The Boy Who Sang About the Stars

Chapter 15

The blackness had begun to recede like static on a television when my senses came back to me. There was a violent shaking, but nothing like the jarring I had experienced before I passed out, and there was a sound like muffled screaming coming from somewhere in the distance. It was like being suspended under water in a way. Over time I slowly began to swim back up to the surface and I realized that the screaming wasn't distant at all, in fact it was incredibly close. My eyelids fluttered open and once my eyes focused I could see Clara's face in front of mine screaming my name over and over as she shook my shoulders attempting to get me to wake up.

"You're alive!" she yelled letting a look of relief spread across her face.

I let out a small groan and lifted my hand up to my temple that was throbbing with pain. When I brought my hand back and held it in front of my face it was covered in the bright crimson of blood. I let my hand drop down to my side and looked back up at Clara who was silent but staring intently down at me. My gaze shifted from her to the area behind her to survey the damage that had happened when I realized I was laying on the floor of the back of the ship.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well we we.re crashing because youre weak and couldnt get the stupid cooling system to turn on, so we came back here because it was safer than the cockpit and when we finally crashed a chunk from the controls hit your head and you passed out. I unstrapped you from the chair and dragged you to the floor becuase you we.re in a really funny position that looked painful to wake up in. By the way you're really heavy"

I sat up slowly and brought my hands up to my head that was still throbbing with pain. "Thanks" I muttered before closing my eyes and trying to will the pain to stop. Claras hand wrapped around my wrist and she pulled my left hand away from my head. I opened my eyes too look at her as she took a first aid kit from beside her and searched through its contents until she found what she was looking for. She pulled a pad of gauze out and doused it with some liquid from a bottle and brought it up to my bleeding temple. I let out a hiss of pain as whatever medicine Clara was using sizzled against my wound.

"You're a wuss, you know that?" Clara asked as she pulled the pad away from my head. The gauze was drenched with blood and she threw it aside onto a small pile of debris from the crash. She picked up the kit again and picked up a small tube and squeezed a foul smelling cream onto her fingers. "This stuff should make you stop bleeding" she said as she smeared the cream across my temple. The cream didn't sting as much as whatever had come before did but it was icy cold and still unpleasant.

"Thanks" I said tilting my head away from her hand once I felt she had rubbed enough medicine into it. "How long was I out?"

"I dunno...like 10 minutes?"

I nodded. "So I guess we should get going, right?"

"Yeah we should" Clara replied. She walked up to the area where the cockpit used to be (but was now a smashed heap of metal and glass) and picked up the crumpled space suit she had picked out for me earlier. She came back over and threw the suit down into my lap as she walked over to a small door in the wall and opened it up pulling out a smaller suit along with two pairs of boots and large glass bowls.

"How do I put this on?" I asked turning the suit over in my hands.

"Over your clothes." I looked over at Clara and saw her putting on her own suit. She unzipped the back and pulled it on over her military uniform and then sat back down onto the floor to put on her boots. I looked around for a zipper on my suit and pulled it down when I found it at last to create an opening I could use to put it on. Before I stood up I slipped my Tigers off my feet and placed them on the floor. I would probably never see them again since I was leaving them here on the ship but in a way I was okay with that. The soles had begun wearing thin from all the running I had done recently and feeling the ground through the thin rubber was becoming unpleasant.