The Forgotten Moon
Emily Bybee
For the first time in days shivered as the breeze grazed her face as the ship cut through the icy morning air. The dread and gloom had consumed her so completely that it affected her corporeal senses. As she stepped onto the deck of the airship the frigid air sliced through her fragile skin cutting through it like a knife, yet no blood fell.
“Is There anything I can get you?” Felix Emma’s assistant bot and best friend.
Emma crossed her arms and rubbed them hard “burr It sure got cold Felix, how long was I out this time?”
Felix’s front door popped open, and a steaming hot blanket appeared, which he promptly handed to Emma to wrap around herself. “ There was a bit of a minor hiccup when you were sleeping, but no worries I am working on a solution as we speak.”
Emma’s nose crinkled and her face contorted each line on her face filled with worry; “what kind of hiccup are you talking about exactly Felix, and I want details?”
“Calm down Emma, love, you don’t need to be worrying yourself anymore, you are going to make yourself sick again.”
“Seriously Felix?” Anger and frustration filled her voice as her skin began to flush.
“Okay, look here is the deal you were feeling sad and worried, and we came across those pirates again. You know the ones ?” Felix’s tone changed from the calm and soothing to a getting-down- to-business tone and Emma heart sunk like a heavy stone that smashed the glass surface of the pristine lake. She understood nothing good could come from what coming soon.
“You mean the one working with the sky witch?”
“Yeah, that would be the ones. Anyway, I tried to avoid them, but it was no use. I tried to wake you but that was also a futile mission, so I had no other choice–”
“God Damn it Felix you never engage the witch”
“Was I supposed to run and let her catch us and put us in cages like science experiments?”
“I am guessing I would be preferable to whatever shit show you got us into this time!”
“Okay Whatever! So here is the deal she threw us in a portal.”
“ A portal?”
“Yes. Ship and all”
“A Portal?”
“Yes!!! The witch opened a portal in front of the ship. We had no time to maneuver out of the way and we got sucked into a Goddamn Portal. Got It!”
“Fuck a portal”
“Yep fucked”
Emma turned her back and shuffled back towards the stairs, she wavered whether to make tea or to pack a bowl and bury herself back in bed for another couple days. Coming back and start again to see if things have changed for the better.
One foot after another fell heavy upon the wooden steps, Emma’s feet became lead her head began spinning and everything swirled. She began toppling end over end and before she knew it Emma was lying at the bottom of the stairs looking up, at the top was a concerned albeit amused Felix.
“I wish you would be more careful on these stairs because you know you have shit blood pressure.” Felix called out in a joking tone as he descended the stairs first aid kit in hand.
“I just want some friggin tea” she quipped.
“Well thankfully you only injured your pride.”
“What pride is that?”
“Let’s go get you some tea, and can we please talk about what we are going to do, please?”
Emma shuffled toward the kitchen, the aching in her joints increasing, slowing her pace to that of a half dead snail.
“What is it we need to talk about?”
“What? I Don’t know? Maybe like what we are going to do about this portal situation, how the hell are we going to get home?!?!?
“There is nothing to talk about Felix.”
“How can you say that?”
“ For one we don’t know where we are? For two, we don’t know where the portal to home here would be? And three, Felix, what is waiting for us at home any more than here? Angeline is gone, we have nothing but you me and this airship. We have that here just as much as there.
The room fell silent as Felix thought. What did they have back home?
The tea kettle let out a high pitch scream startling Felix from his thoughts and out of his chair. Girlish giggles bounce over the table and Felix peeked over the table, looking at Emma he raised his metallic eyebrow.
“What? You are such a klutz.”
“I’m sorry I was not aware you were capable of girlish charm.”
“Shut up, ass” Emma picked a Picklefruit and lobbed it at Felix’s chest. The supple fruit landed with a playful thwack and they both fell over laughing and for a moment, they forgot everything else, lost in a moment of recovered childhood.
A sudden bump from below brought the joyous moment to a sudden halt, “ what was that?” The words forced from Emma’s mouth by yet another blow to the ship.
“I don’t know?” Both Felix and Emma clambered to their feet and scurried up the ladder throwing themselves against the side railing. Emma and Felix leaned over the railing, scouring the side of the ship for the source of the disruption. Another thwack came tossing them to the floor a gain. “Goddamn!” Felix yelled as he struggled to stand.
They made their way to the other side where they spotted the disturbance. Long vines stretching from the tree line grabbing the ship and pulling. The vines pulled with all their might, and little by little they were succeeding in plucking the ship from the sky.
“Felix! We must turn on the turbo boost and try to escape.” Felix tried to stand but the vines pulled the ship horizontal. Both Emma and Felix clawed and scraped, but the vines shook the ship with a violent fury, and they flew from the ship.
Plummeting toward the ground, as she fell through the trees the bright vibrant colors filled Emma’s vision. A kaleidoscope of endless shapes blurring together in a bizarre painting that Picasso would appreciate. It all came to a sudden halt when Emma hit the ground, and everything went black.
Emily Bybee 
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