If I Were A Shooting Star
By: Calli Douglas
Streaking across the night sky at an exhilarating speed, I begin to burn up and glow brightly. I feel a rush of excitement and hope that somewhere on earth, there is someone wishing on me. Looking around I see stars and distant planets whizzing by. Everything is so beautiful. I wish that I could just keep flying and falling, flying and falling, flying and falling and never have this beautiful trip come to an end.
Suddenly, I remember that I am not a star, but only a small mass of tiny bits of dust and rock called a meteoroid burning as I fly through the Earth's atmosphere. I remember that I will probably not survive this trip. I smile unexpectedly thinking of how lucky I am to have my life come to an end in such an exciting manner. I realize that there are many other shooting stars around me. I realize that I am a part of a meteor shower. All of us were left in a trail behind a comet, including myself. None of us is bigger than a golf ball. In fact, a lot of us are but the size of a grain of sand. What a sight this must be on Earth. There will be plenty of shooting stars to wish on tonight.
I focus completely on where I am going. The temperature is rising. I feel myself getting smaller and smaller. Suddenly I am overcome with fear. I am plummeting faster and faster. I look around at the other shooting stars to see if they too are fearful. None of the others look at all phased. I feel myself getting smaller and smaller. I am gaining velocity. Everything is getting blurrier as I continue to accelerate. Those around me are also speeding up and getting smaller. I wonder if any of us will live long enough to hit Earth and become a meteorite. I am now about four times smaller than my original size. I am now about the size of a pin head. As I descend more and more rapidly, the fire burning me is now immense, and I am diminutive.
All of the sudden, I reflect back upon my life. How lazily I drifted. How peaceful and utterly silent. How one day, there was an unexpected burst of sound. I looked over and see an amazing site, a space shuttle zooming past us. It was headed straight for the moon. I watched it for as long as I could. I remembered how I had watched the Earth come closer and closer to us. How everyday, the Earth seemed closer than it had the day before, until it entered our path, and we all became shooting stars. Some of us burned completely in only a second or two.
As I return to my wits, I realize that I will not become a meteorite. I am now almost completely gone. I think again on how lucky I am to have lived such an extraordinary life. Seeing so many things and then having my life end in such an eventful
manner. I will miss this. Here I end.