The Long Way Home (Essay 3)

Question 5.

I have loved many things like the clouds in the scorching summer heat, the scent of the cool autumn breeze and the sound of the raindrops as they hit the umbrella. The gentle softness of the earth during spring and the slight chill in the air after school never fails to calm me. The smell of the blackboard duster and the wet smell of asphalt when it rains in the evening are familiar smells from my childhood. I wanted to share this with someone dear to me. I hoped we could always experience them together.

The year is 2068. Ever since the first expedition in 2041 to Mars, they discovered that there were life-forms in other planets and some people were chosen to go for more expeditions. Clare was one of them, Clare and I were best friend. We were even closer than brother and sister.

“Look Ryan, a spaceship!” Clare happily pointed to the big and graceful looking spaceship in the sky.

“It’s huge, it must be for the next Tarsian expedition. I wonder if they have decided on the crew members. Wouldn’t it be interesting if somebody from our town was picked?” I smiled happily not knowing Clare was picked.

“Let’s go to the convenience store! Come on Clare! Hop on!” I exclaimed as I sat on my motorcycle.

We rode towards the convenience store.

“Look, a tracer!” I exclaimed as I saw another form of a spaceship only smaller and it was meant for fighting Tarsians.

“It’s beautiful.”

Somehow I sensed sadness in Clare’s words.
Clare leaned towards me and whispered in my ears, “You know, I’m going to pilot one of those.”

I was too shocked to respond. A few weeks later, a letter was sent to Clare’s house which stated that she had to go for the Tarsian expedition.

Not too long ago, Clare and I were in the same class. We were best friends but Clare is no longer on this planet. She had hopes and dreams. We both wanted to go to Honour Senior High School together. Apparently, she had been selected randomly by a computer many years ago. She knew she was going to e a pilot yet she still went to school. She was smart and athletic. She was just a junior high school student like me but she led a life which had been carved out for her already.

“Hey, Isn’t Clare lucky? Right now, she’s probably enjoying herself, flying around in a tracer!” Joel uttered to Henry. “She doesn’t need to take all these dumb exams and study,” Joel complained. “It’s got to be a lot better than burying our noses in books. I’d take on aliens any day!” Joel and Henry laughed.

“Why was she chosen anyway? They should have chosen yours truly,” Henry arrogantly stated.

“You? It’ll be the end of mankind!” Joel laughed heartily.

“Exams and studying, they can be a bore. Clare, lucky?” I think she didn’t want to go. She wanted to be a normal girl just like the other girls in our school.”

I thought to myself. “Lucky? No, she definitely wasn’t.”

The next spring, I got into senior high alone. Clare did not return. It had been six months since Clare left Earth. At that time, the Tarsian expeditions had just begun and everyone was talking about it but like the candle’s flame, the buzz had all been snuffed out.
I am in senior high now but my days go by as quietly as they did in junior high. Perhaps that is the reason why the messages I get a couple of times each week from Clare seem so out of place. She says she has completed training in Mars and has been chosen as a crew member of the Jupiter expedition team. I do not know when it started but now I avoid asking her if she can return.

That week I got a text message from Clare. “Ryan, the spaceship will be travelling beyond Neptune. My messages are going to take much longer time to reach you. It’ll take about six months but we’ll be alright, right?”

“Yes, we’ll be alright, I guess...” I thought to myself.

The messages went back and forth between me and Clare and in the blink of an eye, my first semester in senior high was over. I constantly checked for messages in my inbox and most of the time it was the same - no new messages. The further from Earth Clare is, the longer our messages take to reach each other. Day in and day out, all I do is wait for some word from Clare. The next week, we had a class gathering. Clare could not go.
“Hey Ryan, is that you?” Henry asked me.

“Hey Henry, it’s been long, ” I responded.

We continued to talk about our lives and new schools until he saw the magazine I was carrying. It was about the Tarsian expeditions.

“Why do you read such magazines?” Henry teased.

“Remember Clare? She’s with the expedition so I thought I’d do some reading up on it.

“Oh right! I remember her, kind of. It’s got nothing to do with us anyway, I sort of forgot. “

“Nothing to do with us?” I asked.

“Absolutely nothing, right? I mean, she’s not even on Earth!” Henry exclaimed.
I did not know why but a wave of sympathy for Clare washed over me. I admit it, sometimes I wonder why I still keep waiting. But even so, at that moment I thought I would wait for her, I would not forget her. It sounded silly but I meant every single word.

After a while, Clare’s messages stopped coming. Day after day, week after week, month after month, I had kept on waiting, hoping but now I just wanted to start forgetting. Clare must be settling into her new life. Very likely, she had too much on her hands to think of me. It was time. I had to move on. I decided to stop waiting for Clare’s messages.

The seasons have come and gone. Summer is upon us once more. I have completely stopped waiting for a message from Clare. It has been three years since her last message but today I received a message from Clare.

“Dear 19-year-old Ryan, this is 16-year-old Clare. I have travelled three light years so it took this long to send you one message. You know, Ryan... we’re like a pair of old friends separated by Earth and space. What I really want is for us not to find anything so that we can all go home. I want to go home. I long to return to touch your hand, to hear your voice and to see your smiling face.”

Clare had never given up. The truth was since junior high, we only had eyes for each other. I had tried to forget but she did not.

Clare, my one and only desire is to meet you and tell you that I love you. A few weeks after that, the Tarsian expedition announced that they did not discover anything and that they were coming back to Earth. I was overjoyed. The day that Clare was coming back I went to the space airport and waited there. I searched high and low for her space ship and finally her ship arrived. I ran towards that ship’s door but little did I know that it would open downwards and hit my head. I instantly stood up and looked around for Clare. Suddenly, I felt someone tap me from behind.

“Looking for me?” a very beautiful girl asked.

It was Clare.

“Clare! You’re finally home! I missed so much!” I exclaimed as I hugged her.

“Yes, it’s been a long way from home and I’m never leaving again.” Clare said as she fell into my open arms.

Charleen Lee
!,310 words