Lit Cigarettes || Angst/BxB Shots

• Life After People •

    (A/N - This was a creative write I did for school, and felt like posting. It's queer, but subtle)

(Also, I could do so much with this idea. So, if this is a repeated theme, you know why)
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Content Warnings - None

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   When my fiancé had originally looked at me with a pleading expression that destroyed me at the proposal of a once in a lifetime opportunity, I almost refused. However, when I was informed about a large amount of money that I would be receiving if I took the job, I had to agree to it. Mars had not been doing the best financially lately. Market influxes were greatly damaging the economy, and the loss of jobs was astronomical. Fynnley, my fiancé, had been providing for us, while I tried to stabilize myself with a reliable job. Somehow, most likely from a miracle, I was approached by a local research facility that was trying to obtain information about Earth, and they needed somebody to go and collect samples, take pictures, and other fancy-smancy science terms I did not completely understand. All I knew is that I needed to talk to Fynnley.

   Which leads me to now, with horrible whiplash and a pounding headache, crashed in the middle of a place called Illinois. The seatbelt of the Space-Pod had given me a horrendous bruise against my collarbone and neck, my side still suffering the consequences of the violent landing. I groan, climbing from the circular vehicle, and instantly realize that it is much, much hotter than Mars. A type of hot that makes my skin, that is used to the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars, feel like it is peeling off the bone. Of course, this was one of the many warnings that I had completely disregarded during my briefing of what to expect when I arrived on Earth. Fynnley always said I had a bad habit of that.

    The pavement is cracked, and I can hear the distant chatter of insects, and the barking of what may be wolves or dogs. Plants that I've never seen before, sprout from the potholes in the road, strange flowers and plants growing on each stem. Ahead of me, in the distance, is a blurry image of what might have once been a city. It's small, from where I'm standing on the overpass, a few meters from my battered Space-Pod, but I like to imagine once it was beautiful, and bustling with people like Veval back on Mars. I would like to imagine that the people here had amazing, peaceful lives. Like me and Fynnley do. Well, more or less, did. I snap a quick picture with the polaroid I was supplied with, and stick it into my leatherback journal. I will write about it once I get a look up close.

    About half-way, or maybe a little further, I spot a small house over to the side. Vines with gorgeous flowers crawl up the sides, decorating the abandoned home with hues of greens, purples, reds, pinks and other colors I can not describe. I find myself pushing open the rickety door, met with the smell of Earth and loneliness. As I step further into the house, entering what may be something similar to me and Fynnley's front room, something cracks and crunches beneath my heavy boot. I turn my head to the floor and crouch, picking up something that may have looked like gold at one time. There is a picture inside, coated in dirt and dust, and other particles from the Earth. I wipe what I can away and feel a pang of guilt for invading this house as a family of four smile up at me, eyes gleaming with pure joy.

    I then realize how dilapidated the house is. An entire portion has caved in, exposing it's bones and structure. What strikes me, is that in what may have been considered a kitchen at one point, there is a glass of a curdled liquid that smells horrible when I approach it, and another empty glass that is infested with the bodies of dead beetles the color of blood. There are plates that have weird fungi growing on them, and plastic silverware. The type a toddler would use.

    Then I realize how wrong it feels to be here. It feels wrong to invade this house, this planet. While I am sure they were far from perfect, they lived here. They had families. Every person, on this planet, had a mother and a father. Some had children. Some had siblings, and here I am, a Martian, invading it. Invading all of it. I twist the ring on my finger and turn my back to the kitchen before I can even think of taking a picture of this. I bite my lip, eyes watering.

    "Fynnley was right, as always." I mutter to no one in particular. No one is here to listen. No one is with me. I know I need to look for the signs of animal life, and I need to take pictures of this house, but I can not bring myself to do it. Even if these people will never come back, they were here long before I was even breathing. I will finish the studies, and return home with the things I need, and I will receive me and Fynnley's money. But I will keep in mind that there had to have been an action, or something that made everyone disappear. Everything has a cause, and everything has a reason. There has to be a reason that there is a life after people, instead of with them. And I'm determined to find it.