I am tired. It is night.

My father tucks me away for bed. He says he doesn't feel like telling me stories today.
He pulls up the blanket to my chest and blows me a kiss and closes the door.

It's a cool night and it is dark. It may be almost midnight.

The sky is clear. I see lots of stars, appearing one by one. It's so beautiful. I feel at peace.

I think tonight, I'm not going to have nightmares anymore. I think I can finally dream.

But I can't fall asleep yet. So I close my eyes and wait.
And Dad didn't tell me stories. He says I can try to make up my own stories.

I open my eyes and look at them. They're really pretty. There's so many.
I don't think I can count all of them. I can only count till ten.

I always wonder about the sky, especially at night.
Dad says there are planets out there, but I can't see them.

I really want to see them. Perhaps I can be an astronaut.
They go to the moon and into space. That sounds really cool.

If they go to space, I wonder if they get scared or lonely
because it's dark. I'm only a bit scared of the dark.
Dad said, "That's great."

I wish I was a spaceship, so that I can travel to all the planets.
I can plant some grass on them so that they'll look pretty.
I want to leave some messages there for aliens. My classmates think aliens are scary, but that's not true.
I like them.

If I could give them a message, it would say:
Dear friendly aliens,

I like you because you are like a friend. I don't know you but I think because you are nice,
you are my friend. I want to see how you look like. Maybe you can take a picture for me.
My friends are scared of you and think you are ugly. They are wrong. You must be pretty.
You are from the universe.

Come and visit me sometime. I feel a bit bored at night. Tell me stories so I can sleep well.

Thank you very much.

Love,
Htet Hyin Aei Dary

I am still looking at the stars, imagining. What if an alien came to my bedroom? We would talk a lot.
I'd ask him a lot of questions and give him a drawing I did of the moon.

I wish I was an astronaut. I want to explore other planets so much. I am just so curious.

My eyelids are getting a little bit droopy. I wonder how being a star would feel like. They are so far away.

Dad says that some of them are dead but I can still see them because their light takes a long time to reach us.

I hope it isn't long until I become an astronaut.

I fall asleep.