Star Light Star Bright

The star is a piece of mind, a work of art, even breathtaking. I know. I’ve created one. My name is Chad Marshall. I am 48 years old and I work as a scientist in my own home. I have invented a lot of things in my lab. I’ve created vaccines to cure fatal illnesses, household cleaners you use everyday to clean your filthy, grimy bathtub, even those breath mints you pop into your mouth before you pick up your girlfriend, Michelle. My inventions were just normal kinds of tests and experiments until the day I created a special energy gun. 1

The gun was created for people waiting on death row. It was suppose to numb the body of all feeling and stop all organs which results in a quick and painless death. I tried my gun out on inanimate objects at first, but all that happened was an electrical shock that sent them flying. I tried it out on non-living things before I got my first live “guinea pig.” It was an old horse that had to be put to sleep because of its age and condition. I tied it to a post in my backyard and shot the gun at the horse.2

*ZAP!* the horse flew back a few yards and fell to the dirt road. I had no idea if it had worked or not. It either felt pain, or the Shock sent it flying. I walked over to the horse to see if it was really dead or not. I walked until I was about 3 feet from it. A Light blue glow suddenly appeared in its chest blinding my sight. I dropped to the ground and crawled to the horse. I reached for the horse and felt a burning sensation on my hand. I pulled back and crawled toward the other side of the horse. The closer I got to the light source, the hotter it was. I decided to run back to my lab and grab my gloves. 3

I ran back out with the gloves on my hands and crawled back towards the front of the horse. I grabbed for the light source. It was underneath the skin. I reached back and snatched my pocket knife. I sliced the layer of skin that was holding the light in, and caught the light in my glove. Carefully, I walked back to my lab, stumbling over items along the way. I reached my lab and put the light inside of a glass container. I ran to the phone and called up my co-worker at home. RING…RING…RING…Click. No one was home. I tried his cell phone. *RING* *RING* *RI...*4

"Hello?" asked a woman on the other side.5

"Is Josh there?" I questioned6

"Yes he is, hold on Chad." She left the phone to get Josh. I worked with Josh on a lot of my projects in my free time.7

"Hello? Chad?" It was Josh, he sounded pretty tired.8

"Hey Josh. I was wondering if you were busy right now."9

"I'm at June's mother's house right now, why?10

"I have just found something that you just might want to see."11

"What is it?" Josh asked with a worried tone in his voice.12

"I don't know, that's where you come in." It was silent over the phone except for Josh's voice talking to his wife June about this.13

Hey Chad?" 14

"Yea?" I asked15

"I'll be over as soon as I can." *Click*16

I hung up the phone and walked back to the lab. I walked in and saw that the glass had melted and noticed the table underneath of it was scorched. I knew I had some powerful source on my hand, so I grabbed a huge bucket of ice I used to keep my test tubes cold and put on my gloves. I set the light into the bucket and in less then a half a minute, the ice was melted and boiling. The light did not melt the bottom where it was sitting, so I decided to try and take a sample. I grabbed an exacto-knife and sliced a piece off. I put it onto a special slide for hot items and put it under the microscope. The light was so bright that it blocked all sight on the microscope. 17

I walked out to the front of my house where Josh was waiting. "How long have you been here?"18

"Not too long. Where is the discovery?"19

"Back here. Come with me." I walked him to the back of the house outside my lab and handed him a pair of gloves to put on.20

"What are these for?" He asked21

You'll see." I answered while I pulled the door open. As soon as the door was open, the light poured out stronger than ever. Josh and I walked slowly down the stairs relying on our feet to get us down without falling.22

"How big is this thing?" he whispered, fearing it might be alive.23

"No bigger than my fist." I replied. We got to the bottom of the staircase and I could feel my clothing burn around me. We had to get the light out of there before everything caught fire.24

"Josh! I called." Try to grab that bucket over there without burning yourself!"25

"I can't!" He called back. “I’m standing here and burning!”26

“I’ll grab it!” I ran to the bucket and picked it up. The bottom of the bucket was gone. I threw the bucket aside and attempted to pick it up by hand. “Aaahh!”27

“Is everything ok Chad?” Josh called28

“Yea! Could you pass me those gloves?”29

:”Sure!” He tossed the gloves to my feet. I picked them up and put them on. I grabbed the light and ran up the stairs as fast as I could. As I ran, I could feel the heat seep through the gloves and onto my hand. I finally could not stand it any more and through it out the door in front of me. It flew through the air and landed on the grass. I caught up to it and asked Josh to come take a look.30

“I have no idea what it could be! Where did this come from?” He asked, covering his face from the light.31

“A gun I invented for death row.”32

“What was it?” he questioned worriedly.33

"The first energy gun.” I answered.34

“If you ask me, I think you just made your own little mini star.”35

“Do you think? It does consist of most of the chemicals a star contains, but this isn’t hot enough or bright enough to be even a white dwarf, the smallest and coldest star in the sky.”36

“This would be only a mini-star, so it could be a possibility. When you shot the horse, you created energy so strong that when it hit the horse, it combined with energy in the horse and you had your own little big bang right inside its body.”37

“Well, if that’s true, than what are we going to do with this? We have no where to put it and…BOOM!38

The star died on us. Since it was so small, its life span grew shorter than normal. It exploded with a tremendous amount of energy sending Josh and me through a shower of fire. I couldn’t move. My body felt frozen. I sat up as much as I could and tried to call for Josh. Nothing came out. I couldn’t open my eyes to see him either since my eyes had been burnt shut. I laid back down and thought about the possibilities. I could be mute, blind, deformed…dead. 39

Chills went down my spine. Death. Why do we fear it so much? It’s a part of life, but then again, nobody likes to face the truth anymore. We are becoming a society of lies and distrust.40

I laid there for a few hours when all of a sudden, the voice of my neighbor Ryan Forbes rang in my ears like a sweet lullaby sung to an already sleeping baby.41

“Chad! Are you OK?” Ryan yelled while running toward me and dialing for the police.42

“I tried to tell him I was OK, but I couldn’t. I tried not to think about the possibility of being mute, but there was nothing I could replace the thought with at the time.43

“Chad! Speak to me, anything Chad, anything!” a sound of desperateness was in his voice. He lifted me and pushed his jacket under my head. He looked over and noticed josh next to the staircase to my lab. “Son…are you OK? Come on, come on. Wake up!”44

I sat up a little bit and forced my arm to motion for him. I lifted my arm and felt an excruciating pain fall through my body. I stopped and fell back down. Ryan heard me when I hit the ground.45

“Don’t worry Chad! They’ll have an ambulance out here soon hopefully.” He yelled.46

I heard a faint siren a ways away and prayed it was coming to get me out of there. I also prayed for Josh. I prayed for his life and hoped he wasn’t dead because of me.47

An ambulance pulled up to the driveway and tons of paramedics rushed out. I was so happy to see them. I really should’ve been paying attention to my body more because as soon as I knew I would survive, I slipped into a coma.48

I woke up in the hospital a few months later. I really was kind of shocked that I was out cold for that long, but at the same time I was relieved.49

When I woke up, a nurse was standing there emptying my bed pan. I looked up at her and said “Josh is alive, right?” She was so surprised and shocked at this. She ran out of the room to the nearest doctor.50

A tall man with long black hair and a goatee walked in. “Good evening Mr. Marshall. Did you sleep well?” He asked.51

“Josh…Where is he?” 52

The doctor got a worried look on his face. “He died last month.” I put on a look of horror. “I’m sorry Chad; there was nothing we could do. Well, I better phone your folks and let them know the good news.” With that, he walked out of the room. The nurse followed him out.53

I couldn’t believe it! I killed my best friend and co-worker! It was then that I realized what I had done. I prayed for my eyesight and voice back. I got that. I prayed for life for me. I got that. I prayed for Josh to be happy. I figured he would rather die. Josh told me many times over that if the only way you could keep him alive is by machine, let him die. I felt relieved. I turned over and fell asleep.54

I woke up a few hours later with the site of my family in front of me.55

“Chad, Chad sweetie. I’m so glad you’re safe.” My mother was here, probably to come take me home. “Your father is waiting for you in the car. Should we leave now?”56

“Yea.” I slowly sat up. A nurse was waiting there with a wheelchair to take me to the car. She held my arm and helped me into the wheelchair.57

“Let’s go.” The nurse wheeled me down the hall to the front lobby. My mother signed me out. The nurse continued wheeling me out the door to the parking lot. I was free. I learned something in this experience. Never help bad guys. God will punish you somehow. Me, it was the death of Josh.58