Goodbye Earth Page Eleven

Goodbye Earth
Page Eleven

December 17, 2012


I suddenly woke up to find myself plastered to a seat with such great force I felt I could not breathe. Where was my bed? Where was I? Then I remembered, and tried not to panic. My head hurt so badly, I felt as though an elephant was lying on me. Those were the longest three minutes I have ever experienced. After two minutes of pain, I was able to get slightly comfortable and relax. I do not know how they did it, but suddenly the rocket straightened out into a horizontal position and stalled. A girl barfed behind me. I suddenly felt very hungry, yet was so nervous, I did not want to eat. A man walked along the lanes of seats and then headed back to the front of everyone.

“Is everyone alright? Good. Unfasten your seatbelts and walk to the front of the rocket. From there you will grab a space suit off a hook. Once you have put on your space suit, carefully hang onto the rope outside the rocket and walk yourself by the hands to the clear plastic tube. Walk through the tube and into the doors beyond it. Follow these instructions carefully!” he said in a clear, bossy tone.

I got out of my seat and collapsed. My legs were so weak that I could barely do anything with them. Someone grabbed my hand and helped me up.

“You okay?” asked the girl with the bird.

“Yeah, I’m just really weak!” I replied. We walked together to get on our space suits. I looked at the tags to find one with my weight and pulled it on. I feared I would not be able to walk like this. I was simply so weak, and with the added weight, I knew I would surely fall. Nevertheless, once I stepped out into the empty vacuum of space, I was light as air. I easily pulled myself across the rope, and swung into the bridge. I walked through the doors and was surprised to find myself in a place a lot like a hotel lobby. It was shiny and clean, and the windows looked deceptively normal.

A woman walked up to me and said, “You may remove your space suit now. There is air in here!”

I pulled off the space suit, and felt cool air rushing through my lungs. I sat down comfortably on a large sofa, and noticed a large flat screen television. I looked at the woman.

“Do we have live television from Earth here?” I asked. The woman turned around and grinned at me.

“Yes, in fact we do! A television satellite used for Earth happens to transmit here! It’s simply wonderful that we can see what’s going on back home while we are so far away!” the woman joyously said. “But of course there won’t be any more TV because everyone will die,” she sighed.

“Do you have family back home?” I asked.

“Yes, and they were happy to see me go. They don’t believe in this stuff,” she murmured. I smiled.

“My dad is like that,” I said, “Where is the restroom?”

“Oh, it’s down that hall, you’ll see a sign that says ladies,” answered the woman.

I nodded and walked through the hall to the rest room. As I sat on the toilet, I recalled how I would never use that glorious old bathroom of mine ever again. I sighed loudly and tried to be happy, but it just could not happen. Being joyful at a time like that was perfidy! I sat up, wiped myself, and left the bathroom, ready to check out the rest of the space station. I mean, I have to amuse myself! It is not as if I have to be a martyr! No, I did not have to be a martyr but I still felt bad about everything. No reason to feel bad now, I thought. Anyway, maybe I should feel excited for my family and friend. All the people in my group were in the dock by then and I went over to the bird girl.