Short story, features dark spacial themes
Jonathan's DriftCouple things before the story its been a LONG time since I've done short stories and I have never submitted one -_-' I loved the practice though!
Also I was debating lining this but I really wanted it to be lineless I hope it's at least good enough :3
How many times?
How many times was it?
How many times has it been now?
Questions started to fade as the inky blank dark consumed me. It was intoxicating, and I drank deeply. I was aware of only the dark, and an empty hollow thrum. A sound that was foreign and familiar all at once. Where was I? Who was I? All distant questions that bore little relevance to me. I felt weightless, floating; it was the most peaceful I had felt in? How long? What is time anyway? It didn’t matter, not anymore; after all this is true tranquility.
I settled back for the ride, no idea where I was going and not really caring when I arrived. I would get there when I got there. Just as I started to drift off into my own personal oblivion, I became aware of a new sound. A low, repetitive, reassuring beep. Thinking about the beep made my head swim, and ache. So I stopped, it sounded like a good beep after all, steady like a heartbeat. Stable, tranquil, just like the darkness I continued to drift through. Alas, if only this black breadth could be awashed in twinkling stars.
Stars; a feeling welled up deep inside me. What are stars? This word holds so much meaning to me and I can’t seem to recall… Why? The questions started to bubble from deep within me.
Who am I?
What am I?
I can feel and hear?
The beeping picked up speed and alarm, reminding me to calm down again. I deepened my breathing, and the beeps relaxed with me. What is going on? What happened? Where am I? The questions popped like bubbles in my brain. The only answer I could give was: I don’t know. All I know is the dark, the hum, the beep, and this weightless void. Is this what death is? I felt content with that thought, maybe this was the perspective of a life long since lived. If that was the case though, Why can’t I remember who I am? Shouldn’t I have memories to look back over? Or maybe I’m in limbo, waiting to be born into the world! The world, the world? What is the world? What does it look like now? Now? Did I leave? If I’m dead I would remember the sights and sounds, but if I have yet to be born I would know nothing. So how do I know only halves?
The throbbing ache returns as my thoughts spin. I drown in them until slumber catches me, crunching theories and untangling knots in my ideas as I drift. I rouse from my sleep to more darkness, but the beeping is insufferable. This is not the same beep as before, this beep is loud and abrasive. Warning of some impending doom, I strain my eyes but see nothing. Are they even open? Can I open my eyes? I try to move, nothing responds, I feel locked in place. I begin to panic, the two beeps singing a new and perilous song.
The feeling starts at my right shoulder, like pulling at a piece of putty. It moves to my upper body and head, stretching me. I begin to feel breathless, like all of the oxygen has been ripped from my lungs. Finally my eyelids pull away from my eyes and I see a tube of darkness ahead of me. It all comes flooding back, my name, my job, my family back home, hoping and praying I would make it back to them to share stories of my adventures. The stretching continues into my legs and finally my feet. I felt like I was seven galaxies long. Hurtling through space at the speed of light. I can see stars at the end of the tube now, I see the station! Floating past empty space, I can see. Me leaving the station, going to a satellite I’m, I’m, no I’m undoing the wrong bolt. The scaffolding holding the satellite gives free, knocking me unconscious as it does. I watch as my crewmates struggle to get my tether loosed from the bent metal. They don’t yet realize the tether has been severed, I’m already in free drift.
As my body floats toward my thinly stretched consciousness, I wonder to myself how many times had I already hurtled through this tear? Would I ever get free?
How many times?
Medical Incident Report
Injured name: Jonothan R. Gilbert
DOB: 06/25/2218
Crew #: 8992z4
Status: Presumed dead
Injury: Blunt force trauma to the head.
Incident summary: Crewmember Jon, number 8992z4 attempted to disengage security alert for sector 7B. An error occurred and the satellite came loose knocking Jon unconscious but stable. Attempts at recovery were in vain as his tether was severed in the scaffolding elbow. I monitored Jonothans vitals as he drifted away from the station. All signs stayed relatively stable with various waking and resting cycles. His pulse stayed relatively calm up until the very end. I kept an eye on him through our optical systems as we were adrift in separate directions. About three days into his drift he became obscured, a dark matter engulfed him. His vitals went absolutely haywire going from alive to dead in the matter of a few seconds. It lasted about a minute before his crew monitor went silent all together. When pressed for more information, the monitor could not reach the crewmember’s signal. I continued to look for signs of the dark matter moving or no longer obscuring him but I saw nothing. Though every once in a while at odd intervals his crew monitor would flash on. Every time it flashes his vitals are always stable and in rest. Other crew members say that if they are looking in that direction every once in a while they can see a dark figure in the distance but as soon as they go to look closer it disappears. I turned his monitor off as it started to negatively impact other crew members aboard the station.
Notes: On a personal side, I hope the monitors are true Jon. I hope you are in a state of eternal rest. You always did love the idea of drifting into space, I just hope it was how you dreamed it would be.
Medical Advisor: Amelia E. Harris
Medical Advisor crew #: 7942r4Jan 18, 2022
Also I was debating lining this but I really wanted it to be lineless I hope it's at least good enough :3
How many times?
How many times was it?
How many times has it been now?
Questions started to fade as the inky blank dark consumed me. It was intoxicating, and I drank deeply. I was aware of only the dark, and an empty hollow thrum. A sound that was foreign and familiar all at once. Where was I? Who was I? All distant questions that bore little relevance to me. I felt weightless, floating; it was the most peaceful I had felt in? How long? What is time anyway? It didn’t matter, not anymore; after all this is true tranquility.
I settled back for the ride, no idea where I was going and not really caring when I arrived. I would get there when I got there. Just as I started to drift off into my own personal oblivion, I became aware of a new sound. A low, repetitive, reassuring beep. Thinking about the beep made my head swim, and ache. So I stopped, it sounded like a good beep after all, steady like a heartbeat. Stable, tranquil, just like the darkness I continued to drift through. Alas, if only this black breadth could be awashed in twinkling stars.
Stars; a feeling welled up deep inside me. What are stars? This word holds so much meaning to me and I can’t seem to recall… Why? The questions started to bubble from deep within me.
Who am I?
What am I?
I can feel and hear?
The beeping picked up speed and alarm, reminding me to calm down again. I deepened my breathing, and the beeps relaxed with me. What is going on? What happened? Where am I? The questions popped like bubbles in my brain. The only answer I could give was: I don’t know. All I know is the dark, the hum, the beep, and this weightless void. Is this what death is? I felt content with that thought, maybe this was the perspective of a life long since lived. If that was the case though, Why can’t I remember who I am? Shouldn’t I have memories to look back over? Or maybe I’m in limbo, waiting to be born into the world! The world, the world? What is the world? What does it look like now? Now? Did I leave? If I’m dead I would remember the sights and sounds, but if I have yet to be born I would know nothing. So how do I know only halves?
The throbbing ache returns as my thoughts spin. I drown in them until slumber catches me, crunching theories and untangling knots in my ideas as I drift. I rouse from my sleep to more darkness, but the beeping is insufferable. This is not the same beep as before, this beep is loud and abrasive. Warning of some impending doom, I strain my eyes but see nothing. Are they even open? Can I open my eyes? I try to move, nothing responds, I feel locked in place. I begin to panic, the two beeps singing a new and perilous song.
The feeling starts at my right shoulder, like pulling at a piece of putty. It moves to my upper body and head, stretching me. I begin to feel breathless, like all of the oxygen has been ripped from my lungs. Finally my eyelids pull away from my eyes and I see a tube of darkness ahead of me. It all comes flooding back, my name, my job, my family back home, hoping and praying I would make it back to them to share stories of my adventures. The stretching continues into my legs and finally my feet. I felt like I was seven galaxies long. Hurtling through space at the speed of light. I can see stars at the end of the tube now, I see the station! Floating past empty space, I can see. Me leaving the station, going to a satellite I’m, I’m, no I’m undoing the wrong bolt. The scaffolding holding the satellite gives free, knocking me unconscious as it does. I watch as my crewmates struggle to get my tether loosed from the bent metal. They don’t yet realize the tether has been severed, I’m already in free drift.
As my body floats toward my thinly stretched consciousness, I wonder to myself how many times had I already hurtled through this tear? Would I ever get free?
How many times?
Medical Incident Report
Injured name: Jonothan R. Gilbert
DOB: 06/25/2218
Crew #: 8992z4
Status: Presumed dead
Injury: Blunt force trauma to the head.
Incident summary: Crewmember Jon, number 8992z4 attempted to disengage security alert for sector 7B. An error occurred and the satellite came loose knocking Jon unconscious but stable. Attempts at recovery were in vain as his tether was severed in the scaffolding elbow. I monitored Jonothans vitals as he drifted away from the station. All signs stayed relatively stable with various waking and resting cycles. His pulse stayed relatively calm up until the very end. I kept an eye on him through our optical systems as we were adrift in separate directions. About three days into his drift he became obscured, a dark matter engulfed him. His vitals went absolutely haywire going from alive to dead in the matter of a few seconds. It lasted about a minute before his crew monitor went silent all together. When pressed for more information, the monitor could not reach the crewmember’s signal. I continued to look for signs of the dark matter moving or no longer obscuring him but I saw nothing. Though every once in a while at odd intervals his crew monitor would flash on. Every time it flashes his vitals are always stable and in rest. Other crew members say that if they are looking in that direction every once in a while they can see a dark figure in the distance but as soon as they go to look closer it disappears. I turned his monitor off as it started to negatively impact other crew members aboard the station.
Notes: On a personal side, I hope the monitors are true Jon. I hope you are in a state of eternal rest. You always did love the idea of drifting into space, I just hope it was how you dreamed it would be.
Medical Advisor: Amelia E. Harris
Medical Advisor crew #: 7942r4Jan 18, 2022
#shortstory
#challenge
#imdoingmybest
#digitalart
#painting
Comments
Oh my word Star!!! 
I gobbled that whole story up like a snack!
I was captivated all the way through, even more after the big reveal near the end
and now I’ll forever be afraid of space, thnks! :D
I gobbled that whole story up like a snack!
I was captivated all the way through, even more after the big reveal near the end
and now I’ll forever be afraid of space, thnks! :D
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•This is great!! Thanks so much for your super creative entry :D I hope you enjoyed the challenge!
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