Hall Of Adventures

WINNER - Five Year Since

Hestia
By: darkside_cookies

The Hestia Space Program ends on August 12th, when Hestia 8 breaches through the atmosphere and lands on the designated platform. From its belly, five astronauts emerge, drenched in the yellow, summer light. One of them staggers, pushing away the group of people gathered on the platform, to kneel on the nearest patch of grass, putting her hands on the ground and then kissing it repeatedly. Home. She's finally home. The moment is immortalized in photos that will soon travel across the world but the woman doesn't care. She keeps kissing the hard soil. When the medical team tries to help her up, she pushes them away. One of the other astronauts joins her on the ground, wraps an arm around her and kisses her hair. Indeed, they're home. It's been 5 years.

-

The name of the astronaut is Sadie Peterson and she's one of the five survivors of the Hestia 8 mission. Her sister, Lori, waits for her in a white, cold waiting room, turning the pages of a fashion magazine, her nails bitten down and bleeding. The woman at the desk looks at her sadly, averting her gaze every time Lori tries to catch her eye. Please talk to me, she thinks hopelessly, but she doesn't say anything. Soon, the door opens and the tired form of her sister makes its way towards her. The woman at the desk looks at them as Lori stands up and embraces Sadie. They do this silently but both of them tremble; together since the womb, this is the longest they have been apart.

Lori weeps as she presses her palms to Sadie's cheeks. Her face, her familiar face, changed through time, hardened. When they were little, it was impossible to tell them apart, their same dark skin, their black eyes, their curly hair. Identical. Not anymore. As she looks at Sadie she can already tell; they're different now. Too different. So many things happened to Sadie up there, she'll never be the same.

"Lori," she says, and her voice sounds familiar. Small mercies. "Let's get out of here".

"Yeah", says Lori and embraces her again. "Yeah".

-

When they get home, the house is empty. Lori turns on the light and the living room comes to life in all its messy glory. There are clothes tossed to the ground, empty bottles gathered on the couch, crumbled papers and rubbish everywhere. Sadie stills. She's not the only one who changed after all.

"Mark isn't home?" she asks finally because she doesn't know what else to say.

"We broke up," answers Lori as she moves to the kitchen and gets them both a cup of water.

"Ah". Sadie drinks the water, then she gingerly puts her bag on the ground. She turns around, checks the corridor a last time- no one's there - and closes the door, locks thrice. Before Lori can stop her, she walks to the other side of the room and, through the curtains, peeks at the road; no one's out there either. She does the same for the rest of the windows and then returns to her bag.

"Why did you do that?" Asks Lori, still sipping her glass. "You were like that in the car too. Nobody's following you".

"You don't know that," Sadie bites back. "I - " her hand rests on the bag, next to the zipper, she plays a little bit with it, looking at Lori, then back at the bag. She knows she can trust her with this, but.... But. She exhales. No. This is her sister, she's not going to betray her, she knows this.

"I need to show you something," she says slowly.

Lori opens her mouth, then closes it. She nods. Sadie opens the zipper. Very slowly, she puts her hands inside the bag and takes out the little creature. He's scared, she can tell by the way he has his head between his front legs, trembling. He's as small as her palm. That's how she managed to get him through security. His body is gooey, cold to the touch and a vivid green color, unearthly. Sadie cradles him close to her chest and looks back at her sister who has her mouth a little open, looking puzzled.