Purple Planets

Grown up

The sun was rising slowly over the mountaintops making the blue ground brighten up. Not enough to brighten up Lucas' mood though. Laying with his face buried in his pillow the sun was beaming through the windows. Everyone was roaming around outside at the market, trying to get the best offers before they were gone. Lucas woke up by the bell ringing loudly four times.

Not fully awake Lucas thought to himself: "Shit!" Literally. His mom had to take a shit.

You see, Lucas' mom is very sick, therefore she needs help with most things, including going to the bathroom. How many times the bell rings signals what his mom needs help with. One ring, hungry. Two rings, thirsty, three rings, number one. And four rings, number two. If just his father had been here, everything would have been so much easier, at least for him. Maybe not for his mother. His father left before Lucas was born and his mother never talks about him. Lucas tried to bring it up one time, but his mom just looked at him without saying a word. Later that evening he could hear his mom cry from her room.

Lucas got dressed and went into his mom's room helping her into her wheelchair. "Have you been to the market?" she asked in a disappointed tone as if she knew what the answer was.

"I'm sorry mom, I forgot to turn on the alarm. I promise I'm gonna do it tomorrow." Lucas started rolling her towards the bathroom.

"You better, or else we'll have to eat rotten food." Lucas just rolled his eyes while he helped his mom onto the toilet.

"I swear on my life," he said in a reassuring tone. "I trust you," his mom said and smiled.

For breakfast, they had the usual; egg and bacon. Lucas mom always had hot cocoa with her eggs and bacon. Lucas never understood why. It was much better with cold milk.

"You haven't met someone yet?" his mom asked after she finished eating.

"For the ten thousandth time, no" Lucas answered looking out at all the people.

"You can't live like this all your life. I don't have that much time left, you need someone to help you when I'm gone." she took Lucas hand but he withdrew it quickly.

"I don't need help, ok? I've got Yann. And you're not gonna die soon. I won't let you."

There was an awkward silence before his mom said quietly: "Yann isn't gonna be here forever, I'm afraid you won't handle it so well when I..." she paused before she continued: "...leave."

Lucas looked away, trying very hard not to cry. He always got emotional talking about his mother dying.

"I'm gonna take a walk," Lucas said. "You ok with being alone for a bit?" he asked.

"Of course," she said, knowing Lucas needed some space.

After Lucas had cleaned up he put on his jacket and went outside. The market was less crowded, all the good offers gone.

He walked out of the city and over to the familiar bridge he always went to when he was down. On the other side, he saw kids running around laughing and their parents talking while drinking coffee.

He wished he could know how it was to live there, but the stupid barrier kept them apart.

No one knows how it got there, but it happened many hundred years ago. You can try to cross it if you want, but there is a 75% chance of dying.
Many people have tried, but not many have survived.

Everyone looked so happy over there. Maybe that was why the planet was red, and his planet was blue. He did not know for sure. His father suddenly started talking to him.

"You gotta seize the moment, your mother doesn't have much time and you have to make the most out of those months, weeks, days." Lucas pushed him away. "I know you don't want to admit it, but it will get so much better once you do, trust me." Lucas pushed him away once again.

"I just can't, I don't want her to go. I don't wanna be alone", he said out loud. He sat in silence for a long time, tears running down his face.

A strange sound interrupted the silence and he turned around quickly, trying to locate where the sound was coming from.

 Without finding anything he went home again, the clock just passing three.

His mom was sitting in front of the TV watching some super old show called friends or something. Anyways, Lucas thought it was stupid.

"You okay?" his mom asked, turning down the volume on the TV.

"Yeah," he said. "do you need anything?" his mom smiled.

"It would be nice with a cup of cocoa with cream."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Of course it would. I'll be right back," He ran into the kitchen and was back shortly after with her favorite drink.

"You know I love you, right?" she opened her arms for a hug.

"I know and I love you too," Lucas said as he gave his mom a big hug. "And I promise I'll find someone before you die," Lucas smiled.

"You got someone special?" his mom asked. "No, not yet, but who knows. It can happen at any given time and any given place. There must be someone out there for me."

Lucas went to his room and took out the book his father had left for him. Apparently, it had been passed down generations according to his mom. "Life's wonders" was the title of the book. He had never read a book, except this. He had read this at least thirty times now. He was on chapter 4, which was the chapter about mother earth. It was his favorite chapter.

There used to be one world where everyone lived, but global warming made it too hot to live there so everyone had to move to different, smaller planets. His ancestors ended up on Phantom. The name was cool, but it did not quite fit the planet. He didn't think it was cool. Xandria, the neighbor planet, looked a lot cooler.

The bell rang four times and Lucas sighed. "time to get back to work," he thought, put his book down and went into the living room.

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