Intergalactic

CHAPTER 11: Reality Check

***If you're a new reader, don't mind about this note, just go below and read the story. In case you're an old reader, I'm extremely sorry for being sooo late. There's a lot going on, but still I have no excuse. So, keep reading this note, it's some-kind of a recap of what has happened until now, to remind you. And thanks for coming back to read the rest: Basically, Heather is part of an experiment, and she's in a spaceship. At some point the spaceship gets hit by meteorites and some-kind of a Bermuda Triangle tries to suck them in. Heather decides to use her astronaut knowledge and prove others wrong by getting out to fix something, only to find out that someone had locked the door, refusing to let her in. She then gets sucked in the Bermuda. She wakes up in Andromeda, and in order to get back, she has to complete a mission. She is sent in the Lost Atlantis. There, she gets to meet a few people, and with their help she manages to brake the curse that another human had taken advantage of. But, there, she realizes that she was not teleported to Andromeda, but that she had actually died. And Andromeda was the afterlife, and Atlantis was a mission, from which her alien creators would get an insight of whether she deserved to go back to her life or stay there for an eternity. After managing to save everyone in Atlantis, she gets killed.***

I wake up again. Or maybe...I die, again. But I don't seem to care anymore. What is even real? I don't know. I see a face. The same face I saw when I died the first time. This alien woman figure. I'm back to Andromeda. I'm trying to decide how to feel. Rage, because they hid the truth from me, about being dead? Or pride, because I accomplished my mission?
"Pride." She answers with the softest voice.
I forgot she could read my mind.

I stand up, empty. I feel no pride. I feel lost. I am lost. Where is this euphoria I'm supposed to feel? Where is this peace and happiness? Why am I not feeling these things? Isn't this supposed to be how people feel in paradise, or whatever this place is?
"You really want to go home, don't you?" She says.
No, shit.
"Heather." The neutral alien approaches me. "I'm sorry. But you can't go back. Remember?"
"I die once, I go to Andromeda. I die twice, I stay to Andromeda." I say. I feel incomplete, tho. They can sense it. "What now?"
They look at each other. The male alien comes in and says: "We have to run one last test on you."
Hell no. "Excuse me. I saved a whole city's ass, I killed a god damn villain, I got killed...and you want to run more tests on me? Is that not enough?"
They sigh because of my attitude, but that ain't gonna change and they know it.

We get in this room with the galobiz. The one with the rest humans. The ones that are alive. Why are they taking me there?
"You are going back." The woman says.
I do not understand. Were they messing up with me a minute ago? What's going on?
"What do you mean I'm going back? Back to the spaceship?"
"Heather, your mission is to get in the spaceship this time. If you succeed, you will remain there and everything will be as it was before."
"Wait, how am I going to get in the spaceship? The last time I tried, some psychopath let me out for dead! What, makes you think that the same thing isn't going to happen again?"
Do you remember when I said I was confused, a few chapters ago? Never mind about then. That was just a shit stain compared to this pile of crap that's happening right now.
They show me the galobi. I hesitate. I do not want to live the same moment again. I don't want to come across this sense of betrayal, this rage...and hate. I refuse. I take a step back.
"What if I don't?" When I said I wanted to go home, I didn't mean at that moment.
"Heather," the male alien tells me, "this is your only chance to get home. You are smart. You know what the right thing to do is. This time it's going to be different. We promise."
He knows something. They all do.
"But, if it's going to be different then, what is my mission? What kind of test is it going to be if the obstacle won't be there?"
"Oh, it will be."
I want to punch him on the face.
"Heather. Do you accept or do you refuse?" The neutral alien says with a strong voice giving me his hand.
I am not a refuser. I went through so much, I deserve to get this chance. And I will grab it. I shake the alien's hand with strength.
They open the galobi. I am used to it now. But, still afraid. My heart rate is getting faster and faster. I get in there. Okay, Heather, relax. What's the worst that could happen? You dying again and staying in Andromeda forever. Good. Let's...not let this happen.
They close the galobi, and whilst the water is rising to fill the galobi, millions of thoughts come to my mind. Who would ever lock me out? Was it Milo? I mean...he did have a reason, but I'm his sister! He would never do this, would he? Unless it was an act of stupidity, that he later regretted. It doesn't click...who would be such a bastard to do that? Nobody rings a bell.
I might have been annoying, and kind of a bitch, and sarcastic to all of them, and - OKAY STOP. Maybe I deserved it...But that was before, right? Now I'm less bitchy. I've saved the lost Atlantis, nobody can compete that! I know what you're thinking, so I'm gonna repeat: I said less bitchy, I didn't say I wasn't at all...

It's happening. I'm getting in the simulation. This time the real life simulation. I'm ready. Bring it on.

I'm falling. I am loose in space twisting around like a tennis ball. I have nothing to hold on t-
.
.
.
I just bumped on the spaceship. I have to find something to hold on to. Quickly! Yes. Good. Good. Now let's head to the door. It's not easy, tho, too many meteorites.
I hold on to the door. I try to open it and it's...it's not locked. Oh my God! The door is fucking open! Get in Heather, get it before any intergalactic bastard locks it.
Oh, it feels so good to be inside again! I'm crying. Actual tears are running down my cheeks as I kneel down and take my mask off. That's unbelievable.
Wait. That is unbelievable. The aliens said there would be an obstacle. Did they mean the meteorites? Ah, they scared the living daylights out of me. I'm back. I saved Atlantis, I saved the spaceship...I don't understand why people don't like me.

Heather hears a sound from the outside. She feels annoyed by the meteorites hitting the window, making her turn around and check.She is stunned.
This is not happening.
She gets closer to the window. Step by step, until she bends over and puts her hand on the window. Right in the other side, her. Heather. Shouting and screeming her lungs out to let her in. She is speechless.
All this time...it had been me. I was the one who left me outside.
She feels betrayed by her own self. She goes to unlock the door but then she rethinks it.

What if this is the point of the mission?
She steps back, leaving her other self to destiny's hands. She knows it's for her own good. It's far more painful to watch yourself being tortured, and knowing that you're letting her die. Knowing that it's your fault. And making the same mistake again. On purpose.
One Heather is enough for this dimension, they need you in another one. She says and smiles, while the meteorite that dragged her to death in the past, is dragging her other self now, in the present. And then the same thing will happen in the future. And it's going to go on and on...and on - in an infinity loop.

And that was it. She's gone now. Heather trust her. She knows she will succeed.

In the meantime, Milo is trying to open the door behind. After many attempts, he brakes in the room, finding Heather standing in front of the door separating the room and space. She turns around and hugs him. She hugs him with all the strength she has left.
Milo, relieved his sister didn't die -well...okay,you know what I mean- he puts his hands on her shoulders saying: "You saved us." He pauses. "And I'm sorry."
Heather smiles and hugs him again. "So...that means I get to have the last slice of pizza?"
Milo smiles,"You ate all of it, remember?"
And they both laugh, although Heather had so many other things on her head at that moment. What about Darón, and Nyla, and Aquamarine...and basically everyone? Oh, that's right...they are all okay now, since she saved them all.And what about Andromeda? I actually completed my mission, and I can finally feel this sense of freedom and euphoria. I don't feel human. I feel something more than that. Now I may say that I'm complete. I am an intergalactic hero.

WAIT. If I saved Atlantis then...WHERE IS THE OTHER HEATHER GOING?