Life After Earth

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. The crack from the impact of a hammer against someone's skull is another story entirely. I never imagined I'd be in this kind of situation but here I am standing over my best friend's body watching as she slowly bleeds out, the life draining from her beautiful blue eyes. I know exactly what you're thinking. What kind of monster would murder their best friend? I'm no monster, and I promise I'm not as crazy as I might seem. Take a seat and listen up, I'll tell you our story. It will all make sense to you soon and you will see, you would have done the same as me.

I was born on a little planet called Xioana, about a thousand lightyears from what used to be Earth. My parents were one of the firsts to come to this planet right before the apocalypse on Earth. Being a wealthy news anchor definitely has its perks. There were a lot of families that couldn't afford a spot on the shuttles. I'm not sure if it was sheer luck or the universe at work but I met Bailey, my best friend, when I was 16. Her mom spent the last of her savings paying to have someone sneak her and Bailey's two brothers onto the shuttle just as the planet met its demise. Needless to say, we did not have the same upbringing. Bailey is what's known as a half breed. Shortly after landing on Xioana, Bailey's mom fell in love with a Xioanaian man she met in the diner where she worked. They married rather quickly, and nine months later Bailey was born. Being the first half Earthling half Xioanaian she was the talk of the town and not in a good way. The wealthy families that came to Xioana with my parents were in an uproar when they heard the news. Naturally their negativity trickled down to their offspring. Lucky us.

I often wonder if things would have been different if we had never had to leave Earth. Despite being the daughter of "the hottest" news anchor on the planet I was still considered a loser. As I sat at the "losers table" in the cafeteria of my high school eating my ham sandwich and people watching like I did daily, I saw her for the first time. I was instantly drawn to her. She had the prettiest blue eyes, flawless burgundy skin and long blonde hair, but by Earthling standards she wasn't winning any beauty pageants. Her eyes were too big and slightly bulged, her nose was too big for her face, and it didn't help that her mom clearly bought her clothing at discount stores. And let's not forget to mention the glasses. Complete social suicide. If she had no chance at becoming popular, there was absolutely no hope for me, with my blotchy skin tone and Dora the explorer haircut. I watched as she made her way through the crowded cafeteria. "Nice outfit, weirdo!" I heard Dean McMillin, star quarterback, yell as she walked past the jock table. He's such an ass I remember thinking to myself, rolling my eyes and taking a sip of my water. A deafening crash startles me, it's followed by rambunctious laughter. I look in the direction of the crash and see Bailey on the ground face first in her tray of mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak. She looks up at the crowd surrounding her, laughing and snapping pictures. I can see the tears welling up in her eyes. Before I know it, I'm by her side. "Are you okay?" I asked as I helped her up and pull her toward the girls' restroom. "Leave it to you to come rescue the freak show!" I heard Dean yell behind us. Bailey shakes her head at me and bursts into tears. We'd been best friends ever since. We didn't let the fact that we were from opposite worlds get in the way of our friendship. Bailey lived on the lower west side, the "slums" as the cool kids liked to call it and I lived in the only nice neighborhood on the planet. We were an odd pair to say the least. Still, we were literally inseparable.

By end of junior year, we had planned out the rest of our lives. From what college we'd attend down to what the other would wear at our wedding. Senior year things started to change. Bailey threw out the glasses and got contacts that added a honeycomb glow to her already gorgeous blue eyes and started wearing makeup. All of a sudden it didn't matter that she shopped at the secondhand stores or was a "freak of nature". All the boys wanted to date Bailey and all the girls wanted to be her. Myself included.