To Lose One's Head is Not Worth the Money | The Ink Well Writing Challenge | Season 2 Week 5

The blast ended as quickly as it started. When the dust settled, I was still alive, but feel as though I'll never be the same.

I can think, but can't move. I feel light as though disconnected from some other parts of me. I hear a noise in the distance. Sounds like the shuffling of one's feet. Not a steady gait. Somehow I can feel that the friction within the movements are familiar.

Vision is blurry. I have difficulty focusing on any one object. I hear the sound of waves breaking violently. I must be near a beach or other body of water. Flashes of orange color dart in and out. I sense the smell of the ground. It might be sand or dirt.

My world as I know it looks dark. At least I think it's the world I know. Maybe it's dusk. Maybe it's another world somewhere else.

Then the loud noise penetrates my skull. It hurts. I try to scour my surroundings for my friends. The horizon is empty except for that strange orange glow.

I try to think back to how I got here. However, my memory is a bit vague.

^{Image created by me utilizing Nvidia Gaugan/Apophysis; then combined in Canva with free bkgrnd}

I do remember the intense preparations until the day finally arrived for me to leave. I felt an urgency as though I wanted to hurry to discover the unknown and make my fortune in the process.

According to my family and friends, I already had everything I would ever need. They couldn't understand why I was always searching for something else. Even my close friend laughed as he warned, "one day, you'll get more than you bargained for."

The fact is I wanted to be rich.

I've always heard that money is not everything. It can't buy you love or affection. It can't solve all your problems or cure your loneliness. It's only a tool by which you can achieve financial independence.

I wasn't listening to any advice; except hers.

All my friends said I lost my head over her. I'd say it was over the idea. The idea of being rich and famous. The entire world would see me in a different light. It will never forget my innovative spirit and bravery to step out and accomplish a lifelong desire.

And my head took my savings and left with her. The get-rich-quick scheme she flaunted sounded to good to be true. I didn't care. It was worth it not to continue my monotonous life just getting by. I knew there was more in life to experience. I just needed to be rich enough to afford it.

My chance arrived the day I answered the advertisement that would finally change my fortune. And the face and figure accompanying the ad was just icing on the cake.

Aurora was not only young and beautiful, she was alluring. When she talked, all other thoughts were filtered and blocked. You heard her voice traveling through the crevices of your mind. By the time she finished her presentation, my checkbook was opened, and I'd signed on the dotted line her company's proposal to join in their venture.

And what a deal! It was the opportunity of a lifetime. Can you imagine traveling to a far moon? Harvesting the precious metals discovered there? All my desires in life came to this exact moment when I made the decision to step out of my boring life and into the galaxy beyond.

This new start up company had only been in business five years. The technology they touted was far advanced than any out there as far as private space travel.

However, instead of just visiting another world just for the thrill, this venture promised to make all who joined in billionaires. To get in on the ground floor, all you had to do was purchase shares or allotments in the new previous metals the planet offered. It would be better than any other currency.

^{Image by WorldSpectrum from Pixabay}

This type of marketing was an aggressive approach. It had never been done before. It sent Multi-Level Marketing or Ponzi schemes back to the classroom. Of course, I wanted to get in on the ground floor. The only problem: almost a million dollars. But the returns would be well into the billions.

The general public wasn't invited. Word of mouth was the distributor to only those adventurous and heavy in cash flow. So I said goodbye to family and friends. The next time they laid eyes on me, I'd be rich and famous.

On the day we all were scheduled to leave, the platform looked familiar as one would expect in a space launch. In our newly designed man-made space exploratory craft, the workers secured me in my seat as they did the rest of our 10 member crew. Lift off was imminent. A wide smile appeared on my face as I thought about my son and how proud he would be of my accomplishment.

I couldn't sleep and didn't know some of the other crew members did.

The next sound I heard was the last sound. It started as a rumbling underneath us at the bottom of the craft. Those of us awake looked out our respective windows at the burst of steam accompanying our upward thrust.

^{Image by 12019 from Pixabay}

I don't know how long after when suddenly my eyes seemed to expand as my ears filled with an unfamiliar sound I'd never heard before.

That's all I remember of my first flight into the outer realm of this Earth in search of fame and fortune.

All I wanted was to be rich and famous. I wanted to do something no one else had done. At this very moment, I'd give anything to be whole again; to hug my children once more; to kiss my wife goodbye as I head off to my mundane job.

Suddenly, I realize I had accomplished something. I'd stepped out of my rut and aimed for the stars. I put in motion my destiny. I'm already famous' already rich beyond my wildest dreams. My name will be remembered for all time. Here I go venturing into that fantasy again.

Now, all I see is darkness. "What happened?" plays repeated in my mind as I lie here waiting. I fear something is not right with me and never will be again.

The figure I hear in the background approaches even closer and stops near my right ear. I can't turn my head as it's lodged in the dirt. I want to cry. I want to cover my face from the unknown. I want to get up and walk away from here. But I can't. I fear for the first time something terrible has happened to me.

^{Image created by me utilizing Nvidia Gaugan/Apophysis; then combined in Canva with free bkgrnd}

The first time in my life I feel completely alone. The atmosphere is deep orange in color now. A strange combination that makes an unusual image. Droplets of rain are beginning to wash away the taste of sand in my mouth and the feel of it in my eye sockets.

The outline of the body nearby feels as though it's attempting to find something or someone. Where is its head, though?

I'm terrified to ask myself: "Could it be me?"