Beyond our Earth

41: Astounding

I had made it back to earth, and although I did black out at one point during the journey, I walked away from the landing relatively unscathed. Althazar's aim wasn't perfect, of course. But I wouldn't have wanted to land in New York exactly. No, the location where I hit the ground was really quite well chosen. It was in a corn field, in Pennsylvania. No one seemed to notice the large metal hunk cratered in the earth and no one would for a while, at least until the harvest season.

It was night time when I landed, well, early morning really.  I crawled out of the smoldering pod and made my way through a twisted maze of corn stalks, stumbling out onto a gravel road a few minutes later. The sky was painted with stars and a moon that shone so bright. I calmed down and collected myself and suddenly it dawned on me that I was finally home.

Here it was, right beneath my feet, Earth in all it's glory. I took a deep breath of the dewy summer air, sat down by the side of the road and felt the grass under my hands. Here I was looking up at the stars from Earth again, home, finally home. There was an overwhelming flood of relief. And then an urge to get somewhere, to get to New York, to tell everyone that I was okay, to tell Braden, God I hoped he wasn't too worried.

I got up and started quick walking down the road, knowing that I would come to a gas station sooner or later. From there I could make some phone calls and sort myself out.

Alone in the darkness a beaming smile lit my face. One that didn't leave until the next morning when I reached Braden's apartment.

"He's not here? What do you mean he's not here?" I asked the bearded man who answered his door, grumpy and bothered.

"Wait! What year is it?" I said suddenly, pushing past him and grabbing a newspaper off his coffee table.

The print read July 2014. Good, so I wasn't late.

"What are you some kinda time traveller?" He chided. "Get outta here before I call the cops."

With that I left. I went back to the elevator and came out on the first floor. Braden was gone. But it was understandable since it had been nearly a month since I'd left. Maybe he got another job, moved, got another girlfriend...

I had to figure out where he was.

After ending up in the apartment lobby I quickly asked a friendly looking woman to borrow her phone. She eyed me up before letting me, scanning me over with an invisible trust meter. I must have looked alright to her because she handed over her little device and it made my day. If I remembered it correctly, which I hoped I did, I could call Braden's cell.

I punched in the numbers and listened for the rings. One, two, three... finally someone picked up.

"Hello?" A female voice answered.

"fuuuuuck." I silently mouthed to myself.

It was my worst fear. He had found another woman.

"Who is this?" The voice interrupted my spiralling thoughts on the other end of the phone.

"I'm Sara, I was Braden's-"

"Sara?" She interrupted, "For real, you're Sara?" 

There was pause as I tried to figure out what she was implying, what this woman knew about me.

"You're the one Braden's been looking for? Did he find you? Are you with him?" She rapid fired her questions.

"No, no I'm not with him."

"Fuck."

"I just got back to New York."

"From where?" Her voice got louder.

I hesitated, she sensed my fear.

"You weren't in outer space were you?"

I hesitated again.

"Oh my fuck! You were in outer space, weren't you!"

"Look, who are you?" I asked.

"Honey, we don't have time for meet and greets, I think your boyfriend is up in the stars right now."

"Okay, we need to talk." I took a deep breath, glancing over at the impatient woman waiting beside me. "But first I need to find a different phone."