Word Warring again
Another 600 words or so...
"How's your homework," Mark's mom was now standing at the top of the stairs. Mark sighed but pulled out the homework papers from his bookbag, setting the journal aside. He was starting to tell her about the new assignment for his general science class when he saw his mom was holding the flowered cover journal. "What's this?" she asked with curiousity.
"Um," Mark hesitated. "That's from a...friend."
"Oh?" She flipped through it a bit, looking at the pencil marks and alien doodles. "Your friend James?"
"No, another friend."
"Looks like a story," said his mom, reading a couple of lines. Mark watched her, worried. "Yeah, she wrote a story about aliens." That really got his mom's attention. "A she person gave you this then?" she smiled that smile mom's always get when they think you've been out behaving older than you really are. That one that says, my little boy is growing up. Mark growled a bit and said yes before snatching the journal and stuffing it into his bag. "Not that kind of girl."
"I see," said his mom, still smiling. "Well, let me know if you need help with anything. I'll be down in the living room with your father." She went back down the stairs, pausing for a second to look back knowingly.
Mark waiting till she was gone before he rolled his eyes. Girls, he thought. Who needs them?
He did a bit of homework after that but didn't get very far. That journal was peeking out of the top of his bag and it kept distracting him. Finally, he rationalized that he needed a break and went back to looking at it. He kind of missed the necklace bookmark but he knew that he did the right thing by giving it back to Yuyu.
As he flipped back to the part where Mara had left off, he found something startling. There was more writing. It was in the same hand but written in a blue colored pen. "She finished it," said Mark, getting excited that the story wasn't over yet. Homework forgotten, he started back into it...
Mara's hand had slid off the page. She couldn't see it too well anymore anyway. Her breaths were already pretty shallow and things were getting a bit blurry around her.
She was sitting on the floor of the ship, propped up against one of the empty gel tanks. In front of her was the large viewscreen that was in front of the driver's seat for the ship. Yuyu was breathing slower too, leaning against the levers as he steered them towards the large blue and white ball on the screen that was getting closer with every second. He looked over at Mara because the scratching of her pencil had stopped. She had slumped over onto the floor, the pencil and journal falling from her hands. Her eyes were closed and the only movement was her shallow breathing. Yuyu wasn't feeling too good himself. He had only done a landing once in the simulator to get certified for his maintenance position on the ship. And although this was a much smaller ship, he was the only one manning it at the moment. They were almost there, but he wasn't sure if they were going to make it. Or a worse possibilty, he might make it but Mara wouldn't. And he would be all alone on a strange planet with strange creatures that didn't understand what he was saying. He shoved that idea from his mind and tried to concentrate on getting the ship to angle correctly for a landing. It was hard with the lack of oxygen. Usually the ship would recycle the oxygen out of the emissions inside of it like carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide but this ship had been in the repair dock. The air recycler had quit working three sections into their trip.
They were almost close enough to see the mountains...
"How's your homework," Mark's mom was now standing at the top of the stairs. Mark sighed but pulled out the homework papers from his bookbag, setting the journal aside. He was starting to tell her about the new assignment for his general science class when he saw his mom was holding the flowered cover journal. "What's this?" she asked with curiousity.
"Um," Mark hesitated. "That's from a...friend."
"Oh?" She flipped through it a bit, looking at the pencil marks and alien doodles. "Your friend James?"
"No, another friend."
"Looks like a story," said his mom, reading a couple of lines. Mark watched her, worried. "Yeah, she wrote a story about aliens." That really got his mom's attention. "A she person gave you this then?" she smiled that smile mom's always get when they think you've been out behaving older than you really are. That one that says, my little boy is growing up. Mark growled a bit and said yes before snatching the journal and stuffing it into his bag. "Not that kind of girl."
"I see," said his mom, still smiling. "Well, let me know if you need help with anything. I'll be down in the living room with your father." She went back down the stairs, pausing for a second to look back knowingly.
Mark waiting till she was gone before he rolled his eyes. Girls, he thought. Who needs them?
He did a bit of homework after that but didn't get very far. That journal was peeking out of the top of his bag and it kept distracting him. Finally, he rationalized that he needed a break and went back to looking at it. He kind of missed the necklace bookmark but he knew that he did the right thing by giving it back to Yuyu.
As he flipped back to the part where Mara had left off, he found something startling. There was more writing. It was in the same hand but written in a blue colored pen. "She finished it," said Mark, getting excited that the story wasn't over yet. Homework forgotten, he started back into it...
Mara's hand had slid off the page. She couldn't see it too well anymore anyway. Her breaths were already pretty shallow and things were getting a bit blurry around her.
She was sitting on the floor of the ship, propped up against one of the empty gel tanks. In front of her was the large viewscreen that was in front of the driver's seat for the ship. Yuyu was breathing slower too, leaning against the levers as he steered them towards the large blue and white ball on the screen that was getting closer with every second. He looked over at Mara because the scratching of her pencil had stopped. She had slumped over onto the floor, the pencil and journal falling from her hands. Her eyes were closed and the only movement was her shallow breathing. Yuyu wasn't feeling too good himself. He had only done a landing once in the simulator to get certified for his maintenance position on the ship. And although this was a much smaller ship, he was the only one manning it at the moment. They were almost there, but he wasn't sure if they were going to make it. Or a worse possibilty, he might make it but Mara wouldn't. And he would be all alone on a strange planet with strange creatures that didn't understand what he was saying. He shoved that idea from his mind and tried to concentrate on getting the ship to angle correctly for a landing. It was hard with the lack of oxygen. Usually the ship would recycle the oxygen out of the emissions inside of it like carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide but this ship had been in the repair dock. The air recycler had quit working three sections into their trip.
They were almost close enough to see the mountains...