Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine

This story is by Kim Christensen and was part of our 2023 Fall Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.

This story begins in a galaxy far away, there once was a magical place
called, “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine.” The Kingdom used to be thriving and full of excitement and laughter. Now it’s just a place of gloom and despair. The Kingdom is the home to the most luminescent stars of the galaxy. Starla is the brightest, most radiant star in the galaxy. There is no one as beautiful. She captured the attention of all the Gods. Lately, Starla and rest of the stars had no reason to shine. All the gloominess put her and the rest of the stars in a depressive state. Will they ever be able to twinkle again?

This happened not so long ago. There was darkness surrounding them. An enormous, slithering black, billowing cloud like figure appeared. It had no face. What or whomever this thing was. it reeked. It had a foul odor spewing everywhere. They all started gagging because the stench was so powerful. Starla was the closest to him, it had to be his breath that smelled so pungent, but he was faceless.

The dark figure only spoke once to say, “have a nice life!”

The stars were cast out of the sky and were plunging downward. When they glanced up, the sky was full of these tiny, hideous, putrid, creatures. They were shooting fireballs towards them.

In another Kingdom in the galaxy lived a radiant, bright Goddess of the Sun, Solar was her name. Solar had heard all the talk about that rising star, Starla. She was so envious and jealous she could not think of anything else. It consumed her day and night.

But Solar’s brother the Moon was also very intrigued by Starla and her vibrance. This made Solar’s outrage even stronger. She was also jealous of her brother, Manny.

Because all the humans on Earth, when they gazed up at him, it was in awe, the light he projected was magnificent but not blinding. When they gazed up at Solar their faces were all twisted, eyes squinted, she despised the humans for this. Manny was sure that this is the reason the Kingdom of “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine” lacks sunlight.

Solar was still obsessed with Starla; she was not going to tolerate her anymore. She had to do something. Solar said, “I must find a way to take all the brilliance and brightness out of the stars, especially Starla.”

Solar had heard of the God of Darkness, but she had never met him. His name was Darrius, and he was very evil, but brilliant. Solar thought she might drop in for a little visit. Darrius would be the perfect one to aid her in this endeavor. The Kingdom “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine” will never see the sunlight again.
Solar went to see Darrius the God of Darkness. Wow! What was that foul odor? The stench was almost unbearable.

Solar yelled into his cave, “hello is anybody home? Next thing she saw was an enormous, black cloud like figure saying her name. Solar, “what do you want?” Solar yelled back. “I need your help with a project?” The stench grew stronger as he came closer. Solar said, “oh my is that your breath?” He did not say anything. He continued toward her, “you do not have to come any closer. I can hear you fine,” yelled Solar. He asked her why she thought he would help her? She was everything he hated, all bright and sunny. Solar told him that it he would be well compensated. He would enjoy it tremendously as he could make this little Kingdom of “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine” turn into total darkness. They discussed the plan and Darrius said he would start working on it right away. He had just the device that would get rid of those stars. Solar left his cave with an enormous smirk on her face. Solar couldn’t wait to see the expression on Starla’s face when she wouldn’t sparkle again. She thought, priceless.

Days went by, Darrius sent for Solar so he could go over the plan. When Solar walked in, she held her nose. She would never get use to that stench. Solar would not have to see him after this. Darrius said that he would put the plan into play right away. Darrius left for Mother Earth to set his plan into action.

At the present time, Starla and the stars needed help. Who? Could they get to help. The only one they could trust was Manny. They located Manny in all his brilliance. He was full tonight. Starla approached Manny and told him what happened, Manny told them he would help in anyway, He could not let this go. He knew just who he had to see.

Manny confronted Solar, “Did you do something to the stars of “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine?’ She denied any wrongdoing. He knew she was lying. She finally confessed that she had teamed up with Darrius the God of Darkness. Manny said. “You must end this jealousy of yours. It’s not very becoming on you.” Solar said that she was sorry. She would apologize to the stars of “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine.”

Manny set off to see Mother Earth to fix the situation that Solar and Darrius had created, when he got there, he explained to her what happened. He grabbed her and flung her upon his shoulders and spun her around with all his might, then gave her a little nudge so she would tilt. This way the stars did not have to wait twenty-four hours for the sun to shine on “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine.”

When the tilt of Earth is off, the sun cannot take an alternate path. Which results in sunrises and sunsets that are identical every day. The earth needs to rotate every twenty-four hours, otherwise some of the kingdoms will always be in the dark.

Manny went and told the stars that they would be back up in the sky soon, their Kingdom would never be dark again, All the stars were so ecstatic, they could not thank Manny enough. Starla was moonstruck, she did not want him to leave. He had to, but he wanted her to leave with him. Manny asked her to marry him, she told him that she would. Solar told Starla how sorry she was. She wished them both all the happiness.

The Kingdom of “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine,” changed their name to Sunrise. And to this day, this story is a reminder that even in the darkest times, there is always hope.