Andrew J. Morgan's Blog: Aspiration Keeps Me Alive, page 6

Chapter 15

It seemed easier in my head than it turned out to be. Sure, the ship was small, but the crew was too, which in theory left me with several windows wide enough to make my move. The first window was the morning shift change. Grant and Emily were coming off shift, Jason and Sophia were going on. Clip would likely be asleep or in the rec room, and Sadie and Byron would most certainly be in the rec room, eating breakfast. The uncertainty of Clip’s doings (and my sudden wariness of what I was about...

Chapter 14

The rest of the conversation went by as a blur, and soon I found myself alone in the galley, listening to echoes of what had been said. I couldn’t even remember what I’d asked after they’d told me, but I know they’d had to calm me down to avoid being overheard. I felt stuck; I couldn’t go to the bunks where Jason and Sophia were, and I didn’t think I could go into the rec room where Byron was. In the end, I didn’t have to do either, because Sadie entered the galley looking concerned.

‘Are you...

Chapter 13

I dreamed the dream again. I was on the beach, but this time I didn’t meet anyone, my body stayed intact, and I didn’t wander into the forest. Instead I sat down, looking out to the infinite sea, and I felt alone. There was no one out there, not for miles, lightyears, nothing, and I was on my own on this barren island with nothing but my nightmares for company.

The dream morphed into darkness, and I sensed the world around me changing unseen. I was in the tow dock, and I was no longer alone.

Yo...

Chapter 12

I stayed rigid until my legs could hold me no longer, and I collapsed backwards to the floor, barely feeling the pain. My head swum with dizzying nausea, trying to understand what just happened to me. Even now it felt like it had happened such a long time ago, and only for a fraction of a second—it almost didn’t feel real.

But it was real. The ache in my chest from my palpitating heart was real, the itchy slick on my forehead was real. The words whispered in my ears—they were real.

When I could...

Chapter 11

Somehow I felt that everyone knew it was my fault the electronics had been confiscated. My suspicions fell with Clip, the ship blabber mouth, but the feelings I had were probably founded more on guilt than reality. I got that sensation that people were talking about me when I wasn’t there, abruptly finishing conversations about me when I was. I tried to convince myself it was all in my head, but I was sure, from the corner of my eye, I was catching the sly glances and bitter sneers of a crew...

Chapter 10

From then on, Byron became an active part in our planning meetings once again. It seemed like he’d slipped back into his old character, the naïve boy that only saw things through innocent eyes. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this—was this the real Byron, or was the Byron I’d had the conversation with in the bunks the real Byron? There was no way of telling, and perhaps that’s the deal you get with compulsive liars. If indeed he was a compulsive liar; if he wasn’t, it was one hell of a lie in...

Chapter 9

Jason and Sophia hung on to Brendan’s body for as long as they could, but, even with Emily’s expertise, they were unable to find any traces of wrongdoing. When they weren’t studying the body, it remained in the only place it could: the tow dock, wrapped in a quarantine bag. Although the quarantine bags were good for keeping illnesses from spreading around the ship, they were no good for slowing the process of rigor mortis, and so the body had to be evacuated into the vast and hollow grave of...

Chapter 8

I couldn’t keep this fresh information inside me and not tell someone. After swearing Sadie to secrecy, which she did freely after I had taken her to one side and explained the situation to her, I found Jason. He was at his bunk, folding his clothes.

‘Jason, I need to speak with you. It’s important.’

Jason looked around to make sure we were alone. ‘Make it brief.’

‘It’s not Byron.’ I’d thought long and hard about it, and I was sure of it. ‘I don’t want you thinking it was Byron that did it.’

Jaso...

Chapter 7

I should have known better. Once you put a tick in Sadie’s ear, there it stays, growing fatter and greedier. I kept Byron in earshot for as long as I could to avoid talking to her any further about my hypothesis, but I could only do it for so long. The place she chose to pounce on me was in the shower, taking me by surprise and embarrassment as she strolled in, fully clothed to my stark naked.

‘Sadie,’ I whimpered. ‘What are you doing in here?’

I knew full well.

‘Get over it, Jake,’ she said. ‘N...

Chapter 6

The days dragged. We were only two months and fourteen days in. Usually I would be enjoying the free time, consuming entertainment in its various forms in that solitary way my mother always used to be concerned about. But on board the Athena, time seemed to have been stretched paper thin, weak and transparent, and that was how I felt. Weak and transparent. I would play my games, but I would lose focus in minutes. I would read books, but I’d read the same page over and over and over. It was as...