The white hospital walls offer a sense of anxiety rather than comfort to the female adolescent whom looks down upon her barely conscious father.
"Salem, come here please," the man on his death bed beckons to his daughter. Salem steps closer with her twin brother joint to her hip. Standing by their dying father, they see the straw like tube that encircles his worn and pale face.
"Follow your dreams, both of you," the man commands stuttering and stoping at inch away from death. The twins nod knowing what their father was referring to. Tears slide down the girl's ashen cheeks as her brother, Shane, grips her close while trying to hold himself together for the sake of Salem.
The too far gone man takes in a sharp breath and turns his face upwards to stare at the yellowing ceiling. His weak hand reaches out to Salem in worry and she grasps it like it will keep him here on Mars. The bed sheets crinkle as the man starts thrashing about like a demon has gained control of him. If only it were that simple.
Shane grabs Salem's slim waist and pushes him behind her. Fear shines in their matching green eyes as the cancer ridden man stops in mid thrash.
"Daddy?" Salem calls out longingly as the heart rate monitor screeches in alarm with the neon green line going flat. Shane lets out a shaky breath and let's only a handful of water droplets full of sorrow fall.
"Daddy?" Salem keeps repeating over and over with denial showing obviously in her facial features. Her strong hands grip the pattern colored sheets and shake the soulless body that once was her father.
Shane walks hesitantly to his sisters side and lays a tentative hand on her shaking shoulder. Salem looks up and chokes a sob at the back of her throat as realization clouds her eyes. Her brother nods and unclenches Salem's fisted hands from the pale blue sheets.
Salem turns into her brother's toned chest as the depressed doctor calls the time of death to the unhelpful nurses. Shane shakes his head to rid the thought of losing Salem too.
Wheels scream in despair when the doctor pushes the hospital bed down to the morgue. Salem steps back from Shane's safe haven of a chest with a concerned brother drowning down at her.
Salem wipes her eyes and promises never to cry about her father again. That's not what he would've wanted. Her heart is set on doing what her father had always said he wanted them to be:The first twin astronauts to walk on Mars surface.
YOU ARE READING
Dreaming Of Mars
Science FictionThis is an English assignment, if you still want to read then awesome. It's about a young astronaut who's father and brother have a large say in her future.
