"Is this really what my life has been leading up to?!"
That is the last thing that went through Mark's mind before death. Funny thing death, the thing every life is leading up to, no one knows exactly what happens after it, though there are theories. It is a one way trip. Everyone knows it is going to happen, and yet they act as if the most trivial things matter. It is something that most everyone fears, and EVERYONE will eventually experience.
---------------------------------------------------------------------An unknown amount of time before------------------------------------------------------
Mark sat in a black leather chair. It was not uncomfortable, but sitting in it for almost 2 hours previous had kind of diminished any comfort in it. Mark stood up, if just to stretch his legs. After the appropriate amount of leg stretching mark flopped back down into the chair. He scratched his messy brown hair, in a spot that had been annoying him all morning. He suddenly sprang forward in his chair and started hammering at the keys on his keyboard. He let out a heavy sigh, he had failed. the ship had crashed, the crew was dead, he had failed. He hit escape and clicked "revert flight". He was playing Kerbal Space Program, and had just slammed his craft into Duna at 134 M/sec. He sat back and launched the ship for the 3rd time. This is what he spent his free time doing, between a part time job and high school, he didn't have much. But space is what he really loved. If he wasn't playing Kerbal Space Program, he was reading books or drawing pictures of space (usually of Jupiter). He sat alone in a dark room, his room. It was painted black with a big mural of Jupiter on one wall (Jupiter really was his favorite planet). He had a bed pushed up against the opposite wall of the mural. He also had a desk with a computer and various other trinkets and doodads on it. There was a window in another wall, and the door in the opposite wall. He had a dresser full of cloths and a bookshelf with various books in it against the same wall as the door. Other than that the room was mostly bare. The floor was a weird shade of green and a light on the ceiling that he rarely used. He mostly used a lamp on the desk. It wasn't the most luxurious living conditions, but it was enough for Mark's taste.
After finally landing the craft on the Duna, mark shut down his computer. He got up from his chair and quickly took off his sweater and flopped into his bed. It wasn't long before he fell asleep. That night he dreamed, for the first time in a long time. He dreamed of himself, on earth doing his normal routine. Then he dreamed of aliens, on another planet, In another galaxy, doing their own routines. Then he dreamed of himself, in orbit around Jupiter. He remained in orbit, admiring the beauty of space for awhile. Suddenly he was propelled toward Jupiter by an unseen force. Like an invisible hand it kept pushing him closer and closer. Until he imagined he could feel beginnings of Jupiter's winds on his skin. WAIT! He wasn't imagining that wind, He could really feel it. Suddenly Jupiter ripped open exposing a light brighter than a thousand suns. He brought his arms up to cover his eyes, while twisting his body away from the intense light. He could feel himself being pulled toward the light. For a second he thinks it is a black hole. He was suddenly standing on the surface of an alien planet. Red sand under his feet, winds of over 500 M/hr ripped past him, but he only felt a pleasant breeze. He looked around and saw red sand pushed by the winds, ripping through the atmosphere. Above him he could see a peach coloured sea of clouds. He slowly did a 360, admiring the beauty flowing around him. He sat there soaking in the sight. He wasn't sure if this was a dream or reality anymore. And in his state, he didn't really care. He was in pure bliss. This was what he wanted to do all his life, explore other planets. Unfortunately he was born too early to do that, and too late to explore the earth. Dreams and his pictures were the closest he would ever get.
Suddenly Mark felt a burst of euphoria, stronger than anything else so far, then a feeling of impending doom fell upon him. The sand around him slowly turned a sickly shade of grey, as the sky turned an otherworldly black. He turned, desperate to escape the darkening sky, and came ed face to face with a man. NO, not a man, not human. Though it had the posture and body of a human, something in mark told him this wasn't one. Whatever it was, it scared Mark. It's face was obscured by a mixture of darkness and sand, whipping through the air. The wind on his back suddenly felt much more angry and foreboding. They sat there, still. Mark waited for it to do something, but it just sat there, staring. Mark couldn't see it's eyes, but EVERYONE could tell when they were being stared at, and right now mark could feel the eyes of this thing boring into him. As if it was looking into his very soul. Mark examined it more closely. It's body was pure black, as well as it's arms, and legs, and... well... all of it. It's limbs seemed to be elastic. It reminded Mark of a black sludge.
Suddenly the thing raised it's arm toward Mark. Mark took a step back. He was about to run when suddenly it let out an otherworldly screech. Mark ran, as fast as he could, trying desperately to get away from that THING! Every time he looked back it was always the same distance away form him. It wasn't like the being was moving, but that the ground mark was running on was speeding toward the thing. Mark finally collapsed, unable to run anymore. He didn't dare look back. But he could feel it! Towering over him. Mark braced himself for death, or worse. When the darkness was pierced by a bright blue light. The thing Screeched again, but this was different from the first one. The first one had sounded like it yelling at him to not even try to escape it. But this one sounded angry that this light was interrupting it. "This is the weirdest dream ever." Was the last thought that went through marks head before the light overtook him. This light felt warm and comforting. Mark felt safe now. And he couldn't wait to wake up from what must have been a food poisoning influenced nightmare gone wrong.
Mark wasn't feeling very good. Floating in and out of blackness. Every time he regained his senses he learned something more. He knew that he had all his limbs. That's where the good news ended. He was on fire, and falling. FAST. So fast in fact, that mark was pretty sure the fire was a cause of him entering the atmosphere, too fast. This was turning out to be the worst dream/nightmare ever. It didn't really concern Mark that he was falling fast enough to be catching on fire. The fire didn't hurt, though that could have been because his nervous system wasn't working the best. For a split second Mark saw the tops of trees. Then he heard a loud boom and darkness.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Later---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark's vision swam. He could vaguely see tree's, all around him. When Mark's vision returned he could see a bird, sitting on a tree top, staring at him. But... this bird... wasn't normal... it was on fire! Had it been too close to him when he fell here? No,no Mark himself wasn't on fire anymore, and nothing else seemed to be. Even the tree the bird sat on seemed unaffected.
Mark face palmed. The bird wasn't on fire. It was just coloured that way. Mark relaxed now that he knew he hadn't killed an innocent bird. Despite rarely seeing them, Mark loved animals. The bird suddenly flapped it's wings and began to fly away. It flew over him, as he watched it fly into the distance.
After the bird disappeared behind the trees Mark finally took notice of his surroundings. He was in a hole. Well it was more of a crater. He was in the middle of a clearing in a forest. Mark looked himself over. He didn't appear to be injured. The sun hung high above, directly above Mark, indicating that it was probably noon. The thought that this was just a dream was becoming more implausible by the second, but Mark was praying that it was. He had only been in a forest once before in his life, and didn't know much about surviving being stranded in a forest. He got up and walked out of the crater. On any side of him was trees. After taking a moment to try and get his bearings he decided to go in the same direction the bird flew off in. This decision had no ground in any facts. Mark just never was good at making decisions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------After walking for some time---------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark still hadn't come across anything other than trees and plants, no signs of human life. He decided to continue in this direction because he had already come so far. He was starting to get hungry, and thirsty. And to top it off he was starting to panic. He had never been in this kind of situation before. He needed to find some food, and water, and shelter. Things were not looking good. Mark had officially given up hope of this being a dream. It was too real. Mark was kind of glad he was alone, so if he had a nervous breakdown no one would be around to see it. Mark had been walking for sometime. He was tired. It wouldn't hurt anything if he just took a break to rest would it?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------After a nap-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark was once again walking. In the distance he could see a clearing in the distance. He would have ran to it, but this was the most he had ever walked and he didn't have the energy to run it. So Mark slowly trudged toward the clearing. Once at the edge of the clearing he realized that it wasn't a clearing but the end of the forest! From where he stood he could see a cottage. It was at this moment Mark realized that his vision was swimming. He could feel the energy rapidly leave his body. As he stumbled toward the cottage the only things he could make out, other than the blob of green that was the cottage and the surrounding grass, was a two smaller blobs near the cottage, one was a dancing yellow and pink blob. And the other was seemingly every colour of the rainbow. The last thing mark heard before his world went black was a slightly boyish, but still feminine voice say,
"Umm Fluttershy?"
