A Little Wish Upon a Star

by Breanna Hayse

  A Little Wish Upon a Star

  By

  Breanna Hayse

  ©2015 by Blushing Books® and Breanna Hayse

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Blushing Books®,

  a subsidiary of

  ABCD Graphics and Design

  977 Seminole Trail #233

  Charlottesville, VA 22901

  The trademark Blushing Books®

  is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

  Hayse, Breanna

  A Little Wish Upon a Star

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-62750-884-1

  Cover Design by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  About Breanna Hayse

  Ebook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  About Blushing Books

  Chapter One

  Her hands trembled with hope as she slid the message, written with a purple crayon, into the glass soda bottle that she'd found outside the steps of the compound. It read:

  If there is anybody out there who wants a little girl, please find me and take me home with you. I promise to be good. Here's my picture and a piece of my hair to help you know who I am.

  Tabby-Cat

  Underneath the message, she'd drawn a picture of a cat, whiskers and all. It was the best one she had drawn and she hoped that someone up there, somewhere in the universe, would find her message and rescue her. She sealed it with a cork that the nice astronaut from NASA gave her and smiled gratefully when he lifted her up to the small pod so that she could put her message inside it with her very own, tiny hands.

  She smiled at the kind man, who squeezed her shoulder with his big hand, and together they watched in silence as the vessel was launched into the star-studded sky.

  "If you could touch one of those stars, which one would you choose?" he asked, kneeling by her side.

  She pointed to a sparkling violet one in the middle of a dense cluster. "That one. Can you see it?"

  "I can. It's lovely. Why did you choose that one?"

  She looked at him with an expression of gravity. "Because it's purple. A purple star has to be the very best of all of them."

  "How about you close your eyes and make a wish on it?"

  "Let's both make a wish. I know what mine is gonna be. How about yours?" Tabby asked.

  "My wish would be that you will find everything you ever need to make you happy, little one."

  "You could take me home with you," she suggested eagerly.

  He hugged her and sighed. "I wish I could, baby. I truly wish I could. Let's make our wishes on that star and see what happens, okay?"

  Tabby nodded and squeezed her eyes shut, crossing her fingers, and sent a wish upon that beautiful purple star with all the hope and power that is found only in the heart of a child…

  ***

  Eighteen years later…

  The warm hand squeezed her shoulder as she stared up at the star-studded sky.

  "Are you ready, Lieutenant?"

  Tabitha Gold turned to the voice. "I can't believe this is finally happening, Buzz. I've dreamed of going into space my entire life, and now it's a reality."

  "I envy you, Tabby. I know they saw something special to choose you for this mission, but I'm still going to miss you."

  "What they saw is that I have nothing to lose. No family, no commitments, and a limited life span. If I don't make it, no one will feel my absence. Except you, of course. You will have to find someone else to schmooze to buy your morning cappuccino." She winked.

  "Yeah, well, I suspect I will be having to pay for my own coffee now. Somehow, the entire space center is on to me, and the ways in which I try to weasel free coffee from everyone."

  "We have all been on to you for a long time. You were my hero, Buzz. I wanted to be like you when I grew up, and here I am—a jet pilot and an astronaut. I'm just sorry I gave you such a headache in the process of getting here."

  "The only headache I got was from all those hours spent trying to convince you to stop sniffing the jet fuel."

  Tabby giggled. "What can I say? It turns me on. That and WD-40."

  "I really am so proud of you." The man's eyes misted over. "You are a handful, but there is a good girl somewhere inside all that bluster and bullshit. And who knows? By the time you come out of suspended animation, there might be a cure."

  "Well, they have twenty years to figure it out. If nothing is found, NASA agreed to allow the system to go into automatic shut-down before the travel pod is retrieved. This way they have a freshly preserved body to work with."

  "I wish you wouldn't talk that way."

  Tabby shrugged. "I've accepted it for what it is. I'm the only one left alive after that first meteor drop, and now that those radiation-infested meteors are making their way through the atmosphere with more frequency, the United Nations is afraid that this type of poisoning is going to destroy mankind if a cure is not found."

  "Nothing works?"

  "Nope. The cancer targets and mutates the T-cells to turn against the host. So instead of fighting to help the body, they switch sides and fight against it. So far, these mutated cells have been able to form an immediate immunity to every type of known treatment. The only good thing is that these particular T-cells respond only to triggers."

  "What's what?"

  "Disease, wounds, stress… anything that calls the attention of the white blood cells to protect and heal the body. So the stronger and healthier a person is before they are infected, the longer it takes before the disease can take over and destroy them. So there are some people, like the elderly or young children, would who be struck very quickly—while for others, such as myself, it might take years. With the possibility that these radiated fragments might start to strike ground, it's expected that a major epidemic will occur in the next fifteen to twenty years."

  "I had no idea it was that bad." The old man shook his head. "I admit that I've been selfish and have kept my head in the sand about it. I didn't want to face what might be happening to you."

  "It's going to take me eventually, Buzz. I'm just the fortunate one to have been given the chance to escape that pain. The plus side is that I'm in the infant stage, so the scientists can study the disease process as early detection."

  The slender, blonde woman paused to wipe away the single tear dripping down the man's face. "I will miss you, old man. You were the only one who gave me the courage to hope and pursue my dream of touching the stars."

  "Touch one for me while you're up there, okay? I've walked on the moon, but never got up close and personal with a star," Buzz said.

  "You are a star, remember?" S
he elbowed him "I saw those pictures of you and your buddy walking on the moon. You became our nation's heroes with that one small step for man."

  "I never knew what the word hero meant until I met you, my girl." He kissed her forehead. "Now let's get you suited up before I turn into an old, blubbering puddle of space snot."

  "Eww…"

  The capsule was as big as a full-sized van, similar to the one they'd used to haul the remaining children out of the town that had been struck by a small meteor. Tabby settled back in the chair and offered an enormous smile as Buzz buckled her in.

  Once again, he looked at her through glazed eyes and kissed her forehead. "Do you remember how we met, Tabby-Cat?"

  "I won that contest to send a message into outer space. You picked me up to put that silly bottle in the pod and then kept your hand on my shoulder as it launched. Then you made me pick out a star to wish upon. Every single day I was at the compound, I hoped that the message would be found."

  "You still haven't told me what you wished for that night," he said.

  "Well, you didn't tell me that the star I was pointing to was a planet, or that the only way it could have been a purple star was if it was so hot it was about to burn out."

  "You were a little girl. There was no point in correcting you." He chuckled. "Besides, you would have argued with me."

  "True. I probably would have won, too," Tabby admitted.

  "I have no doubt about that. So, what did that message in a bottle say?"

  "It's not important. It was a child's wish, nothing more."

  "Every child's wish is important, even the little ones. Speaking of which, I brought you a present—two, actually," Buzz said.

  "A present? Regulations prohibit taking anything personal on this flight."

  "Screw regulations. You're going to be up there all by yourself for a week or two before the space station can retrieve you. Even though you will be in suspended animation, I didn't want you to be alone." He reached outside the capsule and produced a fluffy, brown teddy bear. "I went to Build-A-Bear and put a heart-locket inside of him so you can remember how special you are to me. His name is Buzz."

  Tabitha fought back her tears. "You shouldn't have… thank you. I've always wanted a teddy bear, but they never allowed them at the compound. They were afraid of germs."

  "They were afraid of everything, baby. I also got you this." He handed her a decorated box. "It's your favorite wine. When you get settled in orbit, I want you to have a drink on me just the way you like it."

  "Straight from the bottle?" She grinned. "I thought it drove you crazy when I did that."

  "Not anymore. Take care, my girl. I love you."

  "I love you, too. Hey, Buzz? Will you promise me something?"

  "What, honey?" The tears rolling down his face were unstoppable now.

  "Promise that you will find another lonely, scared little kid and teach them how to wish upon a star. My wish didn't come true, but theirs might. And it gave me hope. Thank you. I'll never forget what you did for me. Ever."

  The hatch was closed and the latches secured, leaving her alone in the padded chair of the automated vessel. She chuckled silently, thinking of the hours she had spent logging in flight time before she was allowed her first solo flight. From working her way through the ranks in Civil Air Patrol to being accepted into the Air Force Academy, she never would have imagined that life would have taken the turn to bring her to this place. How ironic that, with her immaculate service record and ability to attack every assignment given with unwavering focus, she had been repeatedly refused assignment to NASA as a space station pilot. Yet when she'd been diagnosed with radiation-induced bone cancer, a position had miraculously opened and brought her here.

  She stared out the small porthole at the pre-dawn sky that was still flecked with the sparkling diamond dust. The launch would occur at sunrise, as a symbol to the frightened world that this mission would be the beginning of a new day. The media had captioned her flight to read; 'Our Hope for Tomorrow Will Begin With The Stars,' leading the general public to believe that scientists were researching a cure, rather than planning to turn her body into a human popsicle to study upon its return if things progressed as badly as everyone feared. Oh well, she thought and shrugged, it gave the people something to point at and have hope in, and that was all that mattered if it kept them from panicking and losing control. Her lifeless body would receive a hero's welcome when it was most needed, and buy the government more time to find an answer.

  Hugging the teddy bear, she mused over the stupidity of some people, especially when they were frightened. Desperation led them to believe anything; even a political hoax designed to hide how powerless Earth really was against the onslaught of tiny, radiated bombs, and the deadly outcome that occurred when the fallout mutated into a contagious virus. She had been spared the suffering that came when the first transmuted virus claimed the lives of over twenty children in the two weeks following the exposure. Those immune to the original disease were then diagnosed, one by one, with different forms of cancer. By the time she was fifteen, no one else remained. For three years, she lived alone with no companionship or human interaction—outside of the teachers and nurses who came dressed in their bright yellow biohazard suits. Despite the endless, painful experiments and purposeful exposure to pathogens, she remained disease free. With no concrete reason to continue to confine her to an isolated existence, the government had no choice but to release her to live in the free world on her eighteenth birthday.

  Buzz had exchanged letters with her over the years, and was instrumental in getting her accepted into the Air Force Academy. She'd excelled in every physical and mental challenge given to her, however, she'd been constantly shunned by the other cadets. Having been raised in an environment where emotional attachments only led to pain, Tabitha was not what one might call 'socially adept'. She kept her distance from people, was unable to work as part of a team, and made it impossible for anyone to grow close to her. Yet, despite her lonely existence, she'd graduated with academic honors, and was accepted into the test-pilot program. Shortly after she'd obtained her license, Buzz had used his clout to get her picked up by the NASA aviation division. He was her one, and only, friend.

  A lump rose in her throat. "I'm going silent for a few," she abruptly announced to the controllers.

  "That's a go, Lieutenant. We'll wake you before countdown."

  "Affirmative." Several switches were flicked, cutting off all the outside noise.

  One by one, the stars twinkled out of view as the sliver of the rising sun peeked over the horizon. Tabitha held her breath to watch the dawning of the new day over the peaceful waters of Cape Canaveral; its magnificence enhanced by the depth of total silence around her. The deep purples and blues of the night were slowly replaced by crimson red, fiery orange and, eventually, a muted gold. The round head of the celestial object rose from its slumber in soundless grandeur, and announced its rule over the planet it guarded. How many sunrises had she taken for granted? Was it because this would be the last dawning of a new day for her doomed life that she finally took the time to gaze in wonder at how glorious it truly was?

  The sound of a crowing rooster came over the loudspeaker. "Time to wake up, Lieutenant."

  "Very funny. You boys just had to remind me that yours would be the last cock I would ever know, didn't you?" she retorted.

  Laughter filtered back. "We all hope it's not the only cock you've even known."

  "A lady never tells how many chicken-types she's put to roost." Tabby forced out a laugh. She would never admit to anyone that she had never taken any significant time to truly indulge in the pleasure of a man's company, especially since every one of her infrequent sexual encounters had left her severely wanting. It was not that her partners hadn't tried, but her unusual 'preferences' and hypersexual state had made it impossible to find a partner competent enough to satisfy her. Also, her emotional apathy had always been an additional deterrent in the romance department.


  The man's tone grew somber. "On behalf of all of us, we want to thank you for this sacrifice. We're going to miss your sharp wit."

  "But not my sharp tongue or my fucked up, nasty attitude. Since I won't get another chance, I want to clear the air. I'm sorry for all the balls I've bitten off. I'm not the easiest person to get along with, and know that I'm a bitch. All of you have been completely polite and professional with me, and have not deserved most of how I treated you. Please forgive me."

  "We all have our reasons for the things we do, ma'am. None of us hold any of that against you, and want to wish you a peaceful voyage and send our prayers that your return will bring life back to this world."

  Another bit of irony? "Is Buzz there? I want to talk to him."

  "I'm right here, Tabby-Cat," she heard him respond with a choke in his voice.

  "Aw, please don't cry. It's going to be all right. I promise. I have a request. I would like you to perform the final countdown and press that big red button to launch me."

  "I can't do that. No, Tabs, I can't be the one to send you to your death," Buzz said.

  "You aren't! You're sending me to live my dream. Look at it as though you're giving me away at my wedding. You've been like a dad to me, and I really want you to do this. It's important. Please? You don't even have to watch. Just close your eyes, count, and punch the button."

  "Tabby…"

  "Buzz? You are the only person in this world that I got close to loving. I need this from you. Listen," she took a deep breath, "the message inside that bottle was written in purple crayon and had a picture of me in a little polka-dot dress and a snipping of my hair. It said: If there is anybody out there who wants a little girl, please find me and take me home with you. I promise to be good. Here's my picture and a piece of my hair to help you know who I am. I signed it Tabby-Cat."

  "That's what I call you," his broken voice coughed out.

  "You didn't know it, but that's what my dad called me before the accident took him and the rest of the town. I know that you couldn't take me home with you, but you did give me a home in your heart," she said.