I can remember a time before they came, when we could walk down the street free of the stars, before our neighbors, friends, and family started disappearing, and before Papa was taken from the grocery store down the street. I can still remember how Mama cried the night he didn't come home. It wasn't long after that when Mama found places for us to hide. We each went to different locations, unknown to each other; Mama said it would be safer not to know. So they went away from the city, and I stayed.

As I glanced around at the others, I felt a sense of restlessness. I could tell they all felt it too, the way their positions changed every few minutes and their hushed whispers grew to loud bantering. Their conversations hinted at their desire. "When I leave this place I am going to sing at the top of my lungs," announced the girl to my right. "One of these days I am going to eat and eat and eat, and won't care about stupid ration cards," said Daniel as he waved his hands into his face miming the act of stuffing one's self. "Why can we not do these things now?" I questioned. We were all more than ready to leave, to sing as loud as we could, to eat as much as we wanted, and to see the night sky again. They each turned to me with eager and far-off eyes, dreaming of their hopes after this attic. Cato was the first to be pulled back to the reality of the matter. "You know perfectly well why. The second you leave this place you'll be shipped off to some camp." She tried to reason, but it did no good. I had already made up my mind. I wanted to see the sky again, to smell fresh air, and by the longing looks on the others' faces, I was sure they felt the same. The need to see the outside world outweighed the need to stay hidden. I nodded knowingly, and with shaky legs, I crawled over the others and began my descent into the home. "Don't do this. You'll get yourself killed." I ignored Cato's pleading. There was no hope of stuffing me back into that space again. "You'll kill us all!" she exclaimed. Wincing, I turned my head up to the opening. "No she won't." Daniel was just as ready as me to leave, and if I was going, there was no way he was staying behind. I watched from the main floor of the house as a figure emerged from the crawl space, then two, three, four, and eventually all but two of us were free from the attic. We slowly moved toward the door but stopped there. Each of us was too afraid, fear paralyzing us. What if they knew we were here, and they were waiting for us?

Full of worry, I watched as Daniel grasped the door handle and turned. As he stepped through, each of us held our breath preparing for the worst, and when the worst didn't come, we began to advance toward the door. After each of my companions had stepped through the doorway, I slowly exhaled and crept to the exit, stealing one last glance at the attic, its boards now back in place hiding the two remaining stowaways. As I left the house, a gust of chill night's air hit my face. The air was fresh and cool, and the city quiet as if we were the only ones there. As I moved down the cobblestones, the trees shifted with the breeze, blowing the autumn leaves to the ground. Craning my neck up to watch the leaves spiral downward, I noticed the stars, beating the cityscape in a rhythmic blue, and there they stood not on our clothes, but in the sky where they belonged.