Last Dance

The door slid open and he was standing there. His hair was matted down with blood and it hung in his eyes. His shirt was stained a crimson color like it had been dyed that way. His hand was extended forward like it was grasping for something. He limped forward, leaving a trail of bloody footprints on the steel floor.

"Jet, I waited but you never came. Why didn't you come for me Jet?" He said weakly and coughed. The cough had a horrible sound, like lungs full of blood. He collapsed onto the floor and faded away.

Jet woke up and sat straight up in his bed. Beads of sweat slid over his baldhead and down his face. He put his head in his hands and whimpered to himself. "I tried Spike." He pulled the sweat soaked covers off and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He tried to stand up but his wounded leg gave out underneath him and he fell to his knees. "Aghh." He cried out in pain. Forcing himself up he sat back down on the bed and flicked on the lights.

He looked at the mirror next to the bed and saw a ghost of what he was. He had bags under his eyes and his eyes were bloodshot. His face was an ashen color and his expression sagged. His bare chest glistened with a layer of sweat. Reaching over to the shelf he picked up his shirt and his cane. He put the shirt on and stood up with the help of the cane. He walked out his room door and shut the lights off.



He walked up the rotating ramp toward the lookout room. When he got there he noticed he wasn't alone. Faye was looking out the bubble windows at the landscape of Mars gliding past below the ship. He could see her reflection in the windows it looked like she had been crying again.

"Hi Jet. Couldn't sleep either?" She brought her hands up to her face and wiped her cheeks off. "How's that leg doing?" She added, turning around.

Jet's cane clicked on the steel deck as he made his way to the windows. He nodded to her "It hurts but its getting better. You really miss him don't you?"

She turned away and put her head in her hands. "What does it matter? He's gone! He walked out on us. He could've left all this behind but he was too lost in his dreams to see that! I don't know why I even cared that he left." She burst into tears and fell into Jet's arms. "Why? Why did he go off to die like that?"

"I wish I knew. I really do." Jet held her and stared out the windows. Hundreds of ships were either leaving or arriving on Mars. He could see the hyperspace gates flash and ships exit from them. The star field twinkled and Jet thought about all those stars so far away. Giant stars dying and new ones being created. He wondered if Spike was out there somewhere floating amongst the stars.

The both of them sat down and stared out at the stars together. "Where should we go now? There has got to be some place we haven't seen." Jet mused absentmindedly.

"Away. Just take me away I don't want to remember him anymore." She sobbed.