The trees shifted and the branches swayed gently with the evening breeze. Hope skipped merrily along the trail, following closely behind her mother. Chell often took Hope to see sunsets, and show her the beauty of the world around them.
"Never take a sunset for granted. It's a luxury that some people don't have." she told her daughter.
"Why can't some people see the sun?" Hope asked.
"Well, they could be blind, or trapped somewhere. In some places the world is still unfair."
Hope grumbled something under her breath. She hated hearing that. She didn't want to believe that such a beautiful place could be unjust and mean. As much as Chell wanted her to go on believing that, reality was going to make itself present in Hope's life one day, and Chell needed to prepare her for that.
They stopped at a small hill, just below a tree. This was Chell's favorite spot to escape to and look at the sky. It was a good distance from any light in town, making a perfect spot for stargazing. Chell rarely went stargazing, for good reasons too. Sometimes she found the display comforting, and sometimes it just made her angry.
Hope hauled herself up onto a low hanging branch in the tree, and settled herself on it. Watching sunsets taught Chell patience, as it took a while for them to appear. She was relieved they taught Hope the same thing too. Over time, the solid blue canvas above gave way to an array of pink, orange, red, and purple. Every time, Hope would say that she liked those colors the best, although she liked every color. She says that about everything, and it's getting hard to believe she has a favorite anything.
"I wish there weren't so many clouds in the way." Hope sighed.
She instantly forgot that comment when she spotted a strangely shaped cloud. She pointed up at the sky.
"That one looks like a fish!"
Chell nodded, and searched for another odd cloud.
"And see that one? It looks a bit like a horse."
Hope looked at it and frowned.
"Looks more like a dog to me. It's too fluffy for a horse."
"Well you don't know that!" Chell laughed. "Horses can be fluffy."
"That's ponies. Ponies are fluffy." she corrected.
Chell shrugged.
"Agree to disagree."
They continued to debate the shapes of clouds for the next two hours, until the sky went dark and the clouds could no longer be seen. The wind started to pick up, sending waves through the long grass. One by one, the stars started to appear between the gaps in the clouds, greeting earth with a familiar twinkle. Chell didn't quite feel like staring up at a certain reminder, so she rose to her feet and stretched, preparing for the walk home.
"Alright, let's head home hun."
"Can we please stay just a bit longer? It's not that late." said Hope, sliding gently off her tree branch.
"I'm sorry but it's getting cold. I don't want you sick."
"But the stars are so pretty!" Hope pleaded. "Also, I didn't hear you complaining about the cold when we played in the rain yesterday."
Hope had a point there. Chell didn't say a thing about the cold weather the previous day. Why did her daughter have to be so clever?
"Oh, okay. You get twenty minutes. No more, no less."
Hope bounced up and down excitedly and climbed back into her place in the tree.
"Thanks mommy!"
Chell sighed and sat back down in the grass. This wasn't really how she wanted to spend her night, but she didn't have much of a choice. Didn't know what she wanted to do tonight. Read, watch television, maybe just go to bed. Anything other than spend time staring at the sky. That endless void. A place so beautiful, yet home to a something who Chell never wanted to see again. He was up there, probably mocking her, using up what bit of power he had left in the process.
Good. she thought. Die alone, you should've seen it coming.
After all this time, Chell was still very bitter. He was the very reason she hated stargazing on most nights. He absolutely ruined that for her. That spherical little idiot wrecked every bit of trust she had, and it took forever to gain enough back to at least talk to people. Chell thought he was her friend. Of course, she should've known it was too good to be true. Trust isn't a thing that exists in that place and if any is formed it's guaranteed it won't last long. Obviously, Chell still despised him for that. She always would. That thing doesn't have the slightest clue how lucky he is to be so far away from Chell. Otherwise he'd be dead on sight, then she'd use his parts as spares for her truck. Or, now that she thought about it, her house really needed a bit of decoration. Maybe he could be reduced to wind chimes for her porch.
The visions of herself finding several various ways to repurpose Wheatley caused a sinister smile to creep across Chell's face. She knew she'd never actually get the chance to go through with these cause she would never see him again, but it was fun to dream.
Hope struggled to suppress a yawn, which her mother heard anyway. Chell came over to her daughter and gently helped her down from the branch.
"Alright, now it's really time to go. Let's get you to bed hun."
Hope just nodded, and did nothing to protest this time. She was tired, and so was Chell.
They trudged down the beaten dirt path, which led back to the small cluster of homes where they lived. It was about a fifteen minute walk, so the house wasn't too far away. Chell made sure never to stray too far from town without any way to defend herself, and she absolutely never by any means allowed Hope to go anywhere alone. Hope was only nine. She couldn't protect herself if something happened and her mother wasn't there. As for those fields on the far side of town? Forbidden. Strictly. Chell would never forgive herself if Hope ended up trapped out there. What if- no.
She didn't want to spend another second thinking about it. That place was history, and her daughter didn't need to hear even the slightest whisper of its existence. In the past it was, in the past it still remains, and in the past it'll stay forever. No more Aperture.
The door swiftly slammed shut with a loud WHACK, causing a tremor to run through the whole shed. It was pitch black out, save for the single, dying lamp above the door he'd just been tossed from. It's absolutely mad to think that the only world he'd known his whole life was miles underneath that sad little building, surrounded by a wheat field. The night sky stretched endlessly above him. Wow, he was really all the way up there? All that surrounded him was so foreign. Odd. Out of place. The faint rustling of the wheat stalks in the breeze, the endless sky above, the facility from the outside. Everything around him felt overwhelming. His situation slowly sank in. He's out here all alone without a clue what to do. Yes, she had just given him instructions, but he was so terrified out of his mind when they were given that they barely stuck. His goal was to find something. What that was, he wasn't sure of. It could be any number of things with how much stuff is out here. Everything was still so fuzzy to him. He attempted to sort through what just happened, but gave up once he realized he barely had the energy. He couldn't even get up. Oh well, the ground felt like a nice place to rest anyway. It's good enough. He allowed himself to give into the strange sensation of sleep. As he did, he could feel himself slipping away from the world. Hopefully he'd wake up in the morning with enough energy to carry on. Otherwise, all he just worked through would've been for nothing.
His body lay motionless before the dim light of the shed. The stars flickered and danced above, taunting him. He could almost hear their begging, pleading for him to return and accompany them.
Not now. It's too much. He answered with a quiet sigh. Just, let me take a minute.
Their pleading turned to nagging, and then half-hearted insults.
Coward.
Alright, he could live with that.
Weak.
Fine.
Moron.
At that he shifted uncomfortably, but didn't bother replying. Yeah, he deserved that. The sky was right, he really was a moron, but at least now he could accept it.
