Planet Kepler 62F

Mission Kepler

"Mission log, day 27. The clock's at 6 pm so we've been stuck here for at least an hour and-" Doctor Hope Mau continues into a smaller connected cave than the one I with Gillian McRaul next to me where sitting in. Hope gets consumed by the darkness as the light from her helmet goes away with her, making the whole room darker. I feel my heart scream inside my chest and I try to grab my chest but the thick suit won't let me. 

"Riley, look at me." Gillian is brushing her hand up and down my arm trying to calm me down. I want to tell her to stop it as I feel more trapped with her so close but maybe she's scared too.

Her hair is braided up to a crown, a few strands are glued to her forehead because of sweat and the humidity. We've all taken off our helmets and put them in the centre to light up the room, Hope had hers still on as she did her log.

" -Laurence blocked the only passage out as he had a panic attack and the air has gotten more humid giving us difficulty to breathe. We're trying to save as much oxygen as-"

"It's not your fault Riley." Gillian tries to comfort me as much as she can but I can't listen to her anymore. I feel my breathing and chest cringe as the walls seem to come closer. Gillian and Hope aren't in the room anymore, and it's getting darker. I try to grab whatever is around me but there's nothing. I let my breathing echo in the cave and I close my eyes as I get back to the turned around car and broken glass.

Reynold! Hold on!

I feel Gillian's hand on mine and the light is back with Gillian and Hope.

"Don't lose your shit now Laurence. We're not carrying you out of here just because you didn't have the balls to tell us that you didn't want to come with us!" Gillian ignores Hope's comment but I can't. I should have, now we're all in this shithole, really stuck. In the dark in Kepler 62F, 1200 lightyears away planet from Earth, 1200 lightyears from life and help.

The walls seem to come closer again but I get stopped as Gillian put the helmet over my head and lock it. The light from the helmet shines underneath my face, giving me and everything around a little more light. 

"Keep it on until you feel better." She finally moves away from me and to the covered-up hole, the one I made.

Gillian and Hope talks in the corner of the caves room, I can't hear them though, my breathing echoes inside the helmet. Hope doesn't look pleased with something Gillian said but I could imagine it being something about her being in charge as long as they are in the cave. I suck in one last breathe of the sweet oxygen and unlock the helmet.

I walk over to the blocked opening and try to keep my heart in check.

One. Two. Exhale. One. Two. Exhale.

 One big rock and a few small ones are blocking the whole entry which also made it impossible for light to enter. I try to remember what it looked like when we all came down. There were small rocks on the side but no big one that could block everything. It could have rolled down from higher up but how could my panic attack have set it off?

"Do you remember seeing this rock anywhere near?"

"It must have been close by when you shook all those small rocks with down with you." Hope answered but I could hear the mocking tone. Gillian says that she thinks she saw it but she doesn't sound too convinced. 

"There is a possible way out but it's underwater. Well, the beginning is, I don't know if the whole way out is water." In the other side of the cave, there is like a small water source with a small, too small hole behind it. But it's a way out.

"But we would have to leave the suits."

"We have our breathing devices with us. We'll get out of the cave and go straight back to the ship to get the backup suits and come back here through the original way in." Hope points to the big rock almost over our heads. Underneath the water, in a small tunnel, possibly leading to smaller caves. It might trigger my claustrophobia all over again. Gillian is looking small, her hands have started to shake.

"Hope, you'll go with Gillian alone, I'll stay here and wait 'til you come back."

"What? No, we all have to go." She looks back at Hope but she looks away. I can tell she thinks it's a good idea.

"It's not a big deal. You two go and come back later. You know for sure there is a way out, right?" Gillian nod and is about to say something but get cut off by Hope.

"Gil, we'll be back and just think about what could happen if Laurence has another one of his panic attacks further inside the cave." Gillian doesn't say more and they both take off their suits and jump into the water.

^^^

"Mission log, day 28, 11 pm. It's been more than a day since McRaul and Mau left and I'm starting to get a little hungry, but it's nothing I can't handle." Words just seem to automatically come out, it's like my mind trying to force me to think of something else. It doesn't stop the panic attacks though.

^^^

"Mission log, day 30, 12 am. Three days since we got stuck in here and a little less since I was left alone..."

^^^

Day 32.

Did they leave me?

Day 35.

Are they dead?

Day 36.

Please come back.

^^^

A week since they left, 168 hours and my mind seem to be playing tricks on me. I see her upside down in front of me, hanging with her seatbelt cutting into her skin on her neck. Soon it'll be just her and me, mom and me again.