When I was young my mother would always call me inside before night swept us up in its blanket. At first I thought nothing of it. I was too distracted by the dust floating through a beam of light...the smell of peach cobbler drifting from the kitchen...the itchy splinter caught under my palm.
As I grew older, ducking under wooden gates became climbing barbedwire fences, and my voice dropped to an unearthly octave, I became more and more aware of my mothers actions. She would never come outside with me to gaze at the stars above. She was always too tired or too chilled to bear the cold air. Never leaving the house after night fall.
I think it frightened her.
Up above, there was so much life. Millions of galaxies, stars, planets, and beings yet to be discovered. So many adventures waiting for me. The cosmos were so small that I could block them with my hand. So many blips in time, just a sparkle in the vast space. Light that had just reached my eyes had already occured thousands of years ago.
My mother remained in the house. Our subtely decorated walls and simple possesions calmed her. To my mother the stars were the candles of my father's vigil. Space was my father's grave, his body claimed by the very adventure I craved.
I remember on her birthday one year, I took her into my bedroom. We were greeted by a crudelly made blanket fort, that snuggly held us just as the darkness did. I held her hand while I felt under my bed for my masterpiece: a large box poked full of holes of various shapes and sizes. I then placed the box of our heads and lit the light above us to a mere five percent. What greeted her was a galaxy of stars shining through brightly. I whispered to her " now you can gaze at the stars, without ever leaving the house"
My mother just held me and cried.
I woke up the next morning to her smiling face. There was more life in her smile then I'd ever seen in a long time.
Kirk recalled these childhood memories as he searched for the stars above him. He searched and searched, but all he could see was black. Fogginess swarmed his mind, ensuring that his thoughts blurred from one to the other. Consciousness left him as he sank deeper and deeper into the dark.
-Kirk's eyes snapped open. A surge of adrenaline shot through him as he became more aware of his surroundings. Gasping, he felt a searing pain in his left side. Daring to look down was a big mistake. The mess of flesh and bone displayed before him caused a wave of nausea so intense that the edges of his vision blackened. Forced to lie down once more until his head cleared and stomach contents stayed right where they were, Kirk tried to remember…
"SHIT…"
The past events suddenly rushed into his mind. The escape… the cracking ice…falling further and further… Bones shouting his name…the beast's tentacles wrapped tightly around his leg, and then a bone chilling cold surrounding him. Trapped in his icy tomb.
