I am going to mars, I Am Going To Mars, I AM GOING TO MARS!! I pull back my long blond hair into a ponytail, and pull out my pink iphone 15, that I just got last week when I turned 17. I text my best friend Ava…
Me: hey girl hey, guess what
Ava: OMG, are you moving to hollywood
Me: I wish… BUT YOUR GIRL IS GOING TO MARS
Ava: OH, wait… is mars in hollywood??
Me: what, no it’s in space
Ava: Where in space, like that new store, with really cute shoes
Me: idk I’ll look it up
Ava: Kk
I turn on my surface pro 11 and look up Macarize on Mars. A bunch of amazing stuff popped up like the sunrise and sunset is made of mostly the color butterscotch, with a few other colors! During the day the sky is a pretty blue, and Mars has two moons! But what I read next would forever haunt me. My sister, Claire walks in, to see me having a panic attack. Cla, Cla, Claire, there n, n, no WIFI on ma, ma, Mars! “ So your point is…” “I AM NOT GOING TO MARS”!! “Um.. yeah you are.” Claire quickly replayed with a sly 12 year old grin.
Well I’m here… on the space shuttle… about to land on Mars. I hear the woman coming on the intercom of the space shuttle, “ As we prepare to land on Mars please put on your spacesuits and buckle up for the rough landing. Once we land you may unbuckle and grab your luggage. After that, clip the string to your seat and proceed to use the handrails to go up, then to the left. Also keep in mind that because Mars does not have Oxygen, so you must wear your spacesuit until we get to the airlock and it has been closed. After that we will enter the dome and you will be free to Macarize on Mars!” I turn to see Mom and Dad buckling up. I sigh as I follow her instructions.
Claire is in front of me and is turning left. I hear a loud shriek coming in front of me. I jump because I know it's Claire. But when I turn left, I even let a small gasp escape me. The scenery in front of me is beautiful. I see roller coasters, resorts, and people, lots and lots of people. The most beautiful thing of all is the giant glass dome with a smaller one within. I remind myself there will be no WIFI, and that I’ll lose my 529 day streak on snapchat with Ava, I then enter the airlock.
When I get inside the airlock I see a big sign that says “Welcome and get ready to Macarize on Mars”. I’m not welcome and don’t wanna be welcome here. I then am about to lose it when I see signs with boring facts such as, Mars has seasons just like Earth, but twice as long, the days are similar to Earth, the land mass is almost the same as Earth, and there is less gravity on Mars than Earth. When the door to the airlock finally clicks, I stomp up and down trying to get this hideous space suit off of me, and finally comes out my bright purple high heel. I notice a small crack in the glass. How bad could it be, it’s just a little crack. I think to myself. As I walk over to where we enter the dome to “Macarize” on Mars, I think about how am I gonna get through the week without wifi!
I enter the dome and and suddenly surprised there are people sitting outside, eating lunch and riding roller coasters. We get checked into our resort, and I open my suitcase and realize I didn't pack any summer clothes because I thought it was going to be really cold, but the weather is actually really nice. I start to flip through a magazine and find a add about a mall. Hey mom, can I go the mall? “Yeah, use your bracelet” mom replied! I walk to a roller coaster track and press a red button on my lavender bracelet and it transforms into a lavender roller coaster car! Awesome! I sit in it and buckle up. I hit a setting that says fast, the ride started and it first slowly went up then it went down really fast, it was so fun! When I look down, I see people chilling out and having the time of their life. In fact I’m feeling relaxed and Macarize myself! About a minute later I’m already at the mall. Maybe this place isn't that bad, because I could so get used to this.
Well, it’s been 5 days already! I can’t believe I like it so much here! I stand on the edge of our resort balcony and look over the horizon at the dusty red planet. I put two and two together and figured out that since Mars had a lot of Iron and Iron is used for building things… Whoever made all of these roller coaster must used all of that Iron! Scientists made that weather conditions on Mars always be nice, and every once in a while it drizzled, like it was today. I sit down on the edge of my chair and open my book. I then quickly whip my head around as I hear a loud scream, I run into our hotel room, open the door and look outside. I see a woman with long brown hair sobbing loudly and at all man leaning down with tears rolling down his eyes. He was holding a beautiful baby girl, well she must have been beautiful. But now she had pale blue skin and dark purple lips, her eyes were closed peacefully as if she was forever sleeping, but I knew she was gone. Never to see her parents again, at least not in this life. It feels like it been hours, I know it has only been seconds, I walk over to the mom and ask her what happened. Between sobs she finally managed to say, “I put her down for a nap and she started coughing, she has really weak lungs, so I went outside and put her in her carseat, then I ran in and got her medicine, but then…” I hear a loud crash, a piece of the dome has fallen. I hear a voice coming on, “Everyone remain calm, it seems like there was a crack in the airlock, as long as the airlock doesn’t open, we will be fine, so… The voice is cut off by a loud click, a familiar sound. I gasp and run. I caused the crack, everyone’s going to die because of me, I killed the baby girl, the airlock opened. There is no more oxygen on Mars. Then I pass out.
I wake up with a jolt, I see Claire standing there with a oxygen mask on. I look down at my hands, they are so pale that I can’t tell my nails apart from my skin. Claire, I say in a tired tone. I’ll never make it, you take mom and dad and go. “I don’t know where they are, and I’m not leaving here without you!” She takes a deep breath and and transfers the mask over to my face. I suddenly feel life. “Let’s go!” Claire says. As we half jog/half run to the nearest space teleporter (which costs a fortune to use, unless in a event like this), I am devastated by what I see. There are people everywhere, either running, lying in a peaceful way, or crushed under pieces of the dome.. I hear another large crash, I see a large chunk of the dome slowly falling. I turn to see Claire standing in it’s way. I only then realize that you don’t need all the fake stuff to Macarize, it doesn’t matter if it’s on this planet or on another. Family is everything, to have someone to loves you for who you are at the end of the day, no matter what you did is a true blessing. Having a sister like Claire is a true blessing and I wasn’t going let her down… not this time. I run to Claire and shove her away, she hits the ground and is too weak to get up. But when she looks up she gives out a blood piercing scream. My heart drops and I quickly pull off my mask and put it back on her. Then I look at Claire, her light brown eyes are in agony. They are the last thing I see before the world goes black.
By: Carter Mills, Trinity Richardson, Nidhi Patel, and Neera Desai
