Henry Stickmin: The Tale Of Charles's Afterlife

Chapter 6- The Darkest Memory

Why is it called
"The Darkest Memory"?
That is because it means that the memory is unforgettable, and of course, heartbreaking and causes agony to one. Some people are fortunate to not have their darkest memory.

The debris floated through space into far off places. They were invisible until they were too far away and seen as ting specks among the stars from Henry's view. He was simply stunned, felt like he like glued to the floor, causing his body to be unable to move. His body wants to move but his mind would not allow it, for it was busy causing tears to flow from Henry's eyes. When the station blew, he pounded on the broken window not caring if it was going to shatter any second. He just wanted Charles back into his arms, safe and sound, but importantly, alive.

"Woah..." gasped many officers on earth. Hubert heard the racket and stormed outside to shush his officers and to order them to get back to work. But the moment he saw the blue sky he too saw the grey cloud getting bigger and bigger with each passing second. Every officer stopped whatever they were doing to take a look at unusual sight in space. A couple realised what had just occured and begun cheering and hugging each other. The smoke cloud spilt of into many different pieces of multiple shapes and sizes into all directions.

Mission accomplished. But at what cost?

A life. One precious life that was never meant to end this way.

Henry fumbled to stand up while still screaming, but the escape pod just entered the earth's orbit, making him tumble back and lying on the ground. Another escape pod filled with the Toppat survivors landed somewhere far off, but it's location was not detected clearly. Henry's escape pod made a rough landing on the earth's mud, causing him to hit his head against the seat and bleed a little. Nevertheless, he still made it back safely. The Hubert and him officers found him in the middle of a wide range of shrubbery, one of them handed him a crowbar and proceeded to pry open the door. Henry was inside, okay, but was sobbing so hard that he couldn't even pause to speak.

"Stickmin... Why are you crying? Get up on your feet." Hubert ordered. But hearing that made Henry cry even harder. Eventually he cried so hard until he was exhausted and could cry no more. Hubert expected to hear what happened when he calmed down, so they set him up in the medical tent. His crying cost a box of tissues.

"I want to know where did that other escape pod go." Hubert said, grabbing a map of the Dogobogo Jungle and indicating the radius of the search area he expects the pod to be found.

"General? I came back as quick as I could as soon as I saw that blow in the sky! What's up?" Ellie appeared at the doorway of the tent. She was just taking a stroll through her neighbourhood when she saw the smoke cloud, thinking it had something to do with the government and their current operations. Ever since the station launched into space, it was reported to be seen in some parts of the world through the clouds. The government has been collecting and processing this data to determine an appropriate course of action to take them down.

The crying seemed endless. Henry couldn't calm himself down. He felt weak and his heart continuously ached and pounded in his chest. Ellie stood by the entrance, looking into the dark tent, she didn't want to disturb so she turned around.

An hour later, Henry was finally sitting up. He was a little wobbly in walking, probably weak from the shock. Another officer grabbed him by the shoulders and escorted him to the General's tent.

"Wasn't that the Toppat station?"

"Yes... And if you ask anymore questions I won't hesitate to snap your neck." Henry muttered as if he was drunk but not from alcohol, but sadness. The officer was taken aback, clearly offended by such unexpected behaviour. Henry was completed engulfed in darkness. He no longer saw any happiness through his cold dead eyes.

"General, the Toppat space station has been destroyed."

"Excellent ne-"

"Henry!" Ellie snapped to bring him back to reality. They were comfortably seated in the car on their way back to the campsite.

"I hope I won't have to think about it again..." Seeing the tear roll down Henry's face told Charles what his best friend was thinking of. Henry snatched the supplies bag from Ellie, pretending to take out the last of the biscuits, but was actually taking something else.