she panted, out of breath.
    “I already told you,” I explained, “I’m Luna the moon girl, believe me now?” I asked. Sophie gulped and nodded.
    “You’re magic, I knew there was a such thing, wow!” She nodded again. I sat back on the cold unnatural floor and started to remember.
    “There was a flash of a brilliant emerald green, like the green of a dragon’s scale. First, I was nothing and then I was just, you know, there. I was standing and there was a shimmery glow all around me. This is what happened 7,000 years ago. I was born.
    I knew where I was, on the moon and I knew that it orbited the pretty blue planet called earth. The moon was pretty, too with the silvery sands and the craters.
    I dug myself a small, but cozy den where I slept for a few months and woke up for a year again. This was my sleeping cycle. The den was smack in the middle of The Crater, which I became protector of.
    On my hundredth birthday while I was looking at the stars and talking to them, a papery thin voice whispered to me.
    “Luna” it whispered, sounding so far away, “Luna, you are Luna, the moon girl and your soul will forever live with the moon,” so that’s how I became the moon girl and Luna became my name. For the time that I was awake, I think, fly and talk to the stars, but they never reply or give a signal. This is what I’ve been doing for over 7,000 years.
    It’s been fun living on the moon and I don’t want to leave it.” I stopped and took a deep breath. I suddenly heard a hiss and a crackle. Soon, the men came back through the hatch and closed it tightly; the clear wall immediately disappeared.
    I quickly stepped back through the wall of the rocket, but I stayed and listened. The men started to unsuit and soon, they were back to the way I first saw them.
    I spent the rest of the night spinning under the sparkling stars that were so far away. I really wanted to hear what life was like on earth from Sophie. I figured that humans sleep every night, so I waited for the sun to come back up.
    In the morning, I speedily flew over to the rocket, which was still in the same spot, and Sophie was looking out through the window. When she saw me, she squealed. I flew in like a breeze and settled down in my corner. The air was uncomfortable.
    “Today, you tell me about life on earth,” I told her, crossing my legs. I had been waiting the whole night for this story.
    “Oh, alright,” she sighed, “It’s not much compared to the moon.”
    “On earth, I was born in a hospital, which is a big building where children and sick people are taken care of. That was fourteen years ago and I was a baby. When I was three, both my parents died from an epidemic, and I went to live with foster parents, who I still live with today.
    I’m an astronaut and actually the first kid on the moon, but I’m not allowed to leave the rocket and explore like Johns and Gary. When I go home, I will live in my new mansion and go to school like a regular girl.
    There are seven days in a week and on five of them, I go to school. There, we meet other kids, learn about the world and our language and numbers. On weekends, I have fun with my friends and research at the lab and train as an astronaut.
    People don’t live as long as moon girls, but they live long enough to have a chance to make the world a better place.
    I think the best parts about earth are the seasons. In winter, powdery snow falls from the sky in white flakes and in spring, flowers start to bud and grow and in summer, the trees are in full bloom. In autumn, the leaves turn gold and orange.”
    It sounded perfect life on earth, being able to meet more people and seeing the trees and flowers and snow. I wanted to see for myself these amazing things.
    “Oh, I wish I could go with you!” I exclaimed.
    “I wish I could stay on the moon with you!” Sophie cried and I had a beautiful idea, if Sophie and I switched places and I went to earth and she stayed on the moon.
    “Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could switch places, just for a year?” I asked Sophie. She seemed dreamy and far away.
    “Yes,” she sighed quietly. Maybe the moon would let me, I thought, maybe she would help me. I slipped quietly away, letting Sophie fantasize about the moon on her own. This could be my dream come true about discovering a place other than a crater.
    This time when I spoke with the stars, they responded. I was so surprised that I almost fell out of the sky because I was sitting in the sky. Their voices clanged together like bells and they echoed off the surface of the moon. I was wishing for a chance to see the earth and switch with Sophie.
    “We advise you not to go,” they chimed, “it is cruel on earth and moon girls will turn into diamonds if touched even by the slightest touch of water although it may be an advantage, and you will never return as a moon girl again,” I shuddered after hearing that, but I was determined to see something other than the moon’s sands after all these years.
    A few moments later, I heard another reply, “Please,” I begged, “I want to have an adventure!” I wished with all my might.
    “Alright, we accept, because you have been such a good friend to the moon and someone will take your place,” they whispered musically after a few moments. “You will stay for just ten years and any slight touch of water, Sophie, your friend, will be returned and you will become a diamond unable to come back to the moon,”
    “Thank you, so much!” I cried, “thank you thank you thank you!” The stars were silent and twinkled cheerfully at me as if to say, no problem.
    I was joyful and wanted to celebrate, I was going off to the grand planet, Earth! I couldn’t wait to tell Sophie.



    To be continued...