Stargirl of the Edge

Ch 68 - Departure

If you've read this far then I think you'll know what's gone before. I don't need to give you a plot summary. If you haven't maybe you should go back and read the story from the beginning or whatever point you got up to!

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She reached the top of the spiral staircase, followed by Jessie, and entered her dad’s study, feeling a warm glow, and walked through the doors and on to the balcony, keeping away from railing so she wouldn’t be seen.
It was the new moon, and the sky was clear and dark.
“Here, Jessie, look! Jump up on the table!”
Olivia stood next to the table and put her arm round the dog.
They saw the shadowy silhouette of the Edge, with the heavens extending upwards, the stars becoming more visible as her eyes grew used to the light.
She checked the time on her phone and then, exactly on cue, she saw a single red Chinese lantern float above the trees on top of the Edge, and then another and then another, and soon a pattern began to emerge, each red lantern with its warm flame, floating exactly in formation, rising above the silhouetted tree tops and into the sky. Behind them, there was a tinkling sound from the wind chimes next to the sliding door.
“Look, Jessie, can you see?”
The dog barked a couple of times.
Soon a shape emerged, with masts and sails attached to a ship, and as more lanterns rose, she saw an entire, magnificent ancient Chinese junk, a picture in the sky made of tiny red lanterns, each with a flickering flame inside. It floated up and above the Edge, slowly gaining altitude.
Olivia gazed up at the junk, and turned her head to one side, pressing her lips together, as if she were not satisfied with her creation. And then, using her fantastic brain, with its unbelievable powers of visualisation – the same powers you are using to visualise this image as you read these words now - she added a second mast, and then a third, each carefully plotted using the tiny floating Chinese lanterns.
Now the junk looked bigger and more magnificent than ever before. She added a flag at the stern. And although floating lanterns often symbolised death in Chinese culture, she felt a profound sense of happiness that the junk and its occupants were finally on their way home.
As if she were manipulating an image in Photoshop, she zoomed right in to her imaginary junk and there on the deck, she saw Esther, and standing next to her, Lee Ming Jiang and all the other crew members. Each figure appeared in turn as her imagination conjured them up. She could see they were smiling, and she rose her arm to wave.
Jessie looked in the same direction as Olivia, and when she shouted ‘Goodbye Esther’ Jessie started wagging her tail, and made the high pitched whining sound from the back of her throat.
Olivia waved first slowly, then quickly, and they all waved back, becoming smaller and smaller as the gigantic illuminated Chinese junk floated off into the distance, like one of the junks she had seen in the harbour in Hong Kong, eventually disappearing above the Peak District to the south east, over in the corner of the sky where the supernova had shone brightly. It would continue its journey into another time, soon to arrive in their home port of Xia Men, or Amoy, in China many centuries ago.
Now she felt calm. The tension was gone, there was only bliss, there was only joy, happiness, and contentment. From below she heard the sound of people talking, cameras clicking. As she gazed up into the infinite canvas of the night sky, more and more of the stars were becoming visible, each of them shining its glimmering, shimmering light across thousands of light years, and down onto the landscape. She continued to gaze into the skies, more and more stars now becoming visible. It was overwhelming, but she managed to maintain her composure, at least for a few seconds.
She was weak at the knees, unsteady on her feet, but she knew the deck chair was behind her. Just at that moment, she heard the sound of footsteps bounding up the stairs. She knew who those footsteps belonged to, and that she was about to be told in a loud voice to get down to the kitchen immediately. She flopped down onto the deck chair and continued to gaze out into space. Jessie sat down next to her, wondering what was wrong, and placed her paw on her lap.
Now the footsteps had reached the inside of her dad’s office, Jessie looked round at the sliding glass door, which was about to be pulled to one side, and Olivia relaxed on the deck chair, swooning and sighing, slipping into unconsciousness, floating weightless.

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That's it, the final chapter has ended, the story is complete. But maybe this scene will lead on directly to the first chapter of a sequel. Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see what the reaction to the story is. Thank you so much for reading all the way through Stargirl of the Edge and as ever, please do comment and vote! Thank you and... oh, and there is one final page for yout to look at, click to continue!