The Way Back [Book 2 of One Tragic End to a Million Stories]

The Hunk of Metal

Captain's POV

As I stepped back onto the Invincible II, I felt a chill down my spine, getting flashbacks of everything that went wrong. I ignored them and pushed forward. "Come on, Mark. Soon we will be reunited with the prison and Yancy. And the colonists can get back to their loved ones. And we can--" I looked beside me and realized Mark wasn't there. "Mark?" I looked back to the shuttle and Mark was there looking extremely nervous. "Mark...?"

"Captain, I... I'm not ready. After everything this hunk of metal has caused us, I..."

"What?! Are you seriously chickening out on me?! Here?! Now?!"

"No! I..."

"Mark, I can't go back... And if you go back, I'm never going to see you again. I can't do that. And not only do I need you, but the colony needs you, too. So, either you leave and we never meet again and the ship falls apart without you, or you come with and deal with the flashbacks."

"I don't want to deal with the flashbacks! I have nightmares every night!" He looked at the ground.

"Look, Mark..." I walked back to him and put my arm around him. "I have been dealing with flashbacks even before the... incident. If I'm going to be completely honest with you, just saying the ship's name can trigger me, sometimes. And before that, it was... It was when they treated me like I was..."

My mind went back to seventh grade, when people in my class treated me like I was "more worthless than a dead clam" as Dark liked to put it.

"Point is, I've had stuff happen, and I've had tons of flashbacks, but I don't let them bother me. I ignore them."

"But... How? It feels like you're really back there, reliving everything again! How do you ignore that?!"

"Because..." Because I hold everything in and leave it  to eat at my soul, but I don't recommend that. "Uh... Because..."

"Because...?"

"B-because I... Because we need to get to the bridge. And my flashbacks usually start when I need to focus, so I remind myself to focus. Focus on getting to the bridge."

He looked at the ground that was the hunk of metal that was the Invisible II, and he took a step, squinting his eyes shut. I gave him a tight squeeze on the shoulder and he took a deep breath, starting to walk to the biometric scan. The bio-scan made me flinch and we went past the reactor to cryo. Celci was about to start picking on Mark, which I knew would send down his confidence.

"Not now, Celci. Please. He's going through something. And so am I, a little bit."

"Well, maybe, he should--!"

"Celcionna! Not now!" She was a little shocked that I called her that, but she backed off.

We went through the halls and made it to the bridge without further bickering. "Um... I think you have to make another speech. So, all that's left now, is for you to say the word." The door opened to reveal the group was all huddled up, just like last time.

"Oh, great..." All the attention was making me really nervous. "Mark, you gotta stop putting me onto the spotlight." Suddenly the alarms blared, telling everyone to get in their cryo-pods. "Um..." I could tell Mark was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Of course. This is where everything went wrong. "Mark, it's okay! The paradox is resolved, remember? This isn't last time. We're going to be okay!" He gave a slight nod and went into his cryo-pod. I went into mine as it started counting down.

I let sleep take over, preparing for the worst. But when counting down, there was no error and I peacefully fell asleep.