Hollow Moons

Dawn

Year 2037

A gentle breeze glided over the Earth, inviting pink leaves and pale grass blades to dance along the sky with it. The enthusiastic wind proceeded across the greedy banks of sand, the small crystal rocks pushing up against the grass in an effort to overtake it, now drifted away in a flurry of overexcited oxygen. Dekkai admired the freedom of the wind and how it seemed to sweep everything into a commotion of energy with it. She cared much less for its lack of commitment.

That's probably more of a personal issue, she thought with a sigh, pushing a hand through her tangle of pink hair.

She glanced over at the tattered notebook beside her, an obnoxious, fluorescent yellow bookmark poking out from a moth-nibbled page. She had planned to paint over it with a nice shade of royal blue but never got around to it, and she'd never admit the anomaly of it had somewhat grown on her. Nearby, a blue pen lay a few centimeters away. This was the rare sighting of Dekkai at a loss of words to write. The pink haired girl turned away from the notebook, eyes glistening, and turned her attention to the broken remains of a ship, a rocket ship. Shards of faded metal and flaking paint extended from it, and Dekkai was surprised that the ship was only subjected to three minor coats of vandalism.

And it's not even my finest work.

What lay inside the rocket ship was far more fascinating, not that any human was insane enough to pass the miles of yellow and black "do not enter" tape and the endless news reports of "radiation", "poison" and "instant death" the rusting metal apparently gave out. Inside held some tattered technology that was out of this world – literally. Abandoned technology from a different planet. Dekkai despised the other planets treatments of Earth, throwing unwanted garbage into open space, allowing it to fall towards Earth in the form of "meteoroids" or "asteroids". Not that humans cared about it too much, they admired the falling trash with their large, glorified magnifying glasses. Despite this, the expulsion of rubbish onto other planets was very controversial in her hometown.

They've destroyed their planet enough as it is!

Exactly! The planet is already dying! Why not store our supplies there?

Supplies? You mean garbage! Life still exists there!

Well give it another thirty years and it won't!

The technology itself resembled crystal or glass embedded in thick metal, and although cracked and worn down, the equipment still glowed a faint blue in the night. Dekkai often wondered if it could ever be fixed and used again. The wind twirled around her feet, and with it, the untamed breeze swept up the loose pages of the old notebook.

"No!" Dekkai shouted furiously, leaping to her feet in a whirlwind of flailing arms and legs. She grabbed fruitlessly at the air, the paper just missing her fingertips. As if to add to the chaos, the wind pushed the notebook open, shedding more of its pages into the sky. Dekkai gritted her teeth and she slammed her hands against the book. With a huff of pride, she tucked the notebook beneath her arm and glared up at the sky.

"I know that I left my planet, I know what I lost. You don't need to keep reminding me!"

Dekkai knew logically that screaming at the sky wouldn't fix anything, but emotionally she felt an improvement. The wind suddenly stopped, dropping the pages in a muddled trail towards the old rocket ship. The pink haired girl knew better than to pride herself on the false thought that the wind had actually listened to her, but she couldn't help smile smugly at herself as she picked up the loose pages and shoved them back into her journal. Dekkai picked up the pace, leaving no time to read the pages and reminisce. The chaotic breeze was still out there.

No time to read these now, just gather. I don't have time for this

Technically you do have the time, I mean if you have time to sit in an empty field feeling sorry for yourself, you have time to read.

Shut up, Dekkai.

She fell into a routine of picking up pages and putting them away. However a certain page caught her eye and she couldn't resist looking at it. It was written in pink, cursive writing, covered in sketches of cacti and little alien creatures.

Dear Dekkai,

"I don't have time for this," she repeated again quietly, smoothing out the paper in her hands and beginning to read.

Dear Dekkai,

I know you think writing letters is stupid but no matter how many times you tell me "back in my planet we have technology to send emails through our minds", I will still write to you like this. I feel like it humbles me, reminds me that I'm still human no matter what planet I'm in, you know? Okay, enough rambling, I'm writing this because I want to make sure you got my last parcel. The old journal. I've loved writing in it, drawing, studying, but it's time to give it to you. Look after it until I return, be waiting for me!

P.S I know you think it's silly that I write "Dear Dekkai" but I'll keep doing that too! Haha >:)!!

PP.S I miss you

"Juniper," she mumbled before folding the page and sliding it into her pocket. Dekkai glanced up at the bright blue sky, imagining she could see space through the atmospheres deceitful blue light molecules.

I don't have time for this.

Dekkai continued picking up notes and letters, passing more and more pieces of broken metal, drawing closer to the old rocket ship.

"You know, if I'm not careful," Dekkai thought aloud, "I'll probably," THUNK

The sound of skull colliding with metal echoed through soundwaves, reminding Dekkai with a dull ache of how unobservant she was.

"Ugh, shut up!" She snapped at her own pain, dropping the journal and rubbing the forming bruise on her head.

A soft glow burned through the corner of her half closed eyes, and she turned to see a growing light peeking out from the old rocket ship. Dekkai hesitated for a heartbeat before pursuing the source of the light, forgetting about her bruised head and the notebook in the rush of curiosity. Dekkai approached the entrance to the ship, entrance meaning giant hole to where the door was ripped off and shattered during the landing process, to find the crystal technology. It was glowing a bright cyan, almost turquoise, light.

Is it getting...brighter?

Dekkai walked closer towards the crystal, stretching her arm forward as if to touch the jagged surface. Suddenly the light flashed a bright, hot white. Electricity buzzed across the crystal's surface, spilling sparks of white in every direction. Dekkai felt her body freeze in place, her eyes squinting against the light and her arm still stretched out towards the crystal. Panic rose in her chest and she tried desperately to fight for control over her body. She tried to punch and kick, thrusting her elbows into invisible enemies and clawing at the air. Tried. But nothing happened. Instead her muscles seized and her skin tightened around her weakening bones, trapping her into a stationary state. Abruptly, the light stopped, soaking up the spilt light and buzzing electricity in the blink of an eye. Dekkai immediately collapsed to the ground, drained of all energy. She tried yelling but her tongue was too heavy to move. She tried moving but she hadn't the energy to even shiver. She tried glancing up at the crystal. And she did. Dekkai almost thought she saw a shadow shoot through it.

And then it exploded.

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Sorry the story is going along so slowly, but thanks so much for reading!! It will get a lot better and cuter, I promise! Thanks for sticking through the boring chapter!