She said they should place one on either side of the doorway, one on the left and one on the right.

The materials for making the pumpkin lanterns were very simple, and many were left over from last time. To ensure consistent colors, Archer still used the materials from the previous occasion.

Hannah was drawing with her head bowed, holding a dark blue oil pastel in her hand.

Beside her was another oil pastel, a black one.

These were the only two colors she had.

With the dark blue pastel, Hannah drew the sky, and with the black, the earth.

She had only reached the halfway point when she stopped drawing, furrowing her brows as she looked back and forth before setting it down with frustration, "Why don’t my moon and stars glow?"

The stars in the sky were very bright.

But on her drawing paper, there was only darkness. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She sighed, blowing away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face, before she turned to look at Archer.

Archer was measuring dimensions, the serious look on his face illuminated by the firelight, appearing as if he were glowing.

"Archer," she turned around, resting her chin on her hands which sprawled over the back of the chair, "Why don’t my moon and stars glow?"

She repeated the question.

The first time it was to herself, the second time, to Archer.

Archer set down what he was holding and looked up, "Are you drawing?"

He was gradually catching up with Hannah’s way of thinking.

Hannah nodded and brought the drawing to him, clutching it in her hands, "Look, here, and here it’s all black."

She pointed to the deep blue sky on the paper, then at the pitch-black earth.

Both were hues of darkness.

Archer stood up, walked over to Hannah, and looked down at her, "May I help you draw?"

"To draw glowing stars and a moon?" Hope twinkled in Hannah’s round eyes.

It could be the firelight, or perhaps her excited heart.

Archer took the drawing paper from Hannah’s hands and said, "Yes."

To draw glowing stars and a moon.

On the white paper, following the traces Hannah had sketched, Archer outlined the shape of the moon, then filled in the color, leaving small patches of the paper’s original white where the stars were meant to be.

The night spread outwards, and two small figures on the ground held hands, gazing up at the night sky together.

Brightness was born from darkness; even the deepest black could become dazzling white.

Hannah lay her face against the table, watching intently as Archer filled in color on the drawing paper.

The same blue, the same black, beneath Archer’s hands, became a twinkling starry sky.

"Is this me?" Hannah pointed at the slightly smaller figure.

Archer smiled, "This is you, and this is me."

The night was an endless expanse of darkness, but the days spent with Hannah were the light of his life.

Hannah turned to look at Archer, noticing his beautiful eyes, like the night sky in the drawing, "Archer, will we always be together?"

It seemed she no longer wanted to be alone.

Archer reached out, ruffled her hair, and said, "We will."

He would not leave her behind, not ever.

Hannah’s gaze returned to the drawing on the table, a sweet smile on her lips, like honey, "That’s nice."

She was no longer alone.

Above the night sky, stars twinkled and meteors streaked by.

In that moment, many people were looking up at the sky.

That year, Hannah was seven years old.

She met Archer, who was ten, and they spent much time in each other’s company.

During that time, Hannah was very happy.

She didn’t like being alone, nor did she enjoy being treated as a monster.

Many were afraid of her, despised her, or even hated her.