~6~

I sink my tired, and maybe a bit too overstressed, body into the warm bubbly waters in the bathtub and just sit there for a moment and soak up all the energy of today.

My hair is safely sealed away behind a makeshift protective silk bonnet I'd handmade on my journey. Which speaks to its overall quality.

I push myself down into the waters even further as I submerged my mouth and nose, blowing angry and distressed bubbles as I tried to dissipate the anger and confusion brewing within.

I'd ended the stream a little while ago, plunging myself into the rare to slightly sporadical moments of true 100% isolation and solitude that I hate.

I close my eyes to try and centre and align myself.

I didn't want to spiral into dangerous and irrational thoughts, which would lead to sudden and ill-advised decisions.

As soon as I'd ended my stream Carol called immediately and linked our call with a trained medical professional who guided me on how best to wrap and treat my injuries with my limited supply.

The doctor was so sweet and lovely, an elderly woman in her late 50s with thinning grey curly hair. She told me what a good job I was doing and how strong and brave I was to survive this long and was definitely making everyone back home proud.

She almost brought me to tears.

Carol just rolled her eyes at the sappy display of affection and pointedly told us to hurry it up, because sustaining the call would be expensive.

Not like NASA doesn't cover the bill for all 8 video calls she was supposed to make to me per week, at a minimum!

She skimmed some of the money off the topic to go drown her divorced sorrows at her local bar.

I'd only agreed to keep silent if she promised to split the money with me.

It was currently being sent to my bank account back home and the amount I'd gathered makes me wanna drool and salivate at the thought of one day getting to spend it all.

If I get to spend it all.

The sobering thought refocused the train of thoughts in my head.

I'd already made sure to make the necessary precautions in the event of my untimely death to have all financial income in my name be donated to a list of charities I had provided and informed.

And any future revenue my likeness or merchandise may generate should also go to the charities, orphanages, relief funds and non-profits I've also named.

I was told I was being too morbid at the time for taking such precautionary measures.

Who laughing now?

There are other people on Titan.

"Shit!" I pulled my face out of the water before I drowned because I'd left it underwater for far too long. But my exclaimed profanity wasn't at my almost self-brought demise, it was due to the situation at hand that I still can't wrap my brain around.

I wasn't alone.

All this time I've been running around Titan and almost dying on more occasions than I care to willingly admit. There had been other life on this planet!?

I was almost insulted.

No scratch that. I am insulted!

Alien life wasn't a new thing in our corner of the Milky Way. It always seemed like Aliens were more eager to talk to us than the other way around.

After my first 3 weeks on Titan with no contact from any seeming forms of life or other intelligent creatures, NASA quickly declared Titan an uninhabited planet and me the first person to land and colonize it.

Considering I wasn't flying under any country or organization's banner, several world powers contacted me to claim it in their name.

My loyalties only lie in one place.

I claimed Titan in the name of Amongus. Long may the meme reign.

So long as I continued to breathe air, I'll never let that meme die.

My second option was Zendaya.

But she showed up in my stream chat when we were debating this, and she actually begged me not to because it would be too much pressure on her.

Regardless, let's just say China and Russia were not happy with my decision.

America was cool with it so long as no other nation technically beat them.

And Japan is laughing about it to this day.

I started to feel the water in the tub go cold, so I quickly hopped out and wrapped myself and my soaked bandages quickly in a towel before I caught a cold.

Passing by a reflection of myself in my square bathroom mirror showed me the vicious scrawl plastered on my face.

Ew.

I'm gonna get wrinkles before my 30s if I keep this up.

With quite literally no other outlet to deal with these swirling emotions, I did what I did best when something was bothering me.

Confront it head-on.

I reach over to one of my stationary cabinets and pull out a piece of paper and a pen. Slapping the paper down on the counter, I scribbled down on it in my most legible handwriting.

Which was atrocious because I hadn't had to physically write anything in over half a decade. Technology is kinda a curse.

I ball up the paper after practising writing again for a couple of times and pull out a sturdier piece of paper.

I write down what I want to say and waddle over to the front door still dripping wet puddles all over the place with the smell of fresh antiseptics still lingering in the air.

I open the front door, peer out into the vast darkness as the atmosphere was generating some light again, and drop the note I'd written on my "front porch".

I look back into the once-thought-empty sea. Realizing that I may, even at this moment, be actually being observed without even knowing it.

An uncomfortable chill raced up my spine as I close the door quickly.

Pulling my bed back out and flopping on, I crawl into the centre like a centipede.

I listen to the infinite silence, the only thing breaking it was the low hum of the machines of my spaceship.

I started to drift into slumber but I pick myself up off the bed to properly dress for what was undoubtedly going to be a long sleeping session for me.

And I was right.

I slept for a good 20+ hours before I was conscious again.

It was already light out and I check all my cameras, but nothing out of the ordinary was going on outside.

Same ol nothingness.

But the position of my note clearly had changed.

Even though it was useless to play back the camera footage, because I could see next to nothing in the dead of night, I still did so with no new results.

I went to the front door and opened it to inspect my note more.

It's not like Titan has any noticeable breeze, and the ship barely moved an inch, so what gives?

Bending down to inspect the note answered all my questions.

It had been flipped over.

I immediately pick it up and run back inside "the house".

On one side of the note, written in my poor attempt at cursive while also being readable:

-Why did you ignore me?-

Plain, simple, and straight to the point.

I flip over the other end of the paper to read:

-Fear.-

In scrawny, scribbly text.

As if the person was writing for the first time.

My skin prickles with gooseflesh as the hairs on the back of my head stood at attention.

Fear of who? Of what!?

Me? Them!?

....or something else?