(TW: Depictions of self-harm and attempted suicide)
Uhm, I really don’t know how to start this off… How does one explain a situation like this, really?
Oh wait, yes I do: Be careful what you fucking wish for!
To fully comprehend how I ended up here, context is needed. So that is what I will provide. This whole mess started on my last solo camping trip where I stupidly wished upon a shooting star.
I had just finished wiping sweat off my brow after a long day spent hiking in the late summer heat. I settled for the night in a nice secluded area a couple hundred feet away from a cliff-face. The fire roared, sounds of firewood popping and crackling soothing me. I had felt a little sleepy since my belly was full of a warm dinner.
The sun was on its way down and… and I was ready to kill myself.
I had no intention of going back home that night. Hell, I didn’t even bring a tent or a sleeping bag with me, just a pocket knife and a pack of hotdogs for my last meal.
Truth be told, my old life was exhausting. I was overworked, alone, and felt like a failure who couldn’t achieve anything with his life. My parents were dead, I had no siblings, children, or friends. I was completely alone. A piece of worthless trash.
I was of the “I’d be better off dead and forgotten” mentality, so that’s what I set out to do. If I was going out, at least I’d do it somewhere private and doing something I loved.
I nestled myself against the trunk of a large oak tree as the sun started to set. The horizon was this beautiful expanse of vibrant colors. Pinks and golden yellows swirled into deep shades of orange and red. The moon was visible, far off in the distance. Crickets and other insects started buzzing as night started to fall. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking.
I had been so tired, tired of everything, in the moments before. I could’ve easily fallen asleep beneath the stars. My body was exhausted from hiking all day, and all my mental energy was drained, but I had a job to do.
I pulled out the blade I’d brought and clutched in my hands.
The sun slipped deeper and deeper beneath the horizon as I gathered the courage to do it. To end myself. I stared at my knife for a long while, building up enough courage to act. The setting sun glinted off the cold steel surface as day turned to dusk.
With tear filled eyes, I had readied the tip of the knife against the skin on my left wrist. A deep breath in. A deep breath out. I applied more pressure to the handle of my pocket knife and drew a couple droplets of blood. I looked up to the sky as I slit my wrist hot dog style, right along the vein. It felt nice to feel the burning sting against the cool metal of the blade. I hadn’t felt anything in a long while.
A metallic smell filled the air as blood trickled down my arm and pooled underneath and in my palm.
Deep in space, a shooting star danced across the night sky. I sniffled and wiped a tear with my good hand. I made a simple wish.
”I wish I had a purpose… that I could be somebody.”
My eyes closed and I sighed, feeling my body temperature lower from blood loss. My head rested comfortably against the bark of the tree. Then I resigned myself to my current fate. Maybe in the next lifetime.
I opened my eyes again, ready to cut my other wrist and end it all. I drank the scenery in, savoring my last images of my life on earth. I was about to plunge the knife into my skin again when I noticed it. The shooting star… It looked as if it was getting closer.
My eyes widened in shock and awe as I came to the realization that it was! It seemed the shooting stars’ trajectory was bringing it right to me.
A loud boom echoed for miles as the flaming meteorite entered the atmosphere. With each passing second, the fire ball hurled ever closer to me. Defensively, I shielded my face with my arms as if it’d protect me from getting hit by a meteor. I braced myself for impact as the meteor further descended.
Everybody knows how a tornado passing over someone’s house sounds like a freight train, right? Well it was like that, but ten fold when my shooting star passed over me.
The ground rumbled like an earthquake as the meteorite crashed into the earth. Birds flew from trees and the wildlife went silent in the aftermath of the impact.
“Holy shit!” I’d exclaimed, gathering enough energy to stand up and lean against the tree. My curiosity outweighed the depression as I stared at the billowing column of smoke coming from the trees behind me. I decided to go and investigate. Maybe I could keep a piece of the space rock as a souvenir or even sell it for a hefty price.
I took my gray t-shirt off and cut some fabric to fashion a makeshift bandage for my wrist. I wrapped the fabric as tight as I possibly could before tucking my knife away. Now bandaged up and in a crop top, I grabbed my backpack and started hiking towards the crash site.
It looked to have landed about a mile, maybe two miles away. If I hadn’t been suffering from blood loss then it would’ve been easier, but it took every ounce of energy and willpower to make the trip over there.
Even though the sun had long since set, the fire left in the shooting stars’ wake easily left enough light for me to find my way.
About an hour and a half after getting cut on sharp sticks, tripping over roots and rocks, and getting stalked by what I think was a mountain lion, I finally reached the crash site. The impact had knocked every tree down in a hundred foot radius. Small fires burned across the downed trees and other debris. The smell of ozone, smoke, and burning flesh filled the air. Some animals weren’t as lucky as I was and had been caught in the cross hairs of the landing.
As I made my way closer, I came across a deer that had been half incinerated. The head was bellowing out painful cries as it twitched and writhed. It’s exposed organs and entrails oozing blood out onto the ground. As a mercy, I took my knife and slashed its throat.
In the middle of it all was a small crater. It was about five feet wide and three feet deep. I was surprised at how such a tiny rock could do so much damage.
I knelt by the edge of the crater to examine the meteorite. It was glowing red hot like coals on a grill. Smoke wafted from the superheated space rock. I grabbed a nearby stick to poke it, curious to see what would happen.
I poked it once and nothing happened. I poked it again and was left with the same result. After a third poke and trying to flip the rock over, something green and slimy looking slithered across the rock.
Frightened, I yelped and jumped back. Suddenly an alien slug-like creature wriggled its way out of the crater. I screamed as it made its way closer to me. The thing was fast!
I crawled away, getting mud, dirt, and rocks all over my cargo shorts. A surge of adrenaline allowed me to pull myself up and dulled the stinging pain coming from my wrist. Back on my feet, I booked it back in the direction I had come from.
I hadn’t been paying attention when looking back to see the alien slugs position. That’s why my foot got caught under the dead deers hide, causing me to trip and land face first in the dirt.
Quickly, I repositioned myself into a less vulnerable position on my back. Trying to stand wouldn’t do me any good since I had definitely broken my ankle. I scooted myself back away from the deer corpse as the alien summited it like it was Mount Everest. Ever so slowly it inched its way towards me.
I scooted myself until my back had hit tree bark. I tried to kick the creature away from me but it had unnaturally fast reflexes and dodged all my attacks.
“No, no, no, please!” I had begged it once it started crawling up my leg. I tried to shake it off but nothing was working.
A chill crawled up my spine as its slime made contact with my skin. I tried slapping it off but it was determined. To do what? I had no idea.
In seconds flat it had slithered up most of my body. I watched frozen in terror as it slid from my waist and onto my left hand. It stopped for a second on top of my makeshift bandage.
“No!” I cried as I realized what it was going to do. I grabbed my bloodied shirt and tried to rip the fabric and the creature off in one fell swoop. Instead, it slipped deeper between the fabric and closer to my open wound.
A panicked horrific scream left my mouth at the thought of what this space creature would and could do to me.
Just then, a cooling sensation filled my red hot wound. It felt soothing for a split second, but an indescribable intense pain erupted from it. An alien was crawling beneath my skin!
I sat there in the middle of a forest, screaming and yelling until my throat went bloody and raw. Desperately pleading that someone would hear my calls for help. But I knew better, there was nobody around for miles. I had chosen this area for a reason.
Eventually my screams stopped as my body writhed in blinding pain. An alien burrowing itself deeper and deeper into my being, altering my life forever.