A WALK TO THE STARS

ollar before spitting him out through a spinning cosmic straw. Stars blared by in a blazing swirl of blues, whites, and purples they zipped by too quickly for his eyes to decipher any se

the words tumbling, twisting the words into a hollow-sound tossed-back-as-an-echo which rested with the light, and sending gooseflesh creepies down his back. Ligh

ushing up onto his elbows. His glasses slid as usual, sitting cricked across the bridge of his sharp nose. He pushed up the frame at the bend with urgency, still blinking rapidly to get rid of the little floating dots that lingered on the edge of his field of vision. It was hot and d

uns; a deep orange one and one cream colored and smaller, radiating an Olympian light down in crimson and gold. He squinted and shielded his eyes from the light with a hand."Twin suns," he said to himself, his geeky brain kicked in. "That means... what? A binary star system?" He'd

the cover. The pages were still there, thank the heavens, but the s

liar constellation, unless against hope this was some weird corner of the Earth. But the stars, assuming there aren't any behind the glare, were not his. "Not home..." he murmured, a pang of disappointment struck his chest. Jasper opened th

s he tried to see the ever-so-slight etchings on its cliff faces, likely some kind of erosion, but he thought... what else could it be? "They could be geological," he spoke into his note pad. "Or... artificial?" The thought sent anxiety through to his very core

ior of his mouth; I should have taken the time to fill a water bottle. "Mom is probably wondering where I am. I can see her in the kitchen stirring a big pot of spaghetti, her mom brow furrowed when I don't walk in and sit down for dinner. Mad and then worried. Maybe mad a

wing the suns' positions. "If I can figure out their orbit," he muttered under his breath, "maybe I can figure out how long a day is." He sketched a quick drawing, two suns in his drawing, two circles for the suns, a dotted line for their path, and then a little stick figure

and rippling in a way that didn't belong in the little part of a landscape he'd ever laid his eyes on. His heart skipped a beat. "Another wormhole?" he murmured, a rush of hope flooded his chest. He took a step and froze as a new sound punctured through the sound o

ing in the sun, their claws clicking against the rock as they moved undisguised. They moved quickly, fan-like in shape, like wolves, eyes still staring at Jasper. "Nope, nope, nope," Jasper shouted as he turned around, his heels sunk into the sand. His sneak

d a jerky note: "Hostile fauna! Six legs, red eyes, fast!" The letters weren't neat and were smeared with sweat, but he indigent cared. Documentation was necessary, even though he might end up lunch.

eading headfirst into the wormhole. The light consumed him, and the screeching from the sea of creatures ended instantly as the tunnel of stars roared back into action. Jasper lost his grip and tumbled through, his body spinning like a top, his glasse