It was a cold night when the stars fell. For Kristin, it was one of her earliest memories. Her father held her, shaking as streaks of light faded into the blackness. It was odd, she was used to being comforted, her father’s hands a source of strength. But back then, it was she who comforted him, his uncertainty stayed by her wonder. This wonder would stay with her. In the years that followed she has moved out of her small Icelandic town to pursue a degree in astronomy, in search of answers. To this day she asks why the stars fell, where they ended up, and if they’re ever coming back. For Amorsolo, the sun was up when the stars disappeared. It was a new moon that night, ideal for night fishing. His day consisted of prep for the night’s endeavors and ended with him and his brother in the middle of the sea, sharing a lantern between them. The single light was all they had to stave off the darkness. It was all consuming, the night. The lantern’s fuel slowly burned away and its glow began to dim until eventually the two were swallowed whole. The sound of waves were the only assurance of their existence within the pitch black. Their great grandmother had told them, when they returned the next day, that one of the old gods of the world had died and that the stars are in mourning. Since then, on the night of a new moon, Amorsolo would leave all the lights on and lie in bed, wishing for this wake to be over. For Maddie, the night was as bright as it always was. The bright billboards provide a technicolor backdrop to the city that never sleeps. It wasn’t until the next day that she found out through the news that the stars had disappeared. She stood outside that evening, squinting at the sky trying to see the stars that have ceased to be. Life continued on as normal for Maddie, except every so often, when it comes up in conversation, she’d wonder if the stars are back.