The Individuals

Story#14: A Tale of Two

I wish I could fix everything

***

October 29th, 17th Year of Our Pinyke

It was close to the dead of night. A boy had stayed out late and was down at the pier, fishing for a fresh meal his big family could enjoy. He had spent the entire day down there. As he sat there at the edge of the dock with his line sunk deep into the water, like a bang in his ear, he heard a loud whoosh ring out above him, and in an instant, his vision went black.

A large meteor had fallen down and struck the exact spot where he sat. It came down and crushed him in an instant, flying right through the dock. But before it reached the water, inexplicably, it suddenly came to a stop mid-air and began to steadily float back up. Rapidly, the meteor's speed increased and zoomed back up into the stars, pulling everything that was near it along with it.

When he awoke, the boy found himself on the very same meteor that hit him that night. The meteor was drifting through space with seemingly no goal of stopping anytime soon. Over and over again, he scoured across the meteor's surface in hopes of finding something, anything, but he found nothing. He was all alone and completely trapped. Unable to do anything else, eventually, the boy would take a seat and do whatever he could in an attempt to pass the time.

Over time, his body would start to change. As for why, who knows? Perhaps it had something to do with the meteor. It first started small. The hunger and thirst that came to him shortly after waking eventually went away without him having to do anything to satisfy either. His hair and skin began to fade and turn gray. But then one day, he was struck with one of the worst stomach aches of his life. He wasn't able to hold it in for long and soon after it had begun, in one rough belch, he threw up and shot the contents out into the dead of space. It didn't take long for him to realize what he had just expelled. It was his skeleton and innards.

Later on, his skin, hair, and nails began to curl and fall off, revealing a space-colored and star-speckled copy underneath. His nose would fall off as well and a new layer of this cosmic-themed skin would grow over and seal his mouth shut, leaving him unable to speak. And finally, his eyes would turn stark white and gain a cosmic glow.

For several hundred years, the boy lived on this meteor. Due to the loneliness and the drastic changes that occurred to his body, it didn't take long until he lost his mind. Eventually, his clothes faded away to nothing but dust and he forgot his name. From then on, to passing ships, cosmic beings, and anyone else who happened to run into him, he would be known as Starboy.

***

Grabbing a handful of rocks, Starboy brought them over to a small clearing on the ground and plopped himself down. One by one, he arranged them in a row in front of him. Once he was done, from the side, he scooped up a pile of dirt and dropped it in the center of him and the rocks.

" I caught some dinner." He silently uttered, letting the final few specks of dirt fall through his fingers and to the ground.

" Wow, you caught so much! Thanks, ####! And I was just starting to worry about what to make too!" The second-to-largest rock thanked him as he set it down. Shortly after, the two smaller rocks came running over.

" So much fish! Thanks, big brother!" They said in tandem, staring down at his bounty with ravenous eyes and drool dripping from their mouths. At that moment, Starboy heard a heavy creak and looked up to see a large foot step into view.

" So, this was what you were doing all day?" The largest stone uttered in his heavy, rough voice, looking up and down at the pile of fish he had brought in. " Well, at least you made yourself useful. Help your mother carry this into the kitchen."