Creative Writing | Sky Shepherd

They say in the sky lives an old man with a long white beard whose wrinkles resemble the roads of an ancient city on a map. He is dressed like an old Caucasian shepherd. But he herds not sheep, not clouds– he herds the stars. Each star is a sleeping child. Every night when a child falls asleep, he becomes a tiny star in the sky, and the Sky Shepherd watches over their sleep.

One day, the Sky Shepherd notices that one star is missing. He decides to find it. He travels through different worlds.

First is the world of unfulfilled childhood dreams.

He walks through a village in the mountains, where there are no people. But everywhere there are abandoned dreams: a rusted astronaut’s spacesuit, a happy soldier’s picture, a wrecked spaceship, a faded photo of Gagarin behind cracked glass in a golden frame. In the corner of the frame, there was a small black-and-white photo of a man in uniform. A broken video camera, red velvet curtains with cigarette burns, a crumpled Chekhov booklet. A plastic toy case for “A Young Doctor,” a torn-out newspaper article about animal euthanasia statistics. A wet notebook. A red cape, broken DC action figures, torn comic books. Old animal toys, a badge with a crocodile on it, and the words “Nina, animal feeder.” Real wings of a fly, a swan, and a magpie sewn to backpack straps. A wizard’s hat, a “magic wand,” a letter from Hogwarts. A roaring dinosaur and a firing dragon. Real assorted animals. A Barbie with an engineering diploma, fragments of Hansel and Gretel’s chocolate house. A tape of Gravity Falls season 3, a torn copy of Turgenev’s Mumu, and a VHS of The Adventures of Lolo the Little Penguin with the word “FORBIDDEN” in red letters.

Letters to Santa, asking for parents to stop fighting, to come back, to have lots of money, to have a little brother, for Mom not to be tired anymore, and for Dad to return home. Photos of complete and happy families. Dolls of various races and body types.

A computer, a game console, clowns, a birthday cake with “Happy Birthday” written on it, and a candle shaped like the number 7. Balloons. A destroyed treehouse. A white flag of peace. Many keychains, charms, and symbols with peace signs. Bread and ice cream. Marx’s Capital and VOGUE magazine.

Then, the Sky Shepherd passes through the world of nightmares – the kind that stop being nightmares as we age.

Little Maria's biggest fear– being alone– becomes a dream for her when she turns into a mother of many. Fire becomes a dream for a soldier who once warmed and rested by it, and he just forgot how scared of it he was.

When Lee was a kid, he was scared of medical injections; now his dream is to have enough money to pay for the medical injection for his ill baby. Robert was scared of dogs; now, that he's blind, dogs are his saviours.

Then he walks the streets of a real big city, among real people, who film him and laugh. But he walks on, silent and straight.
At the end of the road, the shepherd reaches a ruined house.

Gunfire.

The noise of an air raid siren. Under a table sits a girl. Her eyes are red and full of tears. There are bruises on her knees, and she is hugging them tightly. The shepherd approaches silently and sits at the other end of the table. He says nothing, simply looks at her. The girl who has lost sleep. The girl asks why he came and what he wants. She tells him to leave. But the shepherd keeps looking at her silently. She says:

“Sleeping is a luxury for those whose windows aren’t being shot at.”

Suddenly, the old man says very gently:

“Everything will be alright.”

The girl looks at him, surprised. They sit together in silence. Fifteen minutes later, the girl falls asleep.