The Sky Lighthouse

Chapter I: The Gyroscope

The bell chimed softly as Jean pushed open the door to her favorite café, a quaint little spot tucked away on a quiet street corner. The scent of freshly brewed coffee enveloped her as she stepped inside, the familiar warmth of the café wrapped around her as a familiar comforting embrace.

With a sense of anticipation fluttering in her chest, Jean made her way to a small table near the window, her heart pounding with excitement. She had just received the news that she was granted the scholarship: For her four years of medical education until residency.

Taking a deep breath, Jean reached into her bag and pulled out her favorite journal – a worn leather-bound book. Flipping to a blank page, she began to write, pouring her heart onto the paper with every stroke of her pen.

In the quiet solitude of the café, Jean found solace in her thoughts, allowing herself to savor the moment and reflect on the journey that had brought her here. She thought back to the countless hours spent studying in the library, the late nights of cramming for exams, and the moments of doubt and uncertainty that had threatened to derail her along the way.

Jean couldn’t wait to tell her mom.

As she took a sip of her coffee, savoring the rich, bittersweet flavor on her tongue, she realized that her watch had been broken that morning.

Checking her phone, she jolted straight up and yelled Crickets! so loudly that everyone in the cafe looked to her direction.

Now she had to run a fifteen-minute walk back to her next class, which would start in 3 minutes.

When she finally arrived, the fluorescent lights of the university corridor flickered overhead as Jean hurried through the bustling halls of the university and could feel the exhaustion creeping into her bones.

Just as she reached the door to her Physiology class, her phone rang, breaking the monotony of the corridor sounds. With a sigh, Emily fumbled to answer it, her heart sinking at the thought of yet another urgent message from the university.

To her surprise, however, it was not her academic advisor on the line, but her mother's cheerful voice that greeted her.

"Hi, sweetheart!" her mother exclaimed, her tone filled with excitement. "I have some news for you!"

Jean couldn't help but smile at the sound of her mother's voice, a welcome reprieve from the stress of her studies.

"What's up, Mom?" she asked, curiosity piqued.

"Well, your father and I have been thinking," her mother began, her words tumbling out in a rush of excitement. "We've been meaning to tell you this for a long time now, and I think we really need this."

"Go on, mom." Jean said anticipation.

"We've decided to take a vacation to the countryside after your finals, and we'd love for you to join us! We'll talk about it soon when you come home this weekend."

"Oh, Mom,” she spoke. Her next week's word still needed to be unwrapped like Christmas gifts in the Broca’s area of her brain. “I-I…I got to go! I’ll call you back again, bye love you!"

Jean's heart skipped a beat at the unexpected invitation.

A vacation? She whispered to herself.

Her heart sunk.

She wasn’t delighted to hear that at all.

Jean held the line in silence as the back of her throat ran dry. She had so many plans this summer, too many! Of course, she hadn’t told her mother yet, but the final exam week wasn’t due until the next two weeks and she thought that some extra time was going to be okay.

She thought she could just drop the bomb on them after the exam, but now that everything was caught up, she had to tell them everything.

Jean stopped where she stood. Catching her breath. She was fifteen minutes late for her next class and Dr. Pontinus wasn’t exactly a part of the conglomerate of the kind-hearted-understanding-professors league.

She could remember the words of her mother last summer, speaking at the back of her mind.

It had almost been a year.

“Jean, sweetheart, I know how hard you've been working to finish school," Anne said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I also want you to know that it's okay to take a step back and prioritize what's truly important."

She was the reason why she went into medical school.

She was the reason why she wanted to be an oncologist someday.

Now, every day seemed like a battle, working as hard as she can, though she also couldn't shake the guilt that gnawed at her conscience, the fear of falling behind in her studies looming like a dark cloud overhead.

It would still be long since she would finish medicine and finally become a doctor. Practice the field that she sees herself in.

But as the days go by, her thoughts are consumed by a different kind of countdown – the ticking clock of her mother's illness.

She went into class. The last topic they’ll ever have in the subject as the culmination of her first year. She decided to focus, and hoping one day, she'd make the right decision.

.…

Just after school, she paced her footsteps in the hallways slower than a walk.

Her phone call with her mother still wrapped around her head.

She has a seminar and an advanced course that will boost her studies planned throughout the entire summer. If she could do something and become a doctor faster, she would not waste a single breath to do it, and all these things had kind of been planned out for her. Her scholarship, her grant, the opportunities that wait for her.

But it wasn’t like it was the only thing she wanted to do!

She was looking forward to spending some of her free days with her mom, taking her out on Sundays for a walk and maybe getting some ice cream on slower days. But it was different when they were really going somewhere far.

She hadn’t gotten all the details, but even then it dreaded her.

A full-length vacation. She thought.

"Hey!" A voice from behind her materialized.

"You seemed spaced out the whole afternoon. What's up?"

It was Jean's senior, Hani Corvuz, and her childhood best friend. She was clutching an armful of books, steadily trying to balance them as some pieces of paper started to slip out, her feet dancing and jumping around as if she couldn't stand being in one place for more than a few seconds..

"Here let me get that for you." Jean offered a hand.

"Thanks. Patient Files. Care to tell me about all this?"

"My family's planning to go to the countryside this summer." Jean, said.

"Sounds like fun! But didn't you have that conversation with Dr. Müller at the hospital? About that summer course?" Hani

"Yeah..."

"Oh... Wait, doesn't your mom know about this?" Hani asked, confused.

Jean turned her eyes away and smirked. "Not yet... hehehe."

"But... She'll support it, of course?" Hani said.

"Without a single doubt. But the thing is that — well, screw it, you knew what happened last year." Her voice faltered

"I don't think I'd want something like that to happen again. I also can't convince them not to go — or at least I'll try to because I haven't yet." Jean continued to speak, her tone was down.

"It's either this or that, huh." Hani's cheerful but hectic tone.

"You know what, let's pray for it." She smiled, holding Jean's hand and smiling ear to ear.

"I'm not sure if another opportunity will come again." She frowned.

"Why don't you get some time alone in the library? It's always been your favorite place to think when things bother you. You weirdo." Hani smiled.

"Shut up! I like it there. It's cold and quiet there."

"Whatever, gotta hand these out to Dr. Schulla! See you when I see you, Jeanieboo!"

Jean shook her head and smiled as Hani's figure disappeared far into the hallways..

As she walked down the university corridor, her footsteps echoing against the polished floors, she stopped abruptly when a colorful light seeped from a room adjacent to the library.

Curiosity piqued as she paused in the doorway, her eyes widening in fascination as she took in the intricate contraption on the table – a gyroscope.

The corridor just before the library was the Astronomy Laboratory.

The gyroscope spun gracefully on its axis, its movements fluid and mesmerizing. Jean watched in awe as it seemed to defy gravity, maintaining its balance with effortless precision. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, a testament to the wonders of science and technology. It was sparkling, and as if her imagination was playing tricks on her, light seemed to bend around the figure.

"Haven't seen a gyroscope do something like that." She muttered to herself.

Impulsively, she went inside the laboratory and approached the contraption. The wonder and majesty of the stars and planets filled every nook and cranny of the room. Rows of ornate telescopes stood sentinel, their lenses gleaming with the promise of unlocking the secrets of the cosmos. Papers upon papers stacked and filled with swirling galaxies hovered above intricate apparatuses, casting reflections of light that danced across the room like shooting stars.

The gyroscope continued to spin. Faster and faster with each moment that passed.

She was in deep awe staring at it.

Jean held out her finger, slowly, reaching for the Axis of the machine.

And in the blink of an eye. Everything around her dissolved into darkness.