Fight To Survive

By Tunir Bhattacharya

It was a chilly day on September 24th. Rather, the air was regulated to make it feel like so. That was how seasons were controlled in Shuttle-099. Met scientists stood at their desks, monitoring wind direction, cloud movement, and artificial light provided by high resolution displays. Had there been holes in the craft, every place would be as frigid as absolute zero.

The year was 2102. A new century, a new chapter in the history of mankind. They set ablaze on their journey, though rather hurriedly, to allegedly a new planet, distant light years away.

Inside the spacecraft, flowers and trees bloomed on soil that belonged to the Earth, blissfully oblivious of the present situation of mankind. Wood is more rarer than diamond these days, and the Foundation People take them very seriously. Every house is made of concrete, and there are multiple abandoned ones, for not everybody was lucky enough. “Maybe the population will rise again” – a wish, or rather a hope, that ran through the minds of every man, woman and child in that craft.

New Osaka, round the 21st bend of the main Osaka Street. He lives there now, with his loving wife and two beautiful children. They run around the room, playing and falling down, creating a mess of the dining hall. Their cat Haruma yet again shows them his ability to stay in a slumber despite the noise generated. The wife stirs the bowl of curry, humming her favourite childhood lullaby. And the man? He sits on his bedside table by the large quadruple-laminated heavy duty glass window, looking at the bright twinkles outside. He saw them in his childhood, but never in that quantity before. A small red light shone with a deathly brilliance southwards, seemingly outshining every other star present close by.

The sun. Their star. Mankind’s hope, now forever lost. This reminisced the man of his days back on the loving Earth, his friends, and the vibrant youthful days, so much that he fell completely in retrospect, allowing himself to recall the days….

December the 8th. I remember it was still one in the morning. I was sitting in front of my desk, finishing my history homework. I was particularly excited about that day, because my chichiue (father) promised me to take me to the Game Festival to buy a game for my birthday on the 9th. The thought was simply enough to keep me awake the whole night. Sometimes I zoned out, wondering which game to buy – Saints Row IV or the new version of Sekiro that just launched. I hit the bed at nearly 4:00 AM, satisfied that my 30-page long homework was finally complete. After rolling about a bit on the bed, I fell asleep.

I am not sure what made me wake up, but I found my parents in my room in the morning. Kaasan (mother) was sitting huddled near the wall with her legs close to her body, while my chichiue sat supporting the bedroom door, his legs stretched. My curtains were drawn so I could not see their faces, but I sensed a mix of fear and perplexity from them.

“You’re awake, finally.” Kaasan replied in a hushed tone. I had forced myself to sit up straight, but was still rubbing my eyes.

“Why are you two here?” I asked in a half-sleepy tone, while slowly getting up to draw the curtains. As I was about to touch it, my father screamed “DON’T!”, which stopped me in my tracks and turn towards him.

“Whatever you do Kisouko, do not open the curtains.” It was extremely dark in my room to see anything, but I could sense him staring at me.

Initially I thought it was some sort of a joke, however after listening to that scream of despair and the shakiness in his voice, I thought it wiser to obey him. I turned around, and started feeling for the table lamp switch. Once I got it, I turned it on. The illumination was terrible, but enough to discern the other two in my room. I saw both of them uncontrollably shaking and shivering, as if they fell into a frozen lake.

“What’s going on otousan, okaasan?” I asked the both of them.

“Kisouko, have you…..seen the internet recently?” my father replied, still with that shaking voice.

I looked for my mobile under the bed and unlocked it. It was a sight to behold.

There were thousands of messages in my messenger app. Every second about a hundred messages flooded in to the point where it was lagging. Notifications kept popping up every second on Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook. And every single one of those messages said one thing and one thing only – “HIDE.”

I looked through a few of those, and it was enough to give me a chill down the spine. Soon enough, Nirato-chan started messaging me.

“KISOUKO HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS?” Big, bold letters greeted me. I replied in the negative and turned quickly to the National Alert Section of the News. There was only a video, a black video with a white circle on it.

I was not ready to realise that I was about to witness the most bone-chilling, petrifying information over the next three minutes, one which would turn my eyeballs white with dismay and fear.

It said thus:

!!!!DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR DEVICE!!!

THIS NOTICE IS BEING ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JAPANESE SECURITY

IN COLLABORATION WITH THE SCP FOUNDATION

ALL CITIZENS ARE ADVISED TO LISTEN TO THE VIDEO AND FOLLOW IT

I would have scoffed it off, until I noticed my father’s blank stare. It spoke no words, yet I felt as if the eyes were telling me to watch the full video. Hesitatingly, I turned my head to its previous position. The National notice further went on:

the following notice has been issued by the SCP Foundation.

The SCP Foundation is an organization that preserves and researches various anomalies in the human world. An anomaly is a creature, an event, or a situation that violates natural laws in some ways. We were operating in secret isolated from human population until today.

Recently the sun underwent a change in the previous 24 hours and has become anomalous. It appears to be redder than the actual sun and bigger. Anyone coming into contact with the light rays will immediately terminate, and be converted into a lump of organic matter that is hostile to humans.

DO NOT TRY TO INTERACT WITH THEM.

If they touch a human they will immediately be terminated and converted into the lump. If you see a family member, close friend, or your love interest get converted DO NOT APPROACH THEM. They are gone and will never be back.

Citizens are advised to stay inside their homes, pack up food and water, and stay in darkness. Keep firearms or blunt weapons such as a bat or an axe close if they manage to close up on you. 7,990,000 people have been estimated to be terminated. All survivors if any are requested to reach SCP facility 099 in Kyoto. A rocket will be waiting till 4 days from now to carry survivors into space. Anyone missing the rocket will be left behind.

Stay Safe. Secure. Contain. Protect. SCP.

I could feel my heart beating at twice its regular speed, and my face became as white as my blanket.

“This is bad, very bad.” I thought to myself as I kept down my mobile. Almost instantly my mind turned towards Nirato-chan. Was she safe? Was her family safe? I had to enquire. As much as I was fond of my parents, I knew Nirato-chan held a special place in my heart. Without her I’m not sure how I’d have lived.

“I just saw it. It seems bad. Is your family alright?” I asked her through my messenger.

“Yes, we’re in the basement. How about you?”

“All of us are in the bedroom, curtains drawn.”

“Nirato, honestly speaking, I’m scared”

There was silence. The status “online” simply stood out loudly among the texts, glaring at my eyes. But thankfully, the status broke and Nirato-chan replied.

“Kyoto, Kisouko. We need to get there before Tuesday. Transport is down, we need to go in our cars.”

This was the part of Nirato-chan that really attracted me. Even in the most worrisome times, she stayed composed and rational. Sometimes it makes me think how she ended up with such a nerve wrack as me.

But now was not the time to contemplate. It was the time to think and devise of a way to get to Kyoto.

“Otou-san, Okaa-san, we got to get running.” I said to them.

“But how Kisouko? We don’t have anything to shield us from the sun, or any weapons against those mud-piles!” My mother replied, her little pupils still trembling in fear.

I would have worried myself enough to fall unconscious, however I forced myself to remain calm. “Stay in Darkness.” – how can I use that advice to my advantage? I thought and thought, until something struck inside my head.

“Otou-san, I will need you to get up from the door.”

My father looked at me questioningly, almost as if implying that I was crazy.

“Before you say anything, listen to me. I’m the most fit amongst everybody here, so I will put the bed blanket on myself and go to your room to fetch the blanket, and any other weapon. Please do not disagree, we need to get to Kyoto and I do not plan to see Nirato-chan leaving me.”

I wasn’t sure if the last part of my request was what had the effect on them, but they looked at each other and then slowly nodded their head.

“Fine. But be quick. I don’t want to lose my son so quick.” My mother said.

She got up, took the blanket and wrapped it around me so that I only had my eyes poking out of the thick snow-white shield. Carefully, my father moved aside, one hand on the desk supporting his weight and the other on the doorknob, slowly twisting it.

I stepped out into the light, slowly, creeping like a snail. My eyes took some time to adjust to the bright environment outside. Once it did, I saw the reflection of the light on the floor.

It was an uncanny light which made me feel uncomfortable. It was blood red, like somebody mixed chemicals in it to turn the sun red. A part of me wanted to run back to the safe room, but I knew I had to go.

I made my way down the stairs extremely carefully. Both hands on the handle, I felt the next stair with my left leg and placed it there. Then I slowly placed my right leg. I then switched the position of the hands downwards, and repeated the process. As I had hardly any visibility, I used my left leg as a cane to guide me to the kitchen. There, I slowly found my way to the counter and grabbed all the silverware I could. Forks, spatulas, hand graters and the indispensable knives. With great care, I led them back to the stairs. But I met with a problem.

Both of my hands were full of silverwares. So, there was no way to feel the stairway handle. The only possibility was to crawl up, but with that thick of a blanket wrapped around me, it made things more difficult.

“Kuso!” I cursed under my breath. I had no other choice around me. I could do it in batches, but the whole staircase business was too risky to be attempted again. So, I positioned myself in front of the stairs like a caterpillar. The idea was to hug the silverware and use my arms to climb each stair at a time, while my legs would support the weight. I made sure to wrap my feet behind the blanket, so that any of the unwanted sunlight would fall on my hip, which was protected by my shorts. I tucked my shirt inside my shorts, and I began.

Slowly, I climbed up. For the most part, the strategy was working, and I was climbing up. I had to be keen not to deviate from a straight line, otherwise I would lose friction and roll down. 6th step, 7th step, 8th step. Stopped to regain my strength and breath. Again, 9th, 10th, 11th. I thought I would lose grip on my legs any moment, but I continued on.

After a death-defying 3 minutes, I found myself on the first floor, still crawling. The room was just in front of me. I could not afford to stand up, for I may lose my grip. So, I crawled to my room and headbutted it twice. Somebody opened the door, and I went inside.

I dropped the silverware on the lit table, and without stopping, I headed back out again. For what I knew, the troublesome part was done. Now all that was left was the big blanket in my parents’ room, which was beside mine. Again, with a snail pace, I crept to the adjacent room and slid open the sliding doors. The room had a big window above the tatami mats, which painted the entire room with a colour that made me feel like it was the end.

Except that it was.

The blanket, dyed a beautiful Sakura pink, was lying on the mats. It was twice as much heavier as the one I was cooping up in, so I had to drag it. It was my mother’s favourite blanket, and she would have screamed if there was even a speck of dust on it. But this time it was different. This time it was about living, not getting dirty.

I dragged it out to the opening of my room, when I turned back and instructed my huddled mother to go behind the door. That way I could open the door halfway and fit the blanket inside.

I waited for her to move into position when I pushed the door with my back faced towards it. I pulled the pink blanket inside, and my father closed the door. That was when I took off the blanket surrounding me, only to reveal a sweaty, steamy mess of me heaving for breath.

I was allowed to sit on the bed while my parents came up with an efficient method of reaching Kyoto. At that time, Nirato-chan called me.

“Kisouko, have you left yet?”

“No, we’re making preparations to do so.”

“We’re already on the way out. Salvaged some old samurai armour from my grandfather’s hidden closet.”

The Shikijimas had a very noble lineage. Nirato-chan said that her great-grandfather was the head of the emperor’s troops. Her grandfather was about to succeed his father, but chose to reitre to the countryside instead. I’m rather thankful he did, for I met Shikijima Nirato.

“Old samurais in modern-day Nippon? That’s a curious sight to see.” I remarked.

She giggled slightly. “Hey! Don’t call me old! By the way, what have you planned to wear today?”

“We are modest humans; we shall go out in blankets.”

I tried to throw in some humour to lighten the dark scenario, but instead of a guffaw I was given a tone of worry.

“Kisouko, you know we can pick you up, right? Your family would easily fit in our Toyota.”

“You’re heaving big chunks of metal. I’m not sure it would be easy for you to accommodate three ghosts.”

She was trying to be serious, but ended up giggling again. After a while, she continued.

“Whatever it may be, I hope everybody reaches soon. I’m going to be very upset if you don’t show up.”

“Yeah right, there’s no need for being that worried.”

“I hope so. Oh and one more thing before I let go, when you go out, do not stare. They will attack. And get inside the car as quick as you can. Be ready with knives if necessary.”

She cut the call.

“Okay Kisouko, I think we have a chance here. I’m gonna go in that white blanket of yours, while you and Shizuka go under the Sakura. There are 5 knives, I’ll carry two, you carry two and Shizuka will carry one. The spatulas will poke out of the blanket as a detection cane, and the forks will be set on the waists. Be ready to attack if required.”

And thus, the Hoyokamos got to work yet again.

We buckled up with our small weapons and mobiles, wrapped under thick armour and opened the room door again for the last time.

I applied the strategy of,” one leg down first, then the other” down the stairs, with my mother in pursuit, following my father.

The detection radars were working fine, and my mother grabbed the blanket to not allow light to touch my body. My father steamed ahead, poking everything with the wooden spatula. Who thought that a 150-yen kitchen utensil would one day potentially save our lives?

Eventually, my father reached the main door, and grabbed the car keys. I followed him to the entrance. Without looking at me or turning his head, he told me, “Kisouko, man your knife. I don’t know what they will look like, or how they attack, but get ready to stab and run.”

This was the moment of truth. Our little Mazda was parked right of our main entrance behind a collapsible gate. And while the gate was unbreachable, the main entrance was, so that was the battlefield for us.

Before my father was about to open the door, I screamed to stop him. A realization had struck me. How could he drive if he had no eye safety on? And what exactly was an “eye safety” in these circumstances? Calling Nirato wouldn’t work, for old samurai armour had sloping metal parts above the eyelids that diverted light. But nothing came to my mind, so I called her anyway.

“What’s up? Any problem?”

“Nirato-chan, what are you wearing on your eyes. Or rather, the driver’s eyes?”

“The driver’s eyes? Why, we used a pair of tinted swimming goggles that my brother wore for his lessons.”

That was it. Tinted objects.

I frantically cut down the line and urged my mother to follow me to the living room. I didn’t possess swimming goggles, but I recall to have bought a pair of cheap sunglasses on a vacation I went to previously.

I opened the drawers of the only table there, a polished dark oak cylinder, standing beside the sofa. I ransacked each drawer, until I finally found it, lying beneath a stack of papers.

I got back to my father. “Wear these. You can see outside then, atleast.”

He took them from below and wore them. After setting them properly, he looked up.

“Yoshi, here we go!” He was being unexpectedly energetic for a man of his age.

He opened the door. I was hoping for him to not spot anything unordinary, but people’s wishes sometimes don’t come true.

“Crap! Kisouko, Shizuka, on your left! Move right, move right!” He yelled.

We obeyed him like a flock of sheep, and dragged our feet while looking at the evidently blood-stained ground.

“You’re going too slow!.......Another one, straight up front! Keep going right until you reach the lilies!”

We did. Now was not the time to make a hushed tone. Our sandals made heavy clapping noises as we tried to battle between going fast and not tripping over.

“I can’t make it! Shizuka, turn left and stab that little crap with your knife, now!”

My mother jerked left and through a small opening, poked her knife, and then retreated it back. It did not work, for we heard sloshing sounds on the blanket.

“Harder Shizuka! All the way through!” My father screamed as he himself tried to engage the mud up front.

My mother poked again, pushing the knife way further inside this time. It might have worked, for we heard weird groaning sounds. While we were about to celebrate, one of my mother’s legs slipped on the blanket and she fell, towards me.

I managed to catch her, but in the process, I lost my balance. I grunted as I forced myself to get back up, but instead kept falling towards the ground. This was horrible. If we fell, the sunlight would hit our skin and we would be dead. In fact I saw the blood red colour creeping up more and more on the inside of the blanket, reaching ever closer to my mother’s legs.

“Kaasan!” I screamed as my legs folded up. I thought this was it, we’re both going to pass away like this, with my father screaming in terror towards us.

But something caught my neck. I hit my head hard on an object, and we stopped from falling. The sunlight was millimeters away from oxidizing my mother’s leg. “Are you okay, hahao?” I asked her. She was trembling heavily while grasping tightly to my shirt. Before I got up, my father blocked off the sunlight and stood there like a maverick, two knifes protruding outwards, ready to face the enemy.

I urged my mother to get up. She kicked around in the blanket, ruining its cleanliness, and then slowly stood up regaining traction.

“Open the gate, I’m defending you two!”

Though shaken with fear, We hurried our way to the door, without wasting a time. Kaasan poked a part of the blanket out of the small holes to cover my hand while I pulled the gate. I grabbed the small lock handle and pulled it with every bit of strength I had. It opened wide enough for my foot to pass through, after which I used both to open it.

“IT’S OPEN!” I screamed.

My father was getting cornered. I could not see, but his backward movement compelled me to think so.

“Good! Take these keys and open the door, but be quick!”

He threw the keys through an opening of the blanket, and it landed near my mother’s foot. She quickly pulled it inside the blanket and picked it up.

I took the key and rushed to the driver’s side, where I turned the key in the lock, opened the door, leaned inside and started the car.

Leaning outside, my mother already had the rear door open, and she got inside. I followed her in, being extremely vigilant of the blanket’s movements. I shut the door, and my father soon made his way backward to the driver’s seat. Once he got in, he shut the door, and tried to make a run for it.

But one of the mud hands broke the glass of the rear passenger window where I was sitting, and it was trying to reach out for something organic.

“Kisouko!” My mother yelped.

I remembered the forks attached to the elastic of my shorts. I took them, and stabbed all of them on the hand. The creature groaned in agony, twitching its “fingers” violently, while I cranked the rotor to pull up the window. Another of those creatures kept banging on the driver side window, trying to break in.

But sadly, for them, the foot was on the pedal and the car huffed and puffed before exiting the driveway. I just managed to pull up my window, but in the process, the liquid goo fell to the car floor with a definitive “slosh”.

While we were exiting, I opened the door slightly and using my sandals, kicked it off the car, then closed and locked the door. My mother locked the door on the other side.

I could not see anything. My head was down and all I could see was the gray floor, a colour so beautiful I could stare at it for an eternal period of time. My mother was beside me the entire time, her eyes closed, feet together and hands joined, muttering something in prayer. My father drove our Mazda, swerving every so often to avoid these “mud-creatures”. Kyoto was 15 minutes away, and we hoped to reach there safely by God’s grace.

I felt weak in my knees. Maybe it was because of the fear, maybe it was because of anxiety. My heart throbbed violently all the while, urging me to get some rest, while my brain had more important questions. Who were the ones who attacked us in our courtyard? What exactly happened? in our courtyard? Why did it happen? Who made it happen? Will I ever get to see people again? My friends? Our neighbor Kasho-san and his beautiful mistress, the English spaniel? Did Nirato reach the destination safely?

It was my birthday tomorrow. My father promised me to buy a game of my choice for my birthday. Yet, those feelings flew away, like a robin from a cage, only to be replaced by a raven and his slow, ominous calls. I had planned events ahead of time, but there was no point in further dwelling about them, for those days are never to come, never to come.

I didn’t even get to see the things that attacked us today. Their brown-green colour and a moist, slippery surface was all I could get a grasp of. Maybe the time for the final countdown of earth has finally come. The order to wipe out humanity was passed by the Omnipotent, and none shall now defy him. Yet here we are, still indefatigably trying to survive, for humanity will always find a way to live, no matter how difficult the circumstances. The destitute beg the bystanders for charity, the frustrated office worker always argues with his wife at home with finance, the worried girl always wishes to forget the trauma that they’ve experienced. On the other hand, the ministers swell their stomachs with sweets, the rich drive about in expensive sedans, and the army man tries his best to stay awake during night duty. All the traits of humanity, now slowly but surely fading away into the realm of mist, as we gradually approach the fallen city of Kyoto, once a paradise, now a scorching wasteland, dyed with a colour that makes it near unrecognisable under a small twinkle in the night sky we previously knew as our sun. Its fierce presence painted the skies red, refusing the other stars to notice the activity roused on our planet Earth.

Our blue Mazda took a sharp turn right and entered into a fairly well cemented road. After travelling some distance, it stopped sharply. The sharp jerk forwards snapped me out of my thought and started firing my curiosity about the events happening outside my restricted view. I wanted to look up but I dared not to, fearing death. Our car then slowly started moving forward, until the lit floor of the car soon became dark, only to be lit up again, but this time brighter than before.

“You two can take off those blankets off now, it is safe.” My father said. “Kisouko, you can look up now, we’re not under the sun anymore.”

I slowly looked up. Instead of a usual red background I was greeted with the colours of white and black, the indication that we were in some form of a tunnel. I helped my mother out of the blanket first, and she exited the vehicle. I exited the vehicle after her, but chose to keep the blanket on. I felt safer that way. My eyes could not have been more blessed. Being able to use my eyes to detect other spectra of light again filled me with huge relief. I noticed a few cars in front of ours too, although there were only a handful. My father joined me, stretched his hands and emitted a few grunts. He then slowly removed the sunglasses and kept them in his trouser pocket. I noticed my mother paying obeisance to Him with the deepest gratitude I have ever seen.

A few minutes later, a blue SUV joined the convoy and parked right behind ours. The doors opened, and I could hear a heavy clanking of metal and steel as it banged on the hard concrete floor. I heard a few words being exchanged among the people in the car, and then they slowly started roaming around the tunnel.

A regular boy in a white blanket standing in front of a few people wearing the noble Japanese samurai armour. What a ridiculous situation, I thought.

But hold on, samurai outfits, in modern day Japan? I tried to recall my memory. Looking at the badge of the car manufacturer made me realise that there was a chance it could be Nirato. No, it must definitely be her.

Without a word to either of my parents, I went to investigate the other side of the SUV. As I went closer, I heard a girl complaining. It was a voice as sweet as a mango during the summer season, but as strong as a pineapple. I kept creeping closer, only to find myself in front of a samurai with her sword unsheathed.

It was indeed, her.

“Kisouko, is that you?” the voice was rather feeble, hopeful.

I tried to reply, but I found it difficult to articulate my thoughts. She removed her helmet, and sheathed her sword. The armour was bulky, so she walked slowly.

“Oh my god that is you!” Her voice raised and got accentuated at the end. She was happy to see me alive, as a human. She was about to make a run towards me until she realised something, made a grumpy face, and went back. Minutes later, the Nirato I knew came forwards in her casual dress.

I tried to express happiness, but my jaw failed me again. I just could not speak at that time. Nirato must have understood my anguish, for she charged straight at me, wrapping her arms around like a mother to her new-born. And just like the child, the sudden warmth of the action filled me with comfort as I found myself lose all control to my legs and charge down to earth. My exhaustion finally caught up to me as my consciousness slowly faded away, my eyelids drooping down involuntarily.

I was not sure what happened in between, but I woke up to Nirato patting my head in the back of their SUV, converted to a camp-style for more sleeping room.

“You finally woke up.” Her voice was comforting, almost motherly.

“How’v long I ‘sleep?” I asked her in a half-awake tone.

“Long enough.” She giggled away her adorable giggle, the way she usually did.

She offered me a bottle of water which I drank away instantly. After collecting myself, I turned back to her.

Her eyes were staring into mine, like a mother’s gaze, assuring safety. Her legs were outstretched, crossing each other.

“We did it.” I said after a brief pause.

She nodded her head. “You did it, Kisouko.”

“I heard it all from your father, Kisouko. You fought them.” She continued.

“I merely wished to save my family from them.” I replied.

“And that’s what’s kept you alive and well.”

“Without your help with the sunglasses, I’m not sure how I woul-”

She did not let me finish. As sleek as a deer, she pressed her index finger on my lips while approaching closer.

“No need. You’re here, aren’t you?” She said softly to me.

“Are we going to do it?” I asked, removing her finger.

She giggled again, but this time, she kept smiling. I may have noticed a tear or two forming up in one of her eyes, while her lips moved audibly, saying a phrase that my mother might’ve also heard when she fell for my father.

Three days passed by with a flash. We were given rations and water at periodic intervals by the Foundation. Every day, one or two more cars would show up, another family or two survived. My birthday was still celebrated of course, although not as it was expected. There was no cake, no game, no gifts; or rather, the people around me were all of them. My father’s incessant apologies were drowned by the laughter and dance that my and Nirato’s families did the entire day. Nirato’s father even invited every other survivor and the Foundation members to dance with them as well. Perhaps this was the gift that was meant for me. Or more specifically, her face when it lighted up under the rather indifferent white light emanating from the bulbs on the ceiling.

It’s true we’ve lost many friends, many relatives, even family members. Our daily lifestyle has been affected too. We will grieve for the lost souls, thank Him for the chance of survival and wish to atone for our sins. But humans will move on. They always do. That’s how they’ve developed, colonised and urbanised the whole world. And while the doomsday clock of earth strikes midnight the next day, we will have successfully escaped it by then, looking for new planets to humanise. And if we don’t, we have the rockets here, an un-ending source of life, thriving.

The fourth day came to a close. All the cars inside the rocket, the final sirens blare. The last of the Foundation members wait for some more time before boarding the ship themselves. And on 12:00AM on the 12th of December, the rocket blasted off, bidding its final farewell to the soil and the home that housed it for the few numbers of days it soaked under the sun. I tried to remove the thought of people being left behind, for it was too much to absorb even for me. I focused on the last survivors on the rocket, my parents, Nirato’s family, and most importantly, Nirato herself. Her smile was enough to light up the dark days and nights of the unforgiving space for the rest of my life.

Kisouko was finally ending his retrospection when Nirato joined him.

“What’re you thinking?” She asked.

He blinked twice, fully snapping out of his daydream. His eyes met Nirato’s, sparkling under the light.

“Oh nothing, just reminiscing.” He replied.

“The good old days of Earth, right? It’s a pity our children can’t see it anymore.” She was sorrowful.

“At least they live to see another day, that’s honestly all that matters to me.” Kisouko smiled.

Nirato stared for some time at him, then broke into a giggle. The same old adorable giggle.

“Remember the 9th? Your father looked more morose than you for him not buying you the game.” She reminded Kisouko. “Then you turned towards me and said that you were happy that your parents allowed you to stay with Nirato.”

Kisouko blushed. He tried to defend the embarrassment, but could not articulate words. His eyes shot downwards, towards the clean Sakura blanket.

“But what I didn’t tell you that day was how happy it made when I heard that. I was very sure my heart flipped thrice.” Her voice this time was softer, almost a murmur. She was blushing too, but Kisouko had his head sharply down, not noticing.

A brief moment of silence passed in that room. However, calling it “silent” was a bit of an overstatement, given how the children acted in the room beside.

“The curry should be ready by now. Would you get the kids ready for dinner?” She asked him, ready to leave.

“Right…. I’ll be on it.” Came the reply.

Nirato smiled her motherly smile once more before retreating into the kitchen, manning her silicone spatula. Kisouko got out of his chair and looked at the red dot again. He heaved a big, long sigh before exiting the bedroom.

-----x------

By Tunir Bhattacharya