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He was too young for this.
He really, honestly, truthfully was, and Cricket just couldn’t take the pain and mental anguish of the situation anymore.
He’d lost his family. His entire family, gone in an instant. No doubt they were dead, and if they weren’t, he doubted he’d ever see them again.
Which is partially why he couldn’t quit crying as he hugged himself for comfort.
“I want my dad,” he whispered, inhaling sharply as he tried to calm himself down. He couldn’t quit sobbing.
“Please…”
He’d never be able to go home. To kiss Phoenix’s forehead before he went to play outside every morning, to hug Remy when he arrived at his house to hang out, to feel that flutter in his chest when he talked to Gabs.
He’d never be able to go home.
And he’d never be able to take those words back either.
—
“Papa?!” Tilly cried into the vast emptiness of space as she frantically looked around for any possible chance that she’d find someone. She’d been calling for anyone; Papa, Cricket, Gramma, Commander Voyd. She just wanted somebody.
That last cry she made for her father barely escaped her lips as she croaked them out. Her voice was scratchy and only a whisper from how much she’d been screaming.
Tilly fell silent as her reality settled in, and she looked around, slowly this time. Taking in the scene.
She was all alone.
“No…” she whispered, “No. No that… that can’t be.”
If she could fall limp, if gravity existed in that instance to let her, she would have. All Tilly could do was simply float along the invisible, nonexistent current of the stars as tears floated away from her eyes. She didn’t have the strength to fully cry, sob, or wail, but it wasn’t like she could stop the tears from coming despite how emotionally drained she felt.
Tilly screwed her eyes shut in an attempt to ward off reality, trying to keep her breathing steady as she felt hopelessness drag her under.
She’d never make it home. She’d never make it home to tell her mama that she loved her, to hug Gloria before she left for work every morning, to hold her Grampa’s hand as they walked across the field on a warm afternoon.
She’d never get to do any of those things.
She finally choked out a sob as she hugged herself for comfort.
She wanted to live so badly.
—
Tilly waited for what seemed like hours, and maybe it had been as she flipped through her ‘journal’. All of those memories she captured felt so small in the overall narrative of whatever story they were placed into.
What genre would it be? In her opinion, it couldn’t be anything short of a horror movie, though she doubted her brother would think that. He’d probably argue it was an action movie, ramble about the cool lasers and robots and whatnot.
She smiled sadly at the thought as she let go of the journal and let it float away.
She wished she could see him just one last time, before the inevitable end of… well, them. As much as she didn’t want to think about the subject, it wasn’t like she had much time to go through the stages of grief. Having to speed run that process took a toll on her, but she’d made it to the end. Acceptance. Acceptance that she wouldn’t make it, and acceptance that she wouldn’t see her family before that point.
She just hoped they were thinking of her as much as she was thinking of them.
And maybe they were, or at least, one of them was, because Tilly couldn’t ignore the sound of the signal in her helmet starting up, and her name being faintly called through it.
Sure, it could’ve been another hallucination. She fully believed to had heard Cricket call her name multiple times since the explosion, but this time she’d actually heard the crackle of her helmet's speaker.
This time she actually heard it, and her heart felt as though it had stopped when she did.
Tilly’s eyes widened as she processed what she heard, and she barely had time to look around before something came barreling toward her.
Wait… was that the Kludge?
She gasped, shielding her face with her arms, but the Kludge quickly came to a halt just a few inches away from her as she was quickly grabbed ahold of by the wrist. She took a moment to regain her thoughts, processing what she saw, and gasped.
“Woah! Sorry about that, Til’,” Cricket said, his face showered in worry as he sat in the front seat of the Kludge. His arm was stuck out of the window to hold onto her so she wouldn’t float away, “I didn’t hurt you did I? Shoot, I’m still gettin’ used to flyin’ this thing around.”
Tilly paused and began to laugh in relief as tears flooded her eyes. She grabbed Cricket’s shoulders and pulled him close, hugging him as tightly as she could, pulling herself halfway through the Kludge window as she did so.
“You’re alive!” She cried with a laugh. Her smile was still present as that laugh dissipated, and a wobbly voice replaced it, “You’re alive…”
“Heh, sure am,” Cricket laughed with her, hugging her back as he sighed.
They cherished the moment, finding support and comfort in one another’s hugs. They didn’t need to hug themselves anymore. They weren’t alone.
“Alright,” Cricket said, pulling away from her, but still holding onto her shoulders, “We need to find the others. Get in.”