Once upon a time, a boy lived alone on an island in the moon. The island was surrounded by a big dark hole which the boy had never seen anything cross to the other side. Nothing could pass it but the boy did not know this. He lived on the island and learnt to fly.
Learning to fly was hard because the moon has no gravity. The boy often floated away towards the hole but a rope was always around his waist when he tried to fly. His wings grew warmer and softer as he learnt. He was afraid of falling but he had never fallen before.
He read of falling in a story book which he did not believe. In the book, the narrator said a portion of the sky had fallen on a planet. It said some people called Meteorites was always attacking the planet. The meteorites did not tell the planet that they were looking for a home and the planet did not like them so they fought. The story book was titled the true history of the moon. It was the only book the boy had read. It was the only book in his home.
The boy's home was set on top the tallest hill on the island. Whenever he returned back from learning to fly, he would sit on his doorstep and watch the broken planet, a debris strewn green planet still orbiting near the moon. He called the planet Icarus IV, after a hero in the story book who flew but fell and broke during the Ozone wars.
Another thing he never failed to do every day was check the monitor. The monitor provided everything at home. The boy thought the monitor was the president like in the story book, the president—the man who blew up into flames when a bird flew near his big house during the Ozone wars. The boy always listened to the monitor but sometimes he thought something was wrong with it.
There were days when the monitor would say things like temperature dropping then, temperature rising. Then there were some symbols changing and changing on the monitor's face and the boy felt like it was saying something to him but he did not understand and there was no one to ask. He tried asking the monitor what the symbols meant but it never replied him. Just like the president in the story book.
One day, the monitor flashed a small red light and one symbol appeared on the body where it used to tell him things. The symbol blinked again and again then the monitor's face where he could see things went blank. The boy did not understand. Maybe the monitor had gone to sleep. But when he woke up from his own sleep, the monitor was still asleep. Soon distracted with learning to fly, he forgot about the monitor.
Soon his rations ran out. He had no noodles to make on the oven and he had only water to drink. He drank lots of it but it was not enough to hold back the hunger gnawing away at his stomach. There was no one to beg for food. He began searching his home but he found nothing. He got out of his house and began searching other houses. He often wondered why the monitor had built so many houses and not created Ozone warriors like him like it was in the book. He was the only one that was different in the whole wide world. If not for the story book and some pictures he had found in other rooms, he would have thought there have never been anyone like him.
In one of the houses, he found the monitor looking at him. He saw those symbols changing and changing. Their colour was not green on this monitor but red. Suddenly a loud sound pierced the boy so he screamed and wanted to run but because there was no gravity, he shuffled towards the exit. He came outside and saw a huge house falling down from the sky. There was fire under it and it looked like it would land right on top of his home.
My book, the boy thought as he began to run back or rather jump back. He jumped so hard that he began to float further distances. In one jump, he got so high that he floated very close to the edge of the island. He tugged on the rope around his waist but the monitor did not reel him back in. He kept going further and further away from his book. He wanted to cry and scream in frustration. He could not understand why the monitor would deny him his book.
He had just crossed into the void that sepeeated the island from the rest of the moon, when the house landed and his cord snapped. He was free. He had no control. He could not go back home. There was no home. The house had smashed it. There was moon dust rising slowly into the sky. The boy watched, floating away as the new house stopped burning and the front door opened and something came out.
It was like him, with arms and legs and a head. More of it came and they began to walk around, poking things. The boy was so excited to see them. He began to scream, calling them but he was too far away and floating further. Not one of the things turned in his direction. They seemed so excited to see the other houses. But nothing was inside those houses besides the monitor's face, the boy thought.
The boy floated on and on and on and one day, as he woke up from sleep, he saw a white hill. He looked down to see that he was almost at the edge of the big black hole on the other side. He had crossed the hole. He smiled then frowned. He could not go further. Something was stopping him from cross the hole and getting on to the hill. He kept hitting this thing but there was nothing there. He could see the other side. He could see the hill. The thing that was stopping him was cold on his skin but he had never seen it before.
The boy thought of all the fantastic things he had read in his book, especially the flying people and wondered why the book never said anything about this material. The boy thought and thought deep until a light flashed across his eyes. He opened them to see some of these things that destroyed his home were coming towards him. He was no longer excited to see them. They were going to destroy him. He did not want to be destroyed so he began scrambling along the transparent wall. He kept going higher and higher until he was right over the things.
He saw their faces and it was not like the monitors. Their faces looked like paper that had been folded up in a fist. Their eyes were wide in horror upon seeing him above them. He did not understand how he was doing it but he was going back to his home. Some of the things began to rise. They had fire in their feet. This must be some of the warriors of the Ozone wars, the boy thought, the Meteorites. The book spoke about those with fire on their back and feet.
Close to the house that destroyed his home, he heard a pop and began to fall. He kept falling and flailing until he hit the ground. That had never happened before. He struggled up but found an arm stretched towards him. The arm spoke but the boy did not understand. Then he was lifted off the ground and taken inside the big house. There were many monitors beeping and many more Meteorites.
He had been caotured by the enemy. The ozone battle had not ended. The book lied. The boy promised himself that he will escape and fly away from them. He will return with warriors of the Ozone and they will fight a grand battle that somehow will enter the book and some other Ozone warrior, like him, will read of his prowess. He will be a hero.
Excerpt from transmission sent to the New Earth station two weeks after the Hovercraft, Canyon, landed on the other side of the moon— we found only a boy. His oxygen was almost depleted and he kept calling us meteorites. Everyone is gone without explanation except him. We have no idea how he survived for two weeks. End.
What an interesting story, @warpedpoetic. It reminded me a little bit of the movie The Truman Show!
Yeah you are right! I didn't think of that. 😂 That's so cool.
Your speculative fiction stories are always an interesting read, @warpedpoetic. Thanks for sharing your inspired story in The Ink Well!
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Thank you as always.