~5~

The shiny gleam of my ship's exterior shell reflected back at me, the buttons and lights on it dully beeping around as if nothing near catastrophic almost happened to its owner.

"W-was I pushed!?"

I looked around my boat to see any indication of if I'd unknowingly installed a rocket launcher to the back of it.

My mind worked in overtime to try and fathom how in the name of this extraterrestrial world I'd made a 6-hour journey in less than 20 minutes...without even knowing or feeling it!

I'd have thrown out the accusation that I was on a reality tv prank show if I wasn't absolutely sure I was the only person on Titan.

.

.

.

Or was I?

The one singular thought popped up in my head out of nowhere.

What if I wasn't alone here?

What if there were others?

I swiftly dismissed the notion of other living entities being on Titan. If there were, why hadn't they contacted me for the many months I had arrived?

Hell, why hadn't they killed me?

I have not felt the touch of another living thing for over 3 years. If there had been other living things around me but choose to keep their distance away, that would just be cruel.

I'd telegraphed my location and presence all throughout my first years of space expedition to anything in the cosmos that would listen.

I constantly send out radio, infrared, and basic sound waves every chance I got.

But there are only so many times a person can yell into the void before they get tired and stop.

Sometimes accepting that you're alone is better than constantly seeking out company that may not be there.

I lifted up my hand to alleviate my headache by loosening the tight ponytail I'd wrestled my coils into, properly banishing from my mind any thoughts of someone or something being on Titan with me.

When I saw a hand plop onto the edge of my boat.

It was semi-translucent and yellow, making it blend more easily with the boat and easy to miss unless you were looking.

I blinked once.

Twice.

Made sure I truly wasn't seeing things.

And proceeded to scream my head off.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

My high-pitched screams echoed out in a loud boom.

Disrupting the ever-calm waters of Titan and racing out in all directions for miles, creating ripples across the surface like a sonic boom.

Without even looking properly to determine where I was going, I jump backwards in a mighty leap to land on the side of my ship and scramble to head inside.

My hands desperately reach for the sidebars for support, gripping them in a death grip as I don't want to turn my back on the hand that was steadily growing into an arm as it pulled the rest of itself out of the water.

I make it to my door and turn around to see another, grey and semi-translucent, hand slam down on the top of my ship.

I scream even harder, as if that would do anything, as I fling the door open and tumbled inside.

I pushed myself up off the floor, flung myself around, and kicked my door shut. Good thing it was double-jointed and can be opened and closed in both ways for situations like this where I didn't want the door opening outwards and making it difficult for me to close it on whatever those things were!

Apparently I still hadn't stopped screaming and I lifted my hands up to clamp my mouth shut as I shuffle as far away from the door as possible.

I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears and I stretch out on my cold hard floor to absorb the chill and stop myself from passing out.

Too much had happened today.

Way too much.

I need to eat, calm down, and breathe, before I literally expire on the spot.

Getting up from my spot on the floor, I took out the ear device in my ear and switch the viewers' mode from it back to my computer screen and put the device away.

My ear throbs in relief from the action.

I turn away from all the comments pouring in and walk into my small bathroom which is still visible to the computer camera.

I turn on the sink and splash cold chill water on my face from my ship's reservoir tank which I keep treated for drinking, bathing, and cooking water.

If I wanted to wash my clothes, I fetched it manually from the infinite sea around me because some chemical properties in the water made for surprisingly good laundry detergent.

Soak your clothes in a bucket for a couple minutes and they come out free of dirt and smell.

I douse my face with another splash of water and reach for my face and hand towel to pat me dry.

I cautiously eye my bathtub/showering area to make sure I hadn't forgotten or left some of my clothes soaking for too long.

Because if you did the fabric turns completely white, if you were lucky, or completely falls apart, if you weren't.

The cold splash of water hitting my face recentered my focus and alleviated the nauseous feeling building in the pit of my stomach.

I was still incredibly hungry, but at least it wasn't to the point of deliriousness.

That was the only explanation as to why I was deluding myself into believing, for one second, that I actually saw a hand.

Two in fact.

Complete insanity.

I march out of the bathroom with purposeful steps. Creating an anchor for me to stay focused in the here and now.

In what was present and real.

Opening up a small cabinet off to the right side of my computer setup, a small fridge was hidden away inside.

I pry the door open, slide up the freezer compartment, and pull out a tupperware packed tight with two sandwiches I'd made from days past.

I'd actually made this with my extremely limited meat supply. And stored it away with a mountain of preservatives to save for rainy days, an emergency, or an event.

I think this situation classifies as all three.

It is a rainy day because I decided it to be.

It is an emergency because I'm too weak, starved, and desperate to cook.

And it's an event because I probably discovered new life.

I pulled out the sandwiches from their plastic prison containers, plop them onto my plastic rubber plate, and toss them headfirst into my microwave sticking out to the side just above the fridge cabinet.

I'd had my literal ears chewed off about the extremely dangerous situation of me installing a microwave in my ship and flying through space with it.

But I'd elected to ignore all such complaints.

Me eat cold food?

I'd literally rather die.

Turning my back on my computer screen, and through the many reflective surfaces of my room, I could see literally thousands of comments flash by. Going so quickly that they even began to lag and appear on top of one another dominating for space.

I was so tempted to look at them, for fear that something was happening in my space that I couldn't see.

But I was in my spaceship with the doors locked.

I was alone.

Nothing could get in.

I am safe.

Moments passed as something itched at the back of my mind that left me with an unsettling feeling.

But what if something had got in?

But what if I wasn't alone?

The ding of my microwave dragged me out of my spiralling throughs, and cut the sharp lick of fear from cutting through me and consuming me swiftly.

My ship was so small, and fit for only one human to barely live comfortably in it, that all angles of it could be seen from any side.

Literally nothing could physically hide in here without me seeing or knowing about it.

I pull out my plate of food, ignored the slight burning sensation in my hand because I'd left the microwave settings unusually high, and mercilessly begin to stuff my gullet.

The shrill ring of a telephone nearly made me jump out of my skin and choke.

I swallowed my first few bites quickly and lurched for the phone.

"Hello!?" I answer.

It was my emergency phone, and was to only be used to call me in actual life-or-death situations.

"Would you, first of all, actually chew your food before you swallow. And second, go take care of your back injury! You're literally bleeding to death!!" Carol's deep commanding voice boomed through the phone and proverbially grabbed me in a chokehold.

After processing her words I took a quick peek over my shoulder and cringed at the bright stains of red I could see at the very edge of my vision.

I raced towards my bathroom mirror with the phone in one hand and a third of my remaining sandwich in the other as I turn around and examine my back.

Oh good lord, it looks bad.

The entire wall of my back was stained in bright crimson, and I was surprised I felt absolutely nothing.

I'm pretty sure that will change once the adrenaline wears off.

But by that point, I'd hopefully be out of my mind from the amount of painkillers I would have precautiously consumed.

I turn around to my screen monitor and looked directly at the camera.

"Why didn't you guys say anything?" I cockily say with a shit-eating grin.

The responses were lethal.

[EXCUSE ME!?]

[The literal nerve.]

[This is why we love you. You're such a little shit. But seriously, go treat those wounds NOW!!!]

[She is a menace and we stan. 50 bucks says she survives this!]

[I'll take those odds! 80 says she comes out the other end with at least anemia. She can't really get any more blood supply out there.]

[Y'all know damn good and well I'm a betting man. I'm in!!]

After being successfully able to deescalate the chat and alleviate the tension that was brewing, I softly smile to myself as I open my medicine cabinet and begin pulling out my dwindling supplies.

Again I am reminded of my diminishing time left on Titan.

"Ah nuts..." I call out.

[What NOW!?]

[Today has been surprisingly eventful.]

[God really pick today and said "Yes" when the Angels asked what they wanted to happen to you today. Huh?]

[Literally better than cable TV. Always something new happening. AND IT'S REAL! Nothing faked at all!]

[^ How is that in any way a positive? It being real should make it worse not better. Her life is in literal danger you degenerate.]

[Not my problem sweety.]

[Y'all believe this is real? Clearly it's all fake!! If you look closely, you can see traces of her camera crew.]

Letting most of chat's comments fly by me as they argue the same usual points every 3 days, I press a button that unfolds my large bed from the wall that eats up 85% of the spaceship's main room.

I toss my supplies on it and sit down on the edge of it with one crossed leg on the bed and the other dangling over the edge.

"My last roll of gauze is almost finished and I don't have enough painkillers to last me through the night,"

I pushed my hair out of my face and hold it back tight to give me room to think as I distracted my ADHD brain with some small movements.

"Looks like it's gonna be a rough night," I sigh as I resolve myself to my fate. "I'm pretty sure I have some clothes I could use as makeshift band-aids to stop the bleeding-"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

My words died in my throat as I looked look to my door, then back at the camera with the most shocked, and quite honestly comical, expression known to man.

I slowly point a massively shaky hand at the door while looking back and force between it and my camera.

"Y-you- y'all heard that, RIGHT!?" I yelled out to make sure I clearly wasn't spiralling into insanity.

I rake my brain to try and remember if any member of my family suffered from dementia or schizophrenia before.

My eyes blur as I could barely read the responses. But enough of the comments looked to be in the form of "Yes." that I took their word for it to confirm I indeed didn't imagine or hallucinate what I'd heard.

Granted, I did have moments in the past where I'd experienced auditory hallucinations. But that was as a result of the deafening silence of Titan.

THIS was indeed another sound made by a tangible entity.

I got up from the bed, my legs literally shaking, and walk around my big bed to stand in front of the door.

[Wait, wait, wait. Why are you walking TOWARDS the sounds!?]

[^ Where else can she GO!?]

[What kind of Blumhouse horror movie shit is this!?]

I stand quietly and listen for any sound behind the door.

Nothing.

"Show me visuals of outside the ship," I immediately command my ship.

"Certainly." The robotic voice instantly responds.

My computer screen was suddenly filled with several camera angles of various points outside my ship. And they all confirmed the same thing.

Nothing.

I slump down onto my bed on my stomach, to avoid staining the sheets with my bloodied back, and sigh out defeatedly.

"I am going insane," I groan out defeatedly. "There's nothing out there..."

[If you are then so is the rest of us.]

[Didn't know crazy was contagious.]

[Mind sharing the outside camera view with us to also put our minds at ease?]

I wave an instruction to the computer to share the camera view with the stream so everyone can see what I saw.

I push myself off the bed to start making use of my limited remaining bandages and finish off my food when good old reliable Mr/Mrs/Xrs golden comment pops through.

[💛What's that just under your front door?💛]

One of my arms buckles under me.

"What!?"

I fling myself closer to my monitor to look at the camera feed.

It had just gone into Titan's night cycle as the energy supply of the atmosphere had fully dissipated. But upon further squinting, I see a very small object just outside the door.

"No way! Good eye!!"

Too good eye...

How many times now has this golden commenter said or pointed out something that was way too conveniently timed?

Maybe the paranoia was getting to me. But far too many things thus far have been mad sus....

I fling open the door, because really, what else do I have to lose? Look around to make sure of the obvious nothingness surrounding me, now in a dark midnight blue colour, and looked down.

Two small packages were indeed on my doorstep. Neatly folded in a black material.

I pick it up and take it inside with me. Making sure to double-lock the door behind me.

Some people in my chat took issue with that but I was too mesmerized by what had been left on my door.

Several cautionary things raced through my mind.

Be careful. Study it. Throw it away. Run some tests before handling it in case it's deadly and unsafe for human contact. Where did it come from? Is it a trap? Are you truly going insane? Did you actually drown and this is a purgatory-afterlife hybrid as you ascend to the probable other side?

And the people mashing their keyboards furiously from home on Earth in my chat echoed the same sentiments.

Carol did as well over the phone I'd forgotten to hang up. Which I swiftly did because calls rates to another planet would literally eat me alive. Drowning would be a better outcome than having to pay that bill.

But none of the 10 billion cautionary warnings playing out in my head could stop me from turning the two packages over one more time before ripping them open to see what was inside.

Years of isolation and space travel have resulted in me not getting many gifts over the years, and it was just nice to receive one. No matter how ominous.

I made sure to express those feelings to my viewers.

And some of them made sure to tell me how colossally stupid that was. But the people who agreed with me and Awwwn'd in the process were all that mattered.

In one package were 3 rolls of gauze bandages, and the other had several rows of cylindrical tubes of painkillers.

A small note falls out of one of them.

'Hope this helps ease the pain.

You are such a strong survivor.'

I feel my cheeks warm.

"Awwn," I couldn't help but verbally say out loud.

[Awn!?]

I lift up the card that the note was written on and tap it to my nose as I look up at the ceiling, covering my facial expression from the camera as the chat disintegrates on itself.

"Oh no..." I say next, "I might actually have to leave this planet immediately."