Once upon a time... #2: the little girl who lived on a moon

Once upon a time...#2

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived on a moon. She didn’t know it was a moon. It was simply her home. The girl spent her days playing with her friends beneath the amber sky. Occasionally they would catch a glimpse of the Guardian when they managed to stay out late enough to see him peek his head over the horizon. 


Sometimes when she woke up in the middle of the night, she would stop by a window to stare at it. The Guardian lit up the night sky like a big orange lid.

But one day the little girl looked above and saw large menacing space ships. The people who came out of those ships were rather short and stocky. Their faces seemed every bit as mean as their space ships. When the little girl went to school one bright and early morning, she found her teacher looking upset.

“What’s wrong miss Yosha, did the space ships scare you too?”, she asked. Miss Yosha smiled and said: “don’t worry Iulenya, everything’s going to be all right.” But her eyes still seemed sad. A new teacher arrived that day. His name was mister Smith.

It was during mister Smith’s lessons that Iulenya first learned the word moon. He kept telling them over and over again that their home was ‘just a moon’. Mister Smith had come from a Planet. He made a big fuss about it though Iulenya didn’t understand why.

She liked her home, even if it was ‘just a moon’. It had a name, their home did. Iulenya had never thought of it before. But after spending the entire morning hearing that she lived on ‘just a moon’, she put up her hand and said: “It’s not just a moon. It’s our home and it’s called Zaretz.”

Mister Smith took two strides to stand beside her desk looming over her. His face was drawn into a tight mask as he told her to ‘go stand in the corner!’. Iulenya blinked and stared at him with her eyes big in her face. But mister Smith merely pointed to a corner and said: ‘Go!’.

She passed her classmates in silence. From the corner she looked at mister Smith, unsure of what to do. He waved his hand saying: ‘turn around and face the wall’. As she did so, Iulenya felt blood rushing to her face. Her cheeks were burning in confusion. Behind her, mister Smith spoke to the class: ‘I will not tolerate any disruptive behaviour. Now get your writing things and take note: the Planet Koheer is the most important Planet in our star system…’

Iulenya heard the teacher without listening. She had done nothing wrong. This was her home and it was called Zaretz and she had even remembered to put her hand up before speaking. Mister Smith was being entirely unfair!

She did not know how long she stood there. Her legs got wobbly and at some point she started to lean on the wall. Behind her, mister Smith was droning on about the Great History of the Planet Koheer. Iulenya wanted her old teacher back. But miss Yosha had been called away shortly after mister Smith had arrived. She hadn’t returned since. Iulenya had been meaning to ask her about the black vehicle she had seen driving away from the schoolyard that morning.

Now she wondered if miss Yosha had been put in a corner as well? Maybe she was standing in the teacher’s lounge staring at a wall just like Iulenya. Poor miss Yosha, she was going to teach them about Silver birds today. Perhaps that was the reason they’d made her stand in the corner too?

Without warning the wall slipped away from Iulenya. Suddenly it was dark and there were voices all around her. She opened her eyes to see her classmates standing over her. Mister Smith was there with a frown on his face. ‘Get her back to her seat’, he said. Several hands grabbed her arms and pushed her until she could sit in her own chair. Iulenya sat pale as a sheet wondering what had happened.

The school bell rang and mister Smith told them to go straight home. No hanging about in the parks and playgrounds. Tomorrow they would be tested on the History of Koheer. Anyone who failed would receive a punishment. Mister Smith didn’t say what the punishment would be. But after what had happened to Iulenya, nobody wanted to find out.     

Miss Yosha never returned. Neither did any of the other teachers that had been taken away on that first day. Those that were left behind no longer mentioned the name of their home nor did they speak of it at all. The Koheerians were in charge now and they didn't like talking about a mere moon.