Earth (a short story)

Earth

          It was speeding out of control. As she raced to get to the controls.... the ship caught fire. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She could no longer get to the controls to get the ship in the right direction so it wouldn't get hit as it spiraled through space. All hope was lost in recovering the broken ship. She raced to tell the others but found them all gone. Where could they have gone? She needed to find them to get everyone into pods to get out safely.

           BUZZ....BUZZ....BUZZ. The alarm started sounding letting her know that there was a breach in the ship. She rushed to find her friends to make sure they were nowhere near the breach, but she wasn't sure where it was either. She ran franticly looking into every room but with no luck. She got to the last door and rushed to grab the handle, but it wouldn't open. She tried and tried but it wouldn't budge; she stood back and saw that the light above the door was flashing red. That's where the breach must be... she looked through the window and saw no one. Her crew was lost in the vast infinity that space was. As tears clouded her eyes, she thought she saw movement. There was someone still in there to be saved! She ran to the supply room and grabbed as much rope as she could.

           She stared at the door once more and ran straight for it, giving it all of her force in hopes that it would open with the pressure. It took her three times before the door swung open and she flew through the room towards the hole in the side of the ship. She stopped herself from flying out by grabbing the edge of the hole. Looking down at the rope tied around her waist she felt calmer knowing she was still safe, in a way. She remembered the crew member she thought she had seen and started frantically looking for them. On the other side of the hole, she saw the fingers clenching on. She yelled for him to grab her hand so she could pull him back into the ship. But as he was inches from her hand his other hand lost its grip on the ship and he was violently pulled away from the ship, the vacuum of space taking his life.

          Tears filled her eyes as her last hope of saving someone vanished. Suddenly she also lost grip on the ship because of her moment of despair and she was pulled away. The rope was pulled taut as it ran out of length and she was stuck there. She began to climb the rope to get back to ship, wiping tears from her eyes as she went. Looking up at the rope before her she caught sight of the ship through her blurring vision. The whole thing was now set aflame... along with the rope, she was now climbing. Panic rushed across her face and she began pulling on the rope faster to get to the burning ship before the rope was burned completely. She finally got within reach of the edge and grabbed for it just in time for the rope burned out. Her fingers reached for the edge... but just brushed against it, not getting a grip to pull herself in. The vacuum of space pulled her into its welcoming jaws just as it did her other crew members. Her eyes drifted shut as all hope left her body.

         "Are you awake?"

          A figure stood above her. Blinded by the light coming from every direction, she needed a moment to figure out where she was. Looming above her was green giants towering into the sky, she's never seen such things in real life, only in books she read. Trees... that's what they were called. Her eyes fell to the ground. Her fingers were immersed in even more green, but it was different, they were tiny blades... grass. Above her she saw a face. A startled expression rested on the face of the... the... the human! She couldn't believe her mind. They were only myth... weren't they? Not being able to speak from shock the human spoke instead.

         "What's your name?"

         "...Ava."