As promised, chapter two to go along with chapter one. A lot more meaty. A bit more heavy. Gives a bit more backstory on our main character.

Besides, who doesn't love little Poe?

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy, and I will be updating you with chapter three next Friday.

~TheObsessory


To The Stars and Back

Chapter Two; Welcome to the Family

A Fanfiction written by TheObsessory

I stared at the blank piece of white paper that sat on my desk, a pack of colored pencils strewn around it. I picked up a caramel colored pencil and began to draw.

This was the first time I had picked up a colored pencil about four months. I used to draw pictures for my mother on a daily basis. Our old home was littered with pictures of our family, of a droid I had seen and wanted, of what I wanted to be when I was older: A Jedi Knight, a doctor like my father, a stay at home mother like my own.

I had no need to draw, as my mother was no longer around to admire my work. But something compelled me to.

When I had finished with the caramel pencil, I grabbed for a peach one and began to draw my father's lighter face.

My picture was coming together. My father and mother stood on either side of myself. Everyone had a smile on their face. My father wore his white doctor's garb, my mother wore a loose dress to make room for her bulging stomach and I wore a bright orange shirt. It had been my favorite before it was ruined. It looked just like the picture that was sitting in my father's room. It had been taken a couple of weeks before my mother died.

As I stared at my finished picture intently, I felt my eyes lose focus on the lines. I sat there thinking for a moment, and when I refocused on the paper, the picture had been changed. A giant red "x" had been drawn so heavily into paper on my mother's stomach, the paper had ripped. Her face was no longer a smile, but distorted into a scream.

My picture had been changed as well. Blue dots on my face translated to tears. My father, on the other hand, was still smiling, holding a small bundle in his hands. I saw the bundle move on the paper as I watched, and just when it was about to move to face me, a wild screech arose from my father's room down the hall.

I closed my eyes and jammed my hands over my ears, the beating of my heart ringing against my palms as I tried to drown the screaming baby out.

If only she had died instead of mother. I hated her. I hated them both.

A light rumbling began in my ears. The one that comes when you strain too hard to ignore sounds. I pushed against my ears with my hands as it seemed the crying got louder. The sides of my head began to hurt, but I had to keep the noise out of my head. It made me so angry.

"I like your picture."

I stood up, my small chair falling roughly to the ground behind me.

The voice that had sounded like it was right beside my ear belonged to Poe, my new neighbor, who currently stood over my desk to my right, closest to my door. The screaming had stopped

I glanced at my picture hurriedly, ready to cover it up, until I noticed all that had changed about it hadn't. It was still the picture of me, my father and my mother.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Poe gave a small smile in apology before he looked back down at the picture, and pointed to my heavily pregnant representation of my mother, "Was that your mom?"

I nodded, still a bit startled from his sudden appearance.

"She was very pretty." His dark eyes twinkled nicely when he looked back to me.

"It's just a picture…" I mumbled, picking my chair up to avoid looking at him.

"Yeah, but when you draw, you see that person for who they really are, right?" Poe spoke a million miles an hour, it seemed, and I was still in a bit of a trance.

"I dunno." I shrugged, looking at anything in the room but Poe.

"Come with me."

Once again, Poe grabbed my hand and dragged me out of my room, down the hall and outside. This time, we didn't stop at any trees or admire any of the forest. Instead, I was dragged into the identical house next door to mine. Or at least he tried to.

I caught the door frame of his house, stopping myself just outside.

"What are you doing?" I was a little angry at this strange boy dragging me around like a puppy on a leash. I hardly knew him, yet he felt like he had full reign to do whatever he wanted with me.

"It's been a whole month and I barely see you around or outside." Poe released my hand and crossed his arms at me, giving me a look.

"And?" I questioned, confused by his own snarky demeanor.

"So why don't you go outside?" He asked the question like it was the most obvious of questions to ask.

"Because why do I need to go outside?" I argued back, raising my voice a little.

"To play, duh." He rolled his eyes.

"And who am I going to play with?" I grumbled to him. It was true. In the last month I had been here, I had met many children of varying ages around the neighborhood when their parents had come over to introduce themselves to my father, but none had ever seemed interested in knowing me, and in turn, I felt the same towards them.

"Me." He said it so easily, I felt like I should slap him.

"Why should I play with you? All you do is drag me around. That's hardly playing. Besides, I was fine by myself." I was growing more angry by the second.

"It sure didn't look like it." He said quietly.

My anger softened as his eyes did.

We stood there in silence, and eventually I had to look away from his eyes, whether out of shame of him knowing I was miserable, or something else, I didn't know.

"My mom says you blame your sister for what happened to your mom." Poe continued.

"Can we talk about something else? Please?" I wanted to slam my hands over my ears again to drown out the words that came from Poe's mouth.

"Well we can't play in the doorway." I looked up to see Poe beckoning me inside.

I stepped inside tentatively, looking around. I'd never had a friend invite me over to their house before. Back in my old home, we lived in the city. I knew kids at school, and sometimes we would meet afterwards at a park, but living in the city meant small apartments and little room for play.

"Ah, hello Sidra." Poe's mother, Shara, poked her head out from the kitchen where lovely smells wafted from. Her dark hair was up and she looked like she was busy, "I thought I heard you two arguing in the doorway. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but I feel like I should apologize for Poe anyway."

"Why are you always apologizing for me for, mom. You'd think I was some kind of ill-mannered kid." He scoffed, following his mother into the kitchen.

"Well…" Shara started in a high tone, stopping her work momentarily.

"Moooom." Poe fell against Shara from behind and hung onto her waist in that obnoxious, overly touchy way kids got with their mothers. The way I had been with my mother.

"Oh, Poe, would you get off." Shara, not expecting the sudden weight of her seven year old son, had stumbled and barely caught herself against the counter.

Shaking her head, she turned back to me, setting a bowl down that she had taken from the refrigerator only moments before.

"Would you like to help make dinner? Rule is: You help, you get some."

I nodded my head before rushing over to the sink to wash my hands. Poe followed suit, spritzing water into my face from his fingertips. After I fired water back and dried my hands, I followed Shara's orders as we helped her make dinner. I wasn't entirely sure what it was, as this moon seemed to get strange imports that were quite different from the ones on my other home. What food my father had bought and made was relatively close to the meals I had had for most of my life back home.

"Did you ever help you mother cook, Sidra?" Shara asked as she put some dishes into the oven, beginning to clean the counters of whatever mess Poe and I had made.

"A little." I said lightly, picking up some dirty dishes to place them in the sink. I did so in a worried fashion- was I putting them where Shara wanted them? "This food's kinda different from what we got before."

She made no indication that it was wrong, so I continued.

"My mom makes such good food, you have to come over more and try more, okay?" Poe was rinsing the plates and putting them into a washer one at a time.

"As long as I get to help." I said with a smile.

"Oh, when did we get a daughter?"

I turned around to see Poe's father, Kes, leaning against the door frame, watching us work. When he saw my face, a sudden realization hit his eyes.

"Ah, Sidra, nice to see you again. I've seen your dad around town. Everyone's pretty glad for the new doctor. Everything going alright?" Kes made his way over to Shara and planted a kiss on her cheek in between a couple of his sentences.

"Yeah. It's a little lonely at home, but I don't start school until next year." I leaned a little nervously against the counter, not wanting to be in anyone's way. Children back home started school at five, but here, the age was eight. My father explained that it all depended on the setting. In the city, people were more busy. You were more likely to have two parents who worked instead of one, whereas here in our new home, it was more likely to be out of a city, and work with the earth to grow foods. Having lots of kids and a stay at home mom for them to help made more sense.

"Ah, you and Poe'll be starting school together next year. Poe can introduce you to all his friends." Shara said lightly, checking on the cooking food, "Poe, go set the table. And you-" She kissed Kes back on the cheek "-should go get ready for dinner."

I stayed where I was as Poe and Kes departed, waiting for orders from Shara. Instead of getting the food, she leaned against the counter next to me, starting into the wall.

"Your father says you're not very happy here." She started.

I opened my mouth to retort, but she continued before I could say anything.

"I don't think you're unhappy here. I think you're unhappy with your situation, which is understandable. You needed your time alone to recover, but your father is worried about you Sidra." I knew Shara had turned to look at me, but I left my gaze on a picture Poe had drawn, hanging on the wall opposite of where we stood, "You can come over here whenever you get sad. Sometime's when I get sad, I go talk to Poe or Kes, and they always make me feel better." She paused, "Well, sometimes. Sometimes they act like boys which only makes me angry, but I think that's better than being sad."

I smiled at her jest and brought my eyes up to hers.

"I'm here if you need anything. I know your father is a very busy man, and I know you don't like being around the baby. She looks like your mother, doesn't she?"

I dropped my eyes once more, afraid she'd be able to read me like an open book. Like she already was.

"I thought so. Don't get upset, I don't mean for you to get angry. I just want you to know that anything you can't tell Poe or your father, you can tell me, alright?"

I nodded my head silently as Poe returned, announcing the table was ready.

Shara ran a gentle hand through my hair.

"Let's get something to eat."


Like I said, a little more, as well as a little more back story.

It's my first official time writing something... well, as heavy as this? I mean, I'm playing it by ear. I didn't lose either of my parents at a young age, however, one doesn't grow in writing their own experiences.

I hope what I've written so far has interested at least a couple of people.

See you all next Friday.

~TheObsessory