The snow bit into my bare shoulders like a thousand tiny mouths trying to devour me-I guess even Mother Nature was mad at my being here, being on her Earth.

The sky was a swath of navy blue and pure, white sparkling stars. They looked like nothing more than specs from this angle.

I was barely able to raise my hand, to try and reach those specs again. I jolted, stinging jabs raced up my spine, slamming into my skull, behind my eyes. Those same specks looked fuzzy now, nothing more than blotches of pale gray. Blurring. Fading.

Don’t go.

I opened my mouth to cry out, but no words came. I only coughed, spitting up a coppery tasting liquid that I seemed to chock on. My stomach rolled and I was grateful that I was lying down.

The stars danced before me. I squinted my eyes to try and stop them. But failed. Whizzing by, I thought I saw a shimmering needle in the sky. It appeared and disappeared in an instant. I knew exactly who that was; one of my brethren.

They still soared, strong and free and healthy. Alive where they should be, among the never ending heavens.

I’m here, I wanted to tell them. Something cold trailed down my cheek.

I would never again taste the powdered tang of star’s dust. Never again have the rays of the Sun spread tickling kisses on my skin—because I was dropped. And without wings to raise me up again, to carry me high into the City of Clouds, I will forever remain shackled to a place I don’t belong.