The Starry Bull's Midnight Run

Lily loved stars more than anything. Every night, she would sneak to her window with her dad's old **iphone**, using a stargazing app to name each twinkling light. Tonight, something magical happened.

As she pointed the phone at the constellation Taurus, the screen flickered with golden sparkles. Suddenly, a starry nose pressed against her window from the outside! A magnificent creature made of silver stardust and moonbeams — a **bull** with galaxy-swirl eyes and a constellation map on his flank.

"Come, Lily!" the Starry Bull whispered, his voice like wind chimes. "The stars are lonely tonight. Come running with me!"

Lily climbed onto his back, and they galloped through the night sky, **running** past planets and comets. The Starry Bull showed her the birthplace of stars, where clouds of cosmic dust turned into brilliant baby suns. They raced the Milky Way's river of light and danced with the aurora borealis.

"Why me?" Lily asked.

"Because you look up with wonder," the bull replied. "Many forget to dream at the stars. They look down at their screens instead." He nudged her gently. "Technology connects us to the world, but imagination connects us to the universe."

As dawn approached, the Starry Bull returned Lily to her room. "Keep looking up, little dreamer. The stars will always light your way."

Lily woke in her bed, the iphone beside her dark. But in her pocket glowed a small star — her secret friend's gift. Now every night, she looks at Taurus and winks. The constellation always twinkles back, reminding her that magic lives wherever imagination and wonder meet.

And sometimes, on especially starry nights, she still goes running through her dreams with her best friend the bull, painting new stories across the endless canvas of night.