Novel & Cerita Starless Nights

🎀CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE🎀 The sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving the world in a bone-chilling, ink-black night. Zayla sat alone on a cold stone bench, her neck tilted back as she scanned the dark sky. Faint stars were scattered across the void like spilled diamonds. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice the small bird that had fluttered down to the bench beside her. "The night is breathtaking, isn't it?" a gentle voice whispered.

I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the deeper dark, the dashboard lights fading to black. The city was a distant glow now, barely visible beyond the rolling hills—tiny clusters of light like embers far away on the horizon, flickering faintly as if waving goodbye. Above us, the sky stretched wide and unapologetic, scattered with stars I’d forgotten existed in such abundance. Not the faint pinpricks you strained to see between skyscrapers, but real stars—thousands of them, sharp and bright and endless, clustered in constellations that seemed to pulse with ancient stories. The Milky Way smeared across the velvet black like spilled diamonds, a river of light that made me feel small in the best way

Kayden — the rising star in the literary world, the renowned author of The Upward Gravity, A Spark in the Rubble, The Dawn Theory, Beyond the Script, and The Beautiful Unbecoming. Every one of his books had been a success. I had read them all. They were my only source of motivation during the darkest days of my life. I first met him years ago, completely by chance, in a coffee shop. I was sitting alone, lost in the pages of The Dawn Theory, scribbling my own theories in the margins of the book. I was so absorbed that I didn’t even notice the man across from me until he suddenly shifted seats and sat beside me.

Tiny diamonds formed a ring of stars, cradling a silver crescent in the center. My breathing stopped. I had sketched that design when I was fifteen, in the corner of my old sketchbook. The day Ryan confessed to me, he had pointed at that drawing, his voice shaking. “Jane, one day when I have money, I’ll make this for you. “Stars always stay beside the moon. “Just like I’ll never break my promise to you.” Now he had finally made it. He just put it on someone else. On screen, Wendy touched the pendant at her collarbone and smiled shyly.

The window framed a breathtaking view of the desert night sky, where stars sparkled like scattered diamonds on velvet. Wendy glanced out the window, mesmerised by the celestial display. ‘Wow, would you look at that sky? It’s like a thousand fireflies dancing up there.’ Callie leaned closer, her thoughts momentarily drifting away from her worries about Elias. ‘It’s incredible. I’ve never seen so many stars before. It’s like a whole other world out there.’ The bus journey seemed endless, but as the hours passed, the town of Sandsville emerged on the horizon, its lights twinkling like a mirage in the desert night.

It was filled with greenery, lush with flowers and plants—quiet and peaceful. She raised her head to look at the sky. In the pitch-black sky, stars were shining brightly. There were so many of them, and they were so bright. Yet, they were so far away. Like Jacob, they brought light to her life, yet they would leave her. He was as distant as those stars, beyond her reach. Natasha recalled that day. "Jake, there'll be a meteor shower tonight according to my phone. I found a good spot. Let's watch it together!"

["Naughty, Am I Not?"] The claws of night spread across the whole city, covering it with nothingness. Stars flickered and pulsated up in the night sky, and as if in a parade, they fluttered their shine while occasionally hiding behind the soft embrace of clouds that were in need of mates. There — somewhere in a room having an absolute lack of light and embraced only in blues and reds, were two individuals who were hungrily stroking each other, not willing to find solace in their sugary-sweet kisses.

My words eased Sean's anxious, restless mind. He put his arms around me and drifted into a deep sleep. I stared at his strong, handsome features, my eyes hardened. A colleague? He would go stargazing with his colleague, celebrate her birthday, and even take her to an amusement park. Yet, he told me, his wife, that birthday celebrations were for kids. Being let down time and time again had left me completely drained. I would not trust his words anymore. …