Chapter One

Elliot Shaw floated in the cold expanse, the hum of the spacecraft his only company. Outside the window, Earth glimmered like a distant jewel, suspended in the endless void of space. But he wasn’t thinking about the mission. He couldn’t stop replaying the message in his head, the one Mara sent just hours before the launch. Four words that ripped through him with the force of an asteroid:

“I’m leaving you, Elliot.”

No explanation. Just that—an ending, sudden and brutal. He barely had time to process it before being strapped into his suit, helmet sealed, and launched into space. Now, as he orbited hundreds of miles above the planet, the enormity of the situation—both his mission and his crumbling life—pressed down on him like the weight of the entire universe.

But there was no time to dwell. His mission was simple: reach the international space station orbiting Mars, dock, and spend the next year conducting research, analyzing data, and maintaining the systems. He was prepared for the isolation, the long, monotonous days of solitude. What he wasn’t prepared for was losing Mara.

Elliot gripped the edge of his console, trying to steady himself, but the isolation seeped into his bones. He stared into the blinding sunlight streaming through the window, the heat magnifying against his faceplate like a lens. “It’s so hot out here”, he thought to himself, “I feel like I’m melting like plastic.” The words pulsed in his mind, over and over, as if his very being was liquefying under the pressure.

The calm voice of Dr. Sienna Ashley, the mission’s medical officer, cut through his thoughts. Her face appeared on the video feed, glowing softly in the artificial light of Mission Control. “Commander Shaw, checking in for your daily vitals. How’re you holding up out there?”

Elliot hesitated before answering, keeping his tone as neutral as possible. “I’m fine, Dr. Ashley. Same as usual.”

“Alright, let’s take a look at your readings,” she said, her fingers tapping away at her console. He could see her eyes flicker with concern as the data came in, even though her expression remained professional. “Your heart rate’s a little elevated today. Blood pressure, too. Have you been feeling any stress?”

Stress? Elliot almost laughed at the understatement but swallowed it down. He couldn’t let on what was happening. Not to her. Not to anyone. “Nothing unusual. Just the mission.”

She nodded, but her gaze lingered on him a moment longer. “Remember, it’s important to stay mentally and emotionally sharp out there, Elliot. Space can be…lonely.” Her voice softened, as if she knew something was off but wasn’t going to push him. Not yet.

“I’m fine,” he repeated, ending the session abruptly. The screen blinked off, leaving him alone again. Alone with his thoughts.

Chapter Two

The days blurred together in a haze of routine check-ins, system diagnostics, and the unrelenting stillness of space. Every time Sienna appeared on the screen, her concerned eyes studying him, Elliot’s walls went up. He answered her questions, ran through the motions, but he refused to open up. What would he say anyway? My wife just left me, and I’m thousands of miles away, unable to do anything about it. It was absurd. Ridiculous. And yet the hurt gnawed at him, carving out pieces of his soul, leaving him hollow.

It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth session—Elliot had lost track—that something in him cracked. Sienna had just finished going over his vitals, which were deteriorating, despite his insistence that he was fine.

“You’re not sleeping well,” she said gently, as though not wanting to push him too far. “You can talk to me, Elliot. If something’s going on…it might help.”

He stared at her face on the screen. The kindness in her eyes made his throat tighten. For a moment, he wanted to tell her everything. About Mara. About the crushing weight in his chest. But he couldn’t.

“I can handle it,” he said, his voice sounding small and distant even to himself.

Sienna didn’t push, but her silence was more patient than any words. She simply waited, her calm presence filling the emptiness around him.

The dam broke before he even realized it. “My wife…she left me. Just before the mission,” he admitted, the words tumbling out like debris from a collapsing star. “She didn’t even explain. Just said she was leaving. I can’t—there’s nothing I can do about it from here. And it’s…it’s killing me.”

Sienna listened quietly, her expression softening with understanding. “I’m so sorry, Elliot,” she said after a long pause. “I can’t imagine how hard that must be, especially being out there. But you’re not alone. I’m here, and you can talk to me whenever you need to.”

For the first time in what felt like ages, Elliot felt a flicker of hope. Maybe there was someone who could help him carry this weight. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t completely lost out here.

Chapter Three

Over the next few weeks, Elliot found himself opening up more and more during their check-ins. Sienna became his lifeline, the only person who seemed to understand the depth of his pain. Her voice was like a tether to reality, pulling him back from the edge of despair. They talked about Mara, about the mornings they’d shared, the way everything had once felt so solid. He confessed how adrift he felt now, how he feared he was slowly dissolving into nothingness.

And Sienna listened. She was always there, steady, compassionate, and present. For the first time since he’d left Earth, Elliot began to believe that he could make it through this. That maybe, when he returned, things would somehow make sense again.

But then, one day, she was gone.

Her usual face on the video feed had been replaced by a man Elliot had never seen before. “Commander Shaw, this is Dr. Holden,” the new doctor said briskly. “I’ll be taking over for Dr. Ashley starting today.”

Elliot blinked in shock. “Where’s Sienna?”

“Reassigned to another mission,” Dr. Holden replied, his tone perfunctory. “Now, let’s get started with your vitals.”

Elliot barely heard him. Sienna was gone. The only person he’d been able to talk to, the one tether keeping him grounded, was just…gone. And now, this stranger was here, talking to him like nothing had changed. Like he hadn’t just been abandoned all over again.

He shut down completely. There was no point in opening up to someone else, no point in trusting anyone. He was alone out here. Utterly alone. The slow unraveling that had begun with Mara’s message now seemed unstoppable. It’s so hot I’ve been melting out here. I’m made out of plastic out here.

Dr. Holden’s voice droned on, asking questions, running diagnostics, but Elliot didn’t care. His mind was a million miles away, drifting farther from the person he used to be. He could feel himself melting, piece by piece, dissolving into the void.

Chapter Four

When did it all go wrong?

The thought wouldn’t leave Elliot’s mind. Alone now, with nothing but the hum of the spacecraft and his own unraveling thoughts, he tried to piece together the fragments of his marriage. Had Mara been giving him signs? Clues that he missed? Had there been another man? Someone hovering in the background, making passes at her while he was too focused on his career, too blind to see it?

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to rewind the clock, to trace back the steps of their relationship. Was it last year, when she started staying late at work? Or maybe when she seemed distant during their anniversary dinner—was that when she had already made up her mind? There was that guy, David, one of her colleagues, always laughing a little too loud at her jokes, always hanging around. Was he the one?

His mind circled back to memories he hadn’t visited in years. He became obsessed with trying to pinpoint the moment when everything began to fall apart, when the cracks in their marriage became fractures. But the more he tried to find the clues, the more his mind wandered to the good times.

He remembered the night they saw Frankie Beverly and Maze perform live in New Orleans back in the ‘90s. They had danced under the thick Louisiana sky, sweat dripping down their necks, the music filling them with life. It had been a perfect night. Mara had looked so happy then, so alive.

Then there was the time they were driving cross-country, with no particular destination in mind. They’d spontaneously decided to visit the Grand Canyon. He could still feel the cool desert air against his skin, the vastness of the canyon spread out before them. They had made love under the stars that night, the sky so wide and clear that it felt like they were the only two people in the universe.

And her surprise 30th birthday party for him—he had walked into the room, completely stunned, to see all of his friends there. Some of them he hadn’t seen in years. Mara had arranged it all. She had known how much it would mean to him. She had cared, back then.

The memories flooded him, pulling him deeper into a past that seemed light-years away. The more he remembered, the more it hurt. How had they gone from those moments—those perfect moments—to this? When had he lost her? And more importantly, why hadn’t he seen it coming?

He could see her now, smiling at him in the candlelight of that surprise party, whispering “I love you” as they danced at the concert, laughing under the stars at the Grand Canyon. She was right there, in his mind, so real he could almost reach out and touch her.

But as the memories engulfed him, Elliot lost track of time. Of the mission. Of everything.

Chapter Five

It wasn’t until one of those numb, hollow days that Elliot noticed something strange. His routine had become mechanical—run the system checks, monitor his vitals, and drift through the empty hours. But today, as he glanced at the navigation panel, something was wrong.

His coordinates were off.

Panic gripped him as he checked the numbers again, his heart pounding in his chest. He was supposed to be nearing the space station orbiting Mars, his destination for the year-long mission. But the coordinates didn’t match. He wasn’t anywhere near the station.

In fact, he didn’t know where he was.

He’d drifted off course, far off course, into uncharted space. The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. How had he not noticed? How long had he been adrift?

Elliot frantically tried to re-establish contact with Mission Control, but the signal was weak, barely a whisper in the static. He called out again and again, but there was no response. Just silence.

His mind raced, his thoughts a chaotic swirl of fear and confusion. He’d been so lost in his memories, so consumed by the weight of his personal life, that he’d missed the signs—missed the fact that he was drifting farther and farther from everything familiar. Now, he was truly alone. Lost in space, with no idea how to get back.

He sat there, staring out at the vast, empty void, the stars blinking coldly in the distance. His body trembled as the full weight of the situation settled over him. He was adrift, physically and emotionally, with no tether left to hold onto.

He whispered into the darkness, barely audible, “Houston…can you hear me now?”

But there was no answer.

Just the silence of space, swallowing him whole.

The End