Chapter 11 Silence is not Golden
Silence…
Nothing but the still, quaint, and utterly dreadful silence…
Carl sat there in a trance oblivious to the world around him. He couldn’t move, barely breath from the revelations he unknowingly revealed. His entire fight for freedom, his struggles to make it home…
All of it had been for naught.
His planet wasn’t far off into another galaxy, countless light years away. No, it was right beneath his very feet. In the very back of his mind, he knew from the start that the likely hood of him making it back home was astronomically silly. He was simply fooling himself with false hope in order to not crack-up under the circumstances. However, now that the truth was out; it was all bared before him in a horrifying fashion.
He was alone.
Carl continued to sit and contemplate for what had seemed like hours. Darkness had long since settled in at this point but did little to faze him. He just stared straight ahead; lost in the depths of his mind wanting to wake up from this nightmare.
“Gone…” he whispered breathlessly, “All gone…”
He was so distraught that he didn’t remember that his words were silenced by the forest. His mind currently preoccupied was still struggling to cope with the reality he faced. His entire species was dead as far as he knew. Now if he were of a calmer mind set, he would have taken the time to think a bit more rationally about that point. Humanity was not one to just lay down and die like that. Even facing complete and utter destruction wouldn’t hinder their bid for survival. Before this whole mess had started, there were talks of inhabiting other planets and thus spreading humanity’s reach across the cosmos. Chances are humans still existed but have either forgotten this place due to time’s merciless grasp or are simply too far away to even return.
Even so, that still was of no help to the fractured human sitting in the spongy earth. ‘How does one get over losing everything?’ He thought to himself. ‘Everything.’ Mankind had fought and battled with life and nature for countless centuries only to seemingly have fallen in the end. All the science, math, and technology and none of it mattered in the end. It all just seemed so… pointless…
Never again would he hear the sounds of aircraft, automobiles, or even just people again. Never again shall he see the sights that people have been accustomed to seeing on a daily basis. Never again will he witness and experience the joys and sorrows of life with his fellow man. Never again will he be able to touch another human, speak to another human, or even lo-.
Carl snapped his head up suddenly as he woke himself up from his trance. He was sweating heavily and his breathing was labored. He took deep gulps of air to satisfy his oxygen deprived lungs. He didn’t want to fall down that road again; memories were already beginning to surface and he had to will himself to put them aside. Now was not the time to deal with that.
Carl used his hand to wipe the sweat off his brow only to feel more drip onto his face.
‘What?’ he looked at his hand more closely; seeing a good amount of moisture covering it. He raised his other hand to wipe his forehead once more only to encounter the same thing. This confused him for a bit and thankfully distracted him from his other concerns. Looking around, he noticed that the pit floor was moving a little. He nearly jumped up in alarm but stopped when he felt more moisture dribble down his face. At this point, he knew he couldn’t be sweating at this point; he looked up and found his answer. Droplets of water were slowly falling down to Earth.
It was raining.
It was as if the heavens themselves were also crying for his loss. The sky joined with him in his sorrow of losing his family, his species, and his way of life. Perhaps it was simply weeping for the loss of one of Earth’s many children. Or at least that is what he would have like to believe at this point.
Shaking himself from his fervor, Carl got up from his seated position on the spongy floor, his joints popping in protest from being in that position for so long. It wouldn’t do him any good to stay there as the pit was slowly beginning to fill with water. A pool of muddy water was already forming on one side and was growing larger as time passed. His eyes scanned the walls of the pit and figured that it wouldn’t be too difficult to escape the pit. He’d simply use the exposed roots to climb up out and from there… he didn’t know.
Small plan in mind, Carl moved over to the root system and was about to climb up before remembering the capsule. He turned to see it was still open and getting rained on. A part of his mind didn’t want to have anything to do with the object and simply leave it; as it had brought a horrifying secret to light. But his more rational side knew that it was potentially more beneficial to take it with him and being the person of logic that he was decided to take it with him.
He grabbed the case wiping away some of the percolating water from it. The scroll he had found earlier was safe as he had put it back in its cover. The newspaper article however was a complete loss and he honestly didn’t have it in him to care at the moment. It in a sense took away his innocence and reminded him just how cruel life could be. He’d be better off without the constant reminder.
Snapping the case shut, he made his way back to his original position near the roots. He then tossed the case up out of the pit and began climbing his way out. It took a bit longer than he was expecting, due to him slipping a few times from broken roots, but he made it.
‘Well….. I’m out of one hole,’ Carl thought quietly to himself, remembering the properties of his current location. He took a moment of rest before standing and retrieving the thrown case and looking at his surroundings. It was nearly pitch black if not for the small bits of moonlight slipping through the tree branches. It would be incredible difficult and rather foolish to try to make his way out in this low light. He’d be risking serious injury or even death if get made the wrong mistake.
Carl sneezed breaking him out of his thoughts. He was getting soaked now and needed to find shelter. Getting sick now would be absolutely devastating in his current situation. So his options right now were limited to two bad choices. To stay exposed and risk getting sick or to leave in darkness and risk injuring himself. Neither scenarios were optimal, but after a moment of thought he proceeded to walk forward.
Carl sneezed again, already starting to feel a dull ache in his forehead. He scowled in despondency, ‘And it seems I’ve fallen into another….’