Page 41 - The Muse 2019-20 Issue

Uncle Ricky and Aunt Priya with her. Your parents were never well equipped to be parents. They did love Noura, and I know they also loved you greatly. In fact, when Noura died, your father called me and told me that they had finished their experiment. I took that to mean that they had finally completed everything they needed to clone Noura. You, Noor, are the product of that science and love.”
Noor now finally understood everything and why the timing of Noura’s death eight years ago coincided with her own entry into the world. Noor replied to Gus, “Thank you so much for sharing with me this wisdom. I am forever in debt to you. Can I ask you, how did Noura die?”
Gus started with a sense of sorrow, “Noura died eight years ago when a massive wave slammed into the beach, destroying most of her snack shack, and pulling her out to the ocean. The saddest part is, we actually never recovered her body.” Noor couldn’t believe that Noura’s death was exactly like the same dream that she had in which she dreamt of her father. Noor stared at the ocean, and in that moment of love and hope, Gus pulled something out of his small backpack and handed it to her with silence.
Noor looked at the small object and realized it was the other half of the Ibeji statue from her parents’ office. The statue had a marking on the back which said, “Noor and Noura – the light of our lives.”
The Broken Star
by Lucia Gutierrez-Rosety
8th Grade
Judges’ Award Blue Ribbon
Joy had to be meticulous with the wire. If she cut it, it would derail the last hour’s work on the satellite.
“I hate these red wires, Sam. They are so tiny, and the color isn’t visible across this suit,” said Joy.
“I know. I had the same problem a minute ago,” said Sam on the other side of the satellite.
She smiled and carefully looked over her shoulder to her own planet.
“What a shame. Our home is in ruins because of our own problems,” said Joy as she replaced the broken communication device with a brand-new replica.
“I know. It’ll probably take decades to bounce back from the war.”
Joy sighed and quickly put the top back on the main processor and directed herself towards Sam to help him add in the new camera equipment. As she worked on the broken satellite that had been tampered with by the US’s rivals, she wondered what life was going to be like on earth when she came back from her mission. How bad was the damage? How were people reacting? How much chaos had occurred? It hit her how things had changed because of the war, when space used to be the most dangerous place to be and now the comparison showed otherwise. She closed her eyes and wished there could be a solution to the war. Could there ever be peace?
She had a lot on her mind as she was on her way to the space station. She and Sam both faced emotional turmoil
as the reporter over the communication radio gave them updates on the aftermath of the war. Joy shed a tear as she thought about all of the people suffering the hardships of the war, almost feeling guilty of the
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Fernanda Aizemberg, Grade 8