Making Musical Stories - December

Steps to Enjoy Blog

1. Listen to the song. Think about what story you feel the song is telling you.

2. Read my short story.

3. After reading, listen to the song once more.

4. Tell me what you think! AND let me know what song I should do next!

Disclaimer: This has not been edited. I wrote this as I listened to the song, so be prepared for run-on sentences, missed commas and apostrophes and other grammar issues.

SONG TITLE: My Mamma Said

ARTIST: Aqua

It was only a moment.

I had, as always, pretended to be asleep. My warm sheets were pulled all the way up to my cheek, but even covered in those layers the coldness of space still found a way to creep into every inch of my body.

There was a shuffling in the room. I heard my mother get up from her bed next to mine, in our tiny compartment on the spaceship. Granted it was bigger than other passengers' rooms due to my mother’s position on the ship, but it still wasn’t much. Two small twin beds, silver desk in between with one of those black rolling chairs that no one could really get comfortable in no matter how hard they tried. The desk was in front of a large window that opened into the vastness of space. All the stars twinkled into our room. It barely brought in any light. Afterall, we were nowhere near a star so it could provide its warming glow.

Sleep should come easy in such darkness, but it never did for me. So there I was wide awake as I listened to my mother attempt to put on her boots without making a noise. It couldn’t be helped though. Everytime she opened the drawer or closet a slight whoosh would release from the hydraulic gears. Still I imitated slumber so she wouldn’t know I was watching her every move. I kept my eyes barely open. It was just enough where I could see, but if someone were to look over at me it would seem that they were shut. This was something I can become amazingly good at after the numerous times my mother had tried to sneak away in the past.

Once she was all dressed in her piloting uniform and she wrapped her signature red scarf around neck, the same one my father had gifted her on the day she became a pilot in space. He left a long time ago. Taken by the darkness of space.

She walked softly over to my bed. Not even one squeak or stomp could be heard as she stepped across the smooth floor in her heavy piloting boots. Just like me, she had also become adept at this practice.

It was only a moment. She kneeled down and kissed me on my forehead. So gentle and yet with so much warmth.

And that was when my mamma said, “I love you beyond the stars, my light in the darkness.”

Then there was whoosh as the door to our cabin opened. She was gone. The enemy was here. She and many others were the spaceship’s defenders. It was time for her to protect the ship.

I immediately tore the covers off. Boots were still on my feet. There was no point in taking them off. My mother was called at any time to go fight and I didn’t plan to ever miss it.

Quickly I put on the ship's custom jacket that everyone was required to wear while onboard. I pushed the large green button next to a door. Whoosh! It opened as the light turned red and I rushed right through.

I wasn’t the only one wandering the ship’s halls. It was a complete buzz as groups of people maneuvered themselves throughout the ship. In space time is all relative,so there truly isn’t a day or night. It is just awake or asleep. Everyone has a set time for rest. A body doesn’t truly understand the new environment and for most, it takes time for the body to adjust to the artificial circadian rhythms that your cabin tries to put you under. My body never set right, and thankfully so.

Looking up and down the multi-tiered halls, I saw it. The red scarf flowing ever so slightly from my mother’s swift movement. She had already made it to a level below our cabin. I had to move quickly to catch up.

Our spaceship was substantial in size. It was meant to hold up to one-hundred thousand living souls. At the time there were about fifty thousand, almost the size of a small city on our home planet - though I wouldn’t know. I was born on this ship.

I ran down escalators, pushing people aside - ignoring their shouts of frustration and annoyance. Their complaints didn’t phase me. Where was that red scarf?

There it was! I saw it once more, entering the large globed activity center. So I followed.

This was my least favorite location on the ship, though I would be the only one to think that way. Here there was a dome that was made of a glass-like material strong enough to protect the whole ship from the deadly space beyond and yet also allowed everyone to look out into the vast sea of stars. Not that anyone did. The whole area was lit up bright to simulate daytime to keep everyone awake and happy…in a way.

Underneath the dome there was a shopping center, places for food, an fitness area - with olympic size swimming pool, and other enjoyable amenities that was created to help passengers forget that they are traveling in the endless void of space. It was needed, I suppose. Afterall, we couldn’t live on our home planet. With our wars and pollution, it wasn’t a “home” anymore. For the past one-hundred years we had been searching for somewhere new to live. Always searching…

I had spotted the ends of the scarf just as it was leaving the dome and heading into the passenger free zone. Only crew members were allowed. That was when the sirens went off. Blaring noise echoed throughout the whole ship and droves of people began running every which way, unsure where they should go. Truly, there was nowhere to hide in space.

Ignoring the protests and shouts from those around me, I ran right into the hallway leading to the main post. Though passengers weren’t allowed in this area, no one noticed me. I was too small and not worth time or energy. Not when the enemy was attacking.

It wasn’t just me running down these halls. Surrounding me were the other pilots and similar boots to my mother. I joined the group and let them lead me to the direction I needed to go, the pilot bay.

The sirens were still going off when the doors at the end of the hall whooshed open. There I stood in awe as I saw what my mother was about to fly. No these were not jets or planes or even spaceships. These were robo suits. Large space robots that were equipped to move easily through space and fight whatever an enemy had to throw at our pilots. They towered over the hanger bay, most the size of a small skyscraper. It took an elevator to reach the cockpits of one of these behemoths. And there was the red scarf, being pushed down by the rush of downward air as my mother rode her elevator to her own robotsuit. It was dark red like her scarf except for the outcroppings, similar to wings, which were bright white. Painted on the left breast plate and the sides of the arms were the words “High Captain” accompanied by a majestic brown eagle. High captain was her title as she was leader of the fighters and the brown eagle, an homage to our home planet.

Mechanics ran across the floor of the bay while two were accompanying my mother up to her suit. They helped get her strapped as she sat down on the oversized chair in the cockpit.That’s when she saw me leaning over the balcony. All she did was smile and then blow me a kiss as the capsule of the robo suit closed above her. Then the count down.

Five…

“Don’t go,” I say in my mind.

Four…

“Please Mama don’t go.”

Three…

“Don’t leave me.”

Two…

“Mamma don’t die.”

One…

“Please come back.”

And with that my mother’s robo suit was shot up into the airlock. It closed quickly, preventing precious oxygen from being released into the depths of space. She was out. Flying among the stars. There was only one place to watch this battle. The command center of the ship. That’s where I ran next.

I pushed my way through, running past worried glances from passengers and crew members. Their thoughts and words meant nothing to me. My mother was out there fighting and I had to see.

The door to the command center was open as crew members were moving quickly to send messages throughout the ship. Civilians weren’t allowed on deck, especially during battles. I didn’t care and neither did they. Afterall my mother was the protector of this ship, and I had every right to see her.

No one talked to me as I stood staring out the ship's main center window. It spread throughout the whole cabin, so that the commander could see what lay before us.

I could see it all. There were flashes of lights and sparks that filled the dark entity of space. At one time only the stars could provide such brilliance, but now it was the fight between our pilots and the enemy that took over the darkness.

Suddenly I saw red metal move into my line of vision. It was my mother. She was in the fight, and she was magnificent. Every move was quick and calculated. The enemy could not keep up. One after another, there was an explosion from an enemy robot suite being decimated by my mother.

This wasn’t true of our other pilots. There were just too many enemy fighters. We were not a military vessel. Just another passenger ship. Our fighters were lacking and the enemy took advantage of our weakness. I could see our numbers dwindling not only through the space window, but also on the screens on the deck. All the green dots representing our fighters were disappearing, but the red dots of our enemies kept growing. Soon there was only one green glow among the red. My mother.

It was then the radio crackled on the ship’s deck.

“I think we all know what needs to be done, “her voice was stern, but yet so calming, “Time to initiate ‘end game’.”

What did that mean? I was never told about this.

“If you are listening to my little light in the darkness,” She was talking to me and only me now. Everyone else…even space seemed to be gone. It was just mamma and me, “remember…I love you beyond the stars.”

A bright, white explosion filled the space before the entire ship. We all closed our eyes at such an intense blaze. It quickly came and went. The light dissipated and all that was in the dark void were the stars and pieces of robo suit debris. The enemy was gone…so was my mother. Everyone cheered in the cabin, except for one lone passenger. Me.

I fell to my knees and wept. My mother gave up her life for us all…for me. Though I had been saved, a part of me was still lost to space that day.

***

It is now, twenty years since that day. Here I am again looking out into space once more, but now I am the one wearing the pilot uniform designated for those who captain the robo suit squads. A red, cotton scarf is wrapped loosely around my neck. Slowly I pull my hands through it as I remember what I lost in space twenty years ago.

I stare at the infinite unknown and yet it is not only the stars that I see. A blue and green planet, perfect for all on the ship to call our new home, beckons us forward.

There is a kick in my mid-section, almost as if the life growing inside me knows what lays before us. I gently caress the small bump that holds my child. Soon I will be a mamma as well.

So I say to my own little one as I stare out of the main deck’s window, “You are my light in the darkness. I would give up my life for you because my love goes beyond the stars.”