Page 12 of Between Earth and Eternity
“You’re unbelievable,” I say, sniffling.
“Shut up. I’m giving a very moving speech here.”
I chuckle and wait for him to keep going.
“This is going to be the adventure of a lifetime, and I wish I could go with you, but you’ll just have to get everything ready for us on Eden until we get there.”
“Adventure” is putting it lightly, especially for someone who doesn’t have an ounce of adventurous spirit within her.
Elliot reaches down to grab my hat off the ground, patting it lightly to shake off the dust. He gently places it on my head as he says, “You got this, San Fran, and that is the truth.”
I nod, letting a couple more tears fall across my cheek, but I smile regardless.
“Ready to go back?” He would stay up here for hours if I needed him to, but I want to be brave. If I can’t do it for myself yet, then at least I can do it for him.
“Let’s go,” I say, looping my arm through his to begin our trek down the hill. We walk in silence, the soft moonlight our guide. I glance up at it, thinking how strange it is that I will soon be closer to the moon than the surface of Earth. I cling to Elliot, grateful for the sibling-like bond we share.
I don’t know if he’ll ever say it out loud, but the aching sadness I feel from him is undeniable.
El clears his throat as we near home. “I know it was probably the worst day ever, but for what it’s worth before the day is done . . . happy birthday, San Fran.”
It’s better to feel pain
Than nothing at all
The opposite of love is indifference
“Stubborn Love,” The Lumineers
The redness lining my mother’s eyes when I return home tells me enough about how she is handling the situation. Thankfully, everyone else has since left and Gran has retired to bed.
In three weeks, I will be collected by a Zenith crew member after receiving additional information in the coming days. Until then, I am to go about my days as normal. My parents don’t say much else, just a couple ofit will be okaysandI’m sorrysbefore I eventually tell them I’m tired. They don’t push me to talk about it, knowing I’m emotionally drained; all my feelings have flowed over the edge of my threshold, and now there is nothing left.
All I want to do is hide out in my room with one of my carefully crafted melancholy playlists and blare it as loudly as possible to drown out all my thoughts.
And that is exactly what I do for the rest of the weekend. I can’t even muster the strength or motivation to go for a run.
My parents check in on me of course, my mother dropping off food a few times a day, my father asking if I want to watch our favorite movies. Even Gran treks upstairs to my room to offer what she can. She just sits next to me, stroking my hair, not speaking a word. She is simply there. It is all I need.
It’s strange how each person comforts and seeks comfort differently and yet each form is needed in some way or another. It’s nice to sulk, that is until Monday comes around.
It’s been years since the sun has been up before me, but it’s not the rays peeking through the curtains that wake me. Elliot flops down next to me in the bed so hard that I’m airborne for a second.
“Do you mind?” I grumble, shielding my face with my pillow.
“It’s a beautiful day on Earth, San Fran. I didn’t want you to miss it.”
“In case you didn’t get the memo, the planet is dying. There is no such thing as a beautiful day,” I mumble.
“On Earth, maybe. But every morning on Eden is spectacular.”
“Oh really? And how would you know?”
“‘Eden is like Earth in its paradisiacal prime. It is a planet perfectly balanced, in the solar system known as . . .’”
I sit up abruptly and find him reading from his phone. He actually looked up facts. “Is that your tactic? Convince me to be excited about Eden so I stop freaking out?”
He doesn’t hesitate a single second. “Yes.”
