Eternity

The first thing Joseph noticed when he woke up, other than the dull grey of his bunks ceiling, was the weight on his chest. Not a heavy weight, but not light either, nor was it on the entirety of his chest, merely on his left side. In fact his whole left side felt like there was something pressing on him, except for his left knee which felt, supported? Curious, he lifted his head off his pillow to get a better look at this ‘weight’, only to see a mass of black hair lying on his left ab. A mass of black, streaked with a rich blue.
‘What the fuck?’ the words formed in Joseph’s mind, the groggy fog of a surprisingly good nights sleep being blown away as if someone had just given him a drip full of coffee. He was in bed with Carris? No, this was his bunk, not hers. Carris was in bed with him? Under a blanket?! Just what had happened last night? Staring over to the monitor opposite of his bunk, a title screen blinked repeatedly as silent slow motion footage of some sort of sport played out. Football’s greatest matches 2000-2550?
Slowly the memories of last night began playing out like a bad camera replay. Somewhere amongst the supplies that he and the rest of SPECWAR/Group 3 had gathered a few weeks prior, someone had found a storage device packed with media. Much to the delight of everyone, who after exhausting the Robin Hood’s limited media files, we’re looking forward to anything that could take their minds off the fact that the galaxy was once again, completely fucked. So far so normal.
He and Carris had wanted to watch the video on football, but every public space had already been taken, and so one of them, he couldn’t remember which, had suggested watching it in his quarters. Carris had never been a tidy person, so there wasn’t much choice in it. But why were they in his bunk? Each cabin had more than one chair and even if they didn’t, they could have taken one from another cabin. But the bunk was much more comfortable and they were only watching a sports video, a long sports video, after being on alert for nearly 24-hours… in a dark cabin, on a ship who’s heating system was being serviced.
At least he was still dressed under the blanket, apart from his feet, which were currently poking out in an intertwined mass with Carris’s at the foot of the bunk. If someone saw them now... Joseph suddenly felt the need to check that the door was locked, which it thankfully still was. That was something going in his favour, if anyone saw him and Carris in bed together, regardless of what either of them said there would be rumours before lunch and questions before dinner, and unlike the Daisy rumours, this would be one he’d never be able to shake.
At this point, his years of military training took over. Objective: get out of this cabin before anyone thinks to come looking for either you, or Carris. Problem: Carris is still asleep and is currently wrapped around the left side of your body. Solution:… At this precise moment three things happened in short order, firstly Carris began to stir, secondly his years of military training decided to desert, and thirdly his body, now bereft of competent direction decided that doing nothing was preferable to anything else. Maybe she’d fall back to sleep. A thought that lasted right up until Carris’ dark blue eyes emerged from behind her eyelids.
If Joseph had wondered what he had looked like when he first woke up, Carris was more than willing to provide a demonstration. First came the grogginess of waking up, then the confusion of realising that firstly this wasn’t her cabin, and secondly she was currently snuggled up to something. This was then followed by inevitably looking up to see what she was currently lying against, close behind which was the look of wide eyed shock that she was actually in bed with her friend. Next was running through the events of the previous few hours that had led to the present situation, and then finally the cliched look of a deer in headlights at what this would look like if anyone saw them.
Joseph wanted to say something, he wanted to do something, but every command his brain tried to give got lost en route to their destination. It was as if he was a puppet that had just had its strings cut, all he could do was lie in bed with his friend as his brain tried to process this entire situation. Carris was his friend, his best friend, his confidant, the one person he could confide in, rely on, at one time even a shoulder to cry on. Joseph knew they were close, he was the only one she trusted to help her with the hair dye after all, but they were just friends.
Inside his chest, Joseph felt his heart as it tried to bore his way out of his chest, his brain was still giving him nothing. Over all his years of combat and going from one cluster fuck to another, he’d somehow kept himself level, the last time he could actually remember being scared was when he’d been conscripted. Judging by the look of it, he wasn’t alone in this regard if the emotion in Carris’ eyes were anything to go from.
But as he stared into her eyes, he found he couldn’t tear himself away from the rich pair of sapphires that hung beneath a crop of black locks. He’d joked once, after Carris had got her hair covered in grunt blood that it matched her eyes, a joke which had lasted until she’d started with the hair dye. Why couldn’t he look away? He’d seen them countless times over the years, every time they’d shared a joke to break the tension, played poker to stave off boredom, or struggled through the excuse for food that was an MRE.
There was a strange, calming nature to them, but as Joseph gazed unendingly into them, he began to feel something new, as if there was no world outside this room, no war, no Created, just nothing. There was something else, a strange warmth in his chest. ‘What the hell is happening to me?’ the question formed in his mind but went no further. ‘Fuck why can’t I stop looking at her, what must she be thinking?’ Then he noticed something, he wasn’t alone. As whilst he stared into Carris’ royal blue, he found she was staring right back into his. Carris had once said they reminded her of two balls of moss. He hadn’t been sure it had been a compliment or an insult, and he still wasn’t, but he was starting to get an idea of which it was. Was she feeling what he was feeling? The new calmness he saw in her eyes was enough of an answer.
A small smile crept over his face, one which was matched on Carris’. Words tried to form in his head but fell apart before he could make sense of them. Joseph didn’t care; it felt wrong to say anything, to ruin whatever this was. Slowly Carris lowered her head back to his chest as his returned to his pillow. Neither of them wanted to move, to spoil this feeling. Instead, they just wanted to lay here, and stretch this moment into eternity.
Category:The Weekly
Category:Short stories
Category:The Weekly Winners