Starlight Star Bright

by Avis Hickman

Maia sat on the steps of the orphanage, hunched over to avoid the hard brassy sun and the hot sandy breeze. She wanted a new mummy, too. Why couldn’t she have one – it wasn’t fair.

Maia was wearing her Sunday school best dress; the one with only two patches in it. And she had braided her hair as her old mummy used to – before she’d gotten too sick to care. Maia was desperate to have a new family - just like he did.

If she wanted it enough - perhaps she would get her heart’s wish? So Maia sat there on the steps in the hot dusty afternoon with her eyes tight shut, rocking herself backwards and forwards – and concentrating.

She sat there until the sun set, and the air chilled, and the birds settled in the trees for the night. When Maia finally opened her eyes it was dark. The first thing she saw was the bright evening star shinning up in heaven – right next to where her mother was. She was still just sitting here on the orphanage steps, and there was still porridge for supper.

But her brother was gone, and she had a rock for a heart.


Avis Hickman-Gibb is a newly established writer, living in rural Suffolk, England with her husband, one son and two cats. She’s had stories published in Every Day Fiction, Twisted Tongue, The Pygmy Giant and Shine! and has up-coming stories in Bewildering Stories, The Ranfurly Review and The Boston Literary Magazine. She is currently working on a book of short stories and is addicted to writing flash fiction. You can find links to more of her writing here.