"Good Morning Class!"

Bubbly as ever, Miss June Hudspeth strolled into her class dead on 8am as she did every morning. She placed her files on the desk and looked around. Each of the children was drawing on paper supplied for those who got to school early. Intrigued, she walked up to the girl closest to her and asked what she was drawing. Not looking up or stopping, the girl replied “Stars”. June went on to ask the next child, who replied in the same monotone voice, “Stars”.

June was confused, but decided to go along with it. “So is everyone drawing stars?” She asked. The whole class then looked up at her, sending chills down Junes spine, before replying “Yes” in unison, then quickly got back to what they were doing.  “Okay” June said, now slightly worried by the children’s behaviour. “How about we use this first hour to draw stars, and then make a mural up on the wall?” Looking around, not one child flinched or made a sound, too transfixed on what they were drawing. June sat back at her desk and watched them all closely, and started filling out her paperwork.

When the bell finally rang for their first break, the children snapped out of their trance and ran out the door acting as they normally would.  June looked at the door, then back at the desks where the completed pictures were, still a little confused.  She stood up and started to collect the papers one by one, but as she did she noticed something that made her put the papers back where they had been. Staring at the girls drawing carefully, she noticed that the paper had been coloured black so thoroughly that it looked more like black card. Among the darkness were several spots that hadn’t been touched – presumably the stars. Picking it up, she took it over to the next desk and lined them up. The drawings looked identical, each star was placed in the exact same spot, but there was only one difference – a star was missing. Taking these two sheets she went on to the next table, which again was identical to the pieces of paper she was holding, except another star was missing. She then started collecting up all the papers, noticing that each one had less stars than the previous, until she reached the very last row of tables. The stars were now down to single figures.

When she reached the last table, she looked at the piece of paper. The whole thing was black, without a single piece untouched. As she picked the paper up to look at it more closely, she jumped as she noticed the girl it belonged to at the front of class. “Why does your drawing have no stars?” She asked. The child looked as though there was no life in her body, and June felt her eyes piecing through her. Then she spoke -

“The stars are going out”