[m]ten

Richard climbed out the crater – no easy task, but he didn’t let it stop him – and set off again. At first, he didn’t care which way he went, as long as he went somewhere, but he quickly realized that that would get him nowhere. He then set himself towards his previously chosen stalagmite – this time going around the crater he had fallen into. He didn’t want to learn that lesson again.

As he walked towards the stalagmite, he thought he saw smoke rising in the distance. Was it a fire? He didn’t the moon could catch fire because of the weak atmosphere, but then again, he was breathing. He found this thought returning to his mind whenever he encountered something that didn’t make sense, and it was starting to drive him crazy. In fact, this whole situation was starting to drive him crazy.

He didn’t stop walking, but he found himself tensing up. His fists were clenched, and he was breathing heavier. “WHY?!” he shouted. “Why am I on the moon?? Why am I able to survive on the moon?? It would be nice if at least ONE thing made sense around here!!”

He stopped. He had just come to the top of a small hill, and looking ahead, he saw something familiar. It should be good to see something familiar, but he couldn’t help but feel otherwise this time.

What he saw was a small, rectangular cabin made of wood, with smoke coming out of a short, fat chimney.

Richard was frozen in place. Was this “his” cabin? The one he woke up in? The one where all of this started?

He suddenly bolted and ran straight towards the cabin. He forgot about his stalagmite. He forgot about his dreams. He forgot about his anger and thought only of one thing.

It couldn’t be. It can’t be my cabin.

As he got closer, he could see that the door was open. He could see a fire inside the fireplace.

He raced up the steps and stopped in the middle of the room. There was a bed that looked just like his bed and a pair of polished shoes just like his work shoes right next to it. There was a half-finished glass of water on the nightstand, right where he had left it two nights ago.

This was his cabin.

Richard was distraught. He had walked all that way, only to accidentally walk all the back? That wasn’t a short distance either!

He sat down on the bed. He really wasn’t sure how far he had walked, he just knew that it felt like a long time, and it had seemed like he had covered a lot of ground. He must’ve gotten disoriented when he climbed out of the crater and headed towards the wrong stalagmite.

“Gotten” disoriented. He could hear the voice of his old elementary school teacher correcting him, saying it should be “become” disoriented.

Richard shook his head. It didn’t matter now. He had already spent most of two days on the moon and was no closer to getting off than he was when he started.

He hung his head between his knees.

He saw something peculiar. It was a key, right between his work shoes, where he normally kept his keys. Only these weren’t his keys, and it was only one key, not a set, and he had never seen a key quite like this before.

he leaned over and picked it up. It had a round base like a key for a pay-per-use locker at a theme park, but it was significantly larger and longer than one of those keys. The notches on the sides were longer than a normal key, and they had strange shapes to them. What could it be for?

Richard stood up and scratched his head. Of course, another mystery for him to ponder. Looking up, he glanced through one of the windows and did a double take.

There was a rocket ship standing outside.

Maybe that’s what the key is for, Richard thought.

[m]nine

Richard laid there for a while. He felt a lot like the child who said, “Not yet Mom – just five more minutes – I don’t want to go to school!” He was never one for sleeping in – he always got up a little early, even on days off, and he never got up later than 8:00 a.m. – but he really, really didn’t want to get up this morning. If you could call it morning. The stress of the nightmare – or rather, all of his strange dreams – had worn on him. The whole hitting-his-head-and-passing-out-thing probably didn’t help any, either.

I have to get up, he thought. I need to get off of the moon!

But I’m really tired, another part of him thought. I’ve been through a lot.

Putting it off is only going to make this ordeal last longer, the first part of him replied.

Yeah, but is it really that bad here?

What on earth are you talking about, this is the moon! How could it not be bad?

Well, you’re able to breathe.

Yes, that is rather peculiar – and good – but what does that have to do with anything?

There’s also a cabin – complete with a fireplace, clothes, a bed… I bet there’s even food in there somewhere!

…and?

You have everything you need here! Why would you want to leave?

…

Richard couldn’t answer that question. He wasn’t willing to accept that living on the moon was okay, but he had no good argument against it.

See? said the one side of his thoughts.

Richard was struggling. He scrunched up his face.

You don’t have a good answer because there isn’t one!

Richard rolled onto his side, hoping he could block out the voice. He wished he had a pillow to hold over his ears.

Stop wasting all your energy and strength and just –

NO!

Richard screamed the word at the top of his lungs.

He found himself sitting bolt upright. Startled, he looked around, listening. The voice was gone.

Richard sat there for a moment, rather stunned at the whole incident, then quickly stood up. He wasn’t going to wait any longer – he was getting off the moon, and he was getting off now.

[m]eight

Richard woke with a start. He was dreaming again, not about Madeline this time, but about strange, terrible creatures – not all of the creatures were bad, mind you, but they were all quite terrifying. He looked around. The utter darkness surrounding him was better than the dreams, but not much. For all he knew, the creatures he had dreamt about could be living in the darkness.

Richard shivered – partly out of fear, but mostly because he was still so cold. There was no wind, which made the whole situation feel worse – the absolute stillness made everything feel closer to death.

Once the night had enveloped the moon, Richard had turned around and gone down to the bottom of the crater. He figured if nothing else, he would find some sort of insulation there, like in a basement. Basements are usually colder than any other part of a house, because the temperature in them doesn’t change much – while the rest of the house warms up because of a furnace or heater, the basement remains at the same temperature. Richard knew this, and hoped it would hold true in the crater.

It did, although not to the same degree as a basement – but anything warmer than where he was when night fell was good. He had toyed with the idea of returning to his cabin, but he quickly realized that it would be nearly impossible to find it in the total darkness. Even if he could have found it, he would probably have frozen to death or passed out from the cold before he got there.

Richard sat up. He wondered how long it had been since he first fell asleep. “Fell asleep” might not be the best term, he thought to himself. He had slept, but only fitfully – he had continually passed between a light sleep and a semi-conscious state in which he was vaguely aware of his surroundings. Whenever he was able to think about it, he would rub his hands and feet together to keep his fingers and toes from getting frostbite. He really wished he had put on some shoes and socks before leaving the cabin. It was difficult to think at all in the constant half-sleep, and it didn’t really help his dreams much, either.

Much like when night fell, Richard suddenly became aware of a growing light. Before long, it was bright enough to see all around the whole crater, even up to the rim on all sides. To the east, he could see what looked like the sun peeking up over the horizon.

He scratched his head. He was confused. He didn’t think “dawn” and “dusk” – if you could call them that here – happened this way on the moon. It didn’t really happen this way at nightfall – unless he slept through it when he was unconscious.

He stood up and turned around. He could hear a strange droning nose – somewhat like the engine in a bus sounds when you fall asleep on a long bus ride – and it was growing louder. Richard tensed up. He didn’t know what this was, but all of his dreams made him very uneasy about it. It sounded like some sort of vehicle, but unlike any he had heard before, and, judging by the sound, the vehicle was getting closer. And there was nowhere to hide.

Suddenly, the vehicle roared over the top of the crater and rushed straight towards Richard. He dived out of the way, and the vehicle skidded across the dirt, stopping a few yards away.

Richard flipped himself over and leaned back on his arms, out of breath. The vehicle had six wheels, and looked exactly like his idea of a moon buggy. A door on the side, hinged on the bottom, opened up and made a ramp to the ground. A person in a space suit stepped out. He was about the size of a human being – in fact, his suit looked just like the ones worn by American astronauts!

Richard got to his feet and stood up slowly. Was this person here to rescue him? He looked like an astronaut, so maybe someone from the International Space Station had discovered his plight and came to take him home!

The astronaut moved his hands to the base of his helmet, and began to pull it off with a hiss. Richard’s eyes widened in horror. Instead of a human face, he saw two large, black, bulbous eyes, and tentacles protruding from every part of the creature’s head! It reached out a hand and took a step towards him.

Richard jerked awake. He was covered in sweat, and breathing heavily. At least he was warm, he thought dryly. He shook himself to make sure he wasn’t still dreaming. He wasn’t.

Sitting up, Richard discovered that it was, in fact, light outside, which was probably why he dreamt about it. He was right about the “dawn,” however – he couldn’t see the sun over the horizon, and the only thing the moon’s morning had in common with the earth’s was the growing light.

Richard felt his toes, ears, nose, and fingers – they were all still intact. In fact, now that it was morning, it was getting warmer, and no part of him was overwhelmingly cold anymore. He had survived the night.