We left the abandoned building and went home like nothing had happened. I talk to myself asking questions on what will come of this, will we be killed when we leave, if not, where will we go, I don’t want to leave, this is where I grew up, this is where my father is. But another question asks, what kind of rock or jewel are they talking about, is it alive, is it really growing into exposed areas, but really, the number question remains in my head, what does Tayler want to ask me.

I picked up some food from the shop and some new pants because the ones I’m wearing are filthy. So I decide to walk home and think about what was to come. I walk through the front door of the house and dropped my things on the table.

“Mother, I’m home.” But she was not in the kitchen, not the main room, not in the house. I walk upstairs and pass Clira’s room, as I pass I see a light in there so I sneak a peak. I see Clira sitting in a chair carving on a sculpture what looks like a man. I see many bandages on her hands as well but she does not seem to be in pain, she seems happy as usual.

“What are you doing?” I ask her as she turns to me with a bigger smile.

“I’m carving a piece of wood; it’s a sculpture of daddy.” I don’t think Clira remembers much of dad, but she does have one memory of him and that was when they went for a nice walk to a pond on her birthday a couple of days before he disappeared.

“It looks good, but I thought mother told you not to mess with knives?”

“I know I know, but these are carving knives so its less messier and less likely for me to cut myself.”

“Doesn’t look like its working”

“Pfft shut up.” She smirked at me as she was doing the figures face. I see the wood shavings on the ground and I see a big pile in the corner of her room.

“Why don’t you get a big bucket from the village so you can put the shavings in?”

“Maybe tomorrow, for now I want to stay here and be me.”

“Whatever.” I said as I handed her a piece of fruit as I walk to my room to lie down in my semi-comfy bed. As I lay there I think about the stars, I think of the stars as a family, a life system, like how our village used to be, organized, peaceful, spread out with wonders. Now it’s like a black hole, everything being destroyed and being crunched up into a big disaster. By the time we move out of our village, that’s when that big disaster will happen. I always dreamed of adventure, almost every night before my dad died. We would read stories of adventure, life lessons, and stories that just end up being silly, but I loved them all. One time for my birthday my mothers father used to ride an airship but not one of those big ones the military had. I never met my grandpa, my mother told me he got lost at sea searching for some treasure, but before he left he gave my mother his aviator goggles and hat so that she can give it to his first grandchild. Me.

I got that hat on my 9th birthday and I would wear it everyday. I would go outside and hang out with some friends and we would play all the time, good times are always going by so fast, but at least it’s the times we cherished the most. Now the times just pass by without a sense of prosperity. I keep that hat under my bed until I go on a real adventure, but since things are happening, I feel like having a good time.

I bust out a box, blew off the dust and opened it, there she was, a nice brown woven hat with padding inside with a nice pair of goggles with a crack on the left side, I put it on and strapped it closed. I ran outside and down to the meadows to where a couple of trees were. I pretended I was flying an airship into battle with an enemy. But there was a storm brewing so I had to get ready, I hoisted up the flaps and had the engine burning. I pulled back on it and let the wind take us forward, I pulled out a cannon and aimed at the enemy’s ship. BANG! The enemy’s airship was starting to catch fire but it plummeted into the ground. I won.

I lay there under a tree looking at an apple I was beginning to eat but just never took a bite. I was wondering what was still down in that mine, has my mother been down there, does Tayler know? I sighed and begin to rest my head, it was still afternoon but I was tired, not very tired, just tired.