Reunited (500 Words, Day 4, 12/21/17, 3rd person, sci-fi, fiction)
The green sky, the blue ground, the purple sun – she had been there long enough for it to all become normal to a degree. Standing at the platform waiting for Evan to arrive, she put her mind back to how it had all seemed so impossible when she’d first arrived. Everything would be new and different and strange for Evan, and she was ready to experience it all again with him, finally.
She tapped her chest to check the time – two hundred beats until they landed. That was one hundred ninety-nine more than she wanted so she struck out to lap the platform. Moving was easier than standing there, letting the anxiety build up from her toes to her eyeballs. Every step she took pushed the emotional bubbles back down towards the earth. She had waited so long for today. Leaving for this world without Evan had almost broken her. In some ways it had broken her, and she’d spent the breathes between then and now repairing the damage. She was a different person now – stronger, more cautious, and smarter than she’d been when she boarded the ship that would bring her to this colorful land. They had been able to communicate with each other during their separation, and she’d done her best to be fully her in every message she’d sent. Would that be enough for them to pick up where they left off? Would Evan understand and respect the changes she’d gone through to get to today? Would he appreciate the sacrifices she’d made? Halfway around the platform, she touched her chest again – eighty-five beats to go.
There was nothing to be done now beyond welcoming him when he landed and seeing what happened next. She wasn’t going to change herself in the few beats left before they saw each other, and she didn’t want to. She liked who she’d become on this journey and wanted to continue moving forward with Evan. He was, weather he understood it or not, why she’d done what she’d done. He was her reason for all of it. Leaving, surviving, waiting for today – Evan was why. Other reasons and benefits had presented themselves along the way as they are want to do when growing is happening. Nothing replaced Evan in her mind or heart, and she was so close to having him here with her. Her why was about to become tangible again.
The ship appeared as she rounded the final corner of the platform and the sight of it froze her in her tracks. As the front of the ship dissolved to reveal the passengers she felt her anxiety bubble over, leaving her brow and armpits damp with sweat. After all the waiting and distance, Evan was somewhere in that mass of people waiting to exit onto the platform. Some had people waiting for them, others were the pioneers having left their people behind to start fresh here. All those people were about to experience this world of hers for the first time. Pictures and stories were about to become very real for the travelers. She strained to pick him out of the crowd as the passengers started moving out onto the platform.
She didn’t have any more steps in her – Evan would have to come to her.
* All 500Words are fiction. Any resemblance to people or events is strictly coincidental. *
I really like all of these but this is the one that has me the most curious.