Sofa Space

by Tom Cheshire

Bleeding from my arm and leg wounds, I crawled across the floor of the airlock room towards the luxury escape pod; that huge round object with all the promises of freedom. I couldn’t stand upright - my leg was throbbing so much, leaving a red trail behind as I crawled. I was getting closer and closer - nothing would stop me now. I’d made it. I touched a bloodied hand on the outer shell. And… nothing happened.

  “How does it open?” I gasped to myself. “How does it… how does it…” I started laughing, still lying on the floor. This was ridiculous. I’d made it this far…

  “Joe!” Travis called. I looked back. Travis was standing looking through the panel window. I instantly burst into fits of maniacal laughter. There he was – still in the corridor, still too scared to climb through that stupid hole! I was chortling like mad. The lights were going haywire, there was a trail of my blood all across the floor, and there the silly sod was, knife in his hand, rage in his face, still standing on the wrong side of the damn wall. It was, after all this time, inexplicably, still his biggest fear… I found myself reliving the conversation I’d had with Travis about it a while back – ‘I’ve never been in there before,’ he’d said.

  “Oh, you know what, I finally get it now!” I howled. “I get why you’re too scared to climb in here!” Travis’ gaze was locked with mine. I continued. “You said you’ve never been in here, and that’s true. But it’s more than that!” I had to pause to contain my laughter. “You’ve never been ANYWHERE other than those few other rooms your entire life!”

  Travis stood there in complete silence, his intimidating face periodically becoming silhouetted from the flickering lights.

  “Your entire life spent confined to a few square meters!” I wiped my streaming eyes. “You don’t know how to handle it because you’ve never experienced stepping foot outside those walls! You’ll never know what it’s like to go somewhere else, anywhere else, never know what it feels like to see something new. To not have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything in the room at all times! You’re pathetic! You don’t exist outside of a few square feet of metal! You don’t exist outside this ship!” I was choking on my own laughter. “Oh, Travis. You crack me up.”

  Travis was still standing, watching silently. With my back against the luxury escape pod, I slowly but surely found my way to my feet.

  “I don’t suppose you could help me figure out how to work this old escape pod thing, eh?” I taunted. “Oops, too bad. I guess you never even WANTED to leave this place.” Travis’ eyes were still focused on the floor, where I’d been laying. I looked down and noticed the cigarette was there; must have fallen out of my pocket.

  “Oh yeah, this thing…” I chuckled, picking it up between my fingers. I mimed smoking it, taunting the already very visibly distressed Travis. I walked over to the airlock, continuing to pretend to smoke. The space suit was still there on the floor after my return from that pointless trip to the sofa and back. I kicked it out of the way; useless piece of junk. I approached the airlock bulkhead and pressed the button to open it, then turned to look back at Travis.

  “You know what?” I said, pointing at the cigarette. “I made up my mind. I don’t think I’ll be needing this anymore.” Travis shook his head, realising what I was going to do. With a flick of my wrist, the cigarette was in the airlock. I shut the bulkhead and the countdown started. Ten seconds. All Travis could do was watch helplessly as the cigarette lay alone in the decompression chamber, waiting to be blasted out into nothingness. I walked back over to the luxury escape pod and sat down, stretching my oozing leg out in front of me. Three. Two. One.

  “Woooo!” I yelled, raising my arm triumphantly in the air. And the cure was gone. The cigarette flew out into space at tremendous speed, quickly unravelling and sprinkling the contents away into the darkness. It was as simple as that.

  Travis still wasn’t saying anything. I couldn’t imagine how bad he felt now that his plan to ‘cure’ me was in ruins. All I did was sit, watching Travis’ silent gaze as the lights continued to flicker on and off in rapid succession. We stayed like this for at least a minute, possibly two. I could hardly even feel my injuries. I knew this was going to be the end. The asteroid was coming - it was there right now, outside the airlock, ready to take us both. It was only a matter of time.

  Wait, what was that? The flickering of the lights was getting so intense I could barely see across the room, but Travis had moved. His hands were reaching across. No, it couldn’t be. He was actually stepping into the room.

  “No… what are you doing?” I asked. No response. One leg was through. “Travis, stop this. You aren’t supposed to be able to come in here…” The other leg was through. “Travis!” He was walking towards me, his partially silhouetted body strobing nightmarishly against the lights.

  “Travis!” I caught a flash of the knife and, panicking, tried to shuffle to my feet, but my leg was in too much pain. It was too late. Was Travis going to kill me?

  BANG! I felt the clang of my head against the round metal of the luxury escape pod, before drifting into unconsciousness.

  I came to. I was still lying besides the luxury escape pod, but the lights were no longer flickering. I looked around. Where was Travis? All I could see was my trail of blood leading back to the corridor, and the spacesuit still lying besides the airlock. I examined my injuries – it looked like the bleeding had stopped, but it still hurt to move my arm. I sighed. I suppose part of me wanted to believe that everything that had just happened had been a bad dream, or at least had been imagined. But no - all that blood was still there. The pain was real.

  I sat up and realised that Travis’ knife was there beside me, still smothered in my blood from earlier. But why was it there, and not sticking fatally out of my chest? For whatever reason Travis had decided not to kill me and had simply knocked me out…

  “Travis?!” I called out. “Where are you? What happened?” I stood up. “Show yourself!”

  “Over here…” That was Travis’ voice, and it wasn’t coming from where I expected. It was muffled. I looked across to the airlock. He was there - inside the decompression chamber.

  “Travis? What the hell are you doing in there?!” I yelled. Travis wasn’t wearing the space suit.

  “You made your choice. I’m making mine,” Travis replied, calmly.

  “What?” I walked over and pressed my hands against the glass. “Get out of there, what’s wrong with you?”

  “You were right.” Travis said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t exist outside this ship. There’s no future for me elsewhere,” Travis pointed towards the luxury escape pod.

  “That’s not what I…”

  “Spare me the hypocrisy, please…” Travis sighed. “This is my choice, Joe. I don’t want to fight you any more. I’m choosing the easy way out.”

  “You’re going to take your life?” I asked in disbelief. “Why? Why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance?”

  “I’m not a killer, Joe.” Travis said. “I couldn’t do it. That’s not how this is supposed to end.”

  “Travis…” I sighed. There was nothing I could say or do now.

  “I decided,” Travis lamented. “When I saw you get rid of that cure, how gleefully you sacrificed your only chance for redemption... I realised…” Travis’ words were crushing. “I have no more reason to exist.”

  “I…”

  “This is my choice. At least give me that right…”

  “Of… of course…” I stammered. “But…”

  Travis gazed intensely at me, knowing there were only moments left for him to change his mind about suicide.

  “You overcame your fear after all this time…” I said, finding it hard to choose my words. “You… maybe you can still get out…”

  Travis smiled. “That is what I’m doing, Joe. Getting out.” The countdown had started.

  “Travis, what...” Ten seconds.

  “Just one thing, you’ve got to promise me…”

&nb
sp; “What?” Five seconds.

  “Dom, Chloe, Emma. Promise me you’ll let them go…” Travis pointed once more at the luxury escape pod.

  “Travis, I’m s-“

  But he was gone.

  19

  What had I done? I stood alone by the airlock, my whole body trembling. I think what hurt the most is that after all this time I still didn’t know who Travis was. I didn’t know how to grieve for him. This man… my son? Dom’s son? The only one who truly knew and understood the types of people we were before… The man to whom curing me of my so-called ‘illness’ meant more than anything else in the world, was dead, gone, and it was all my fault. Or was it? In the end of the day, it was his choice.

  I had a choice right now, too. I could climb into the airlock and launch myself to certain death just like Travis; a tantalisingly straightforward prospect I must admit, or I could try to figure out how to open up the luxury escape pod to get away from all this madness and preserve my life without a care for anyone else. Would it be worth it? Did I have anything at all to live for any more? Did any of us?

  Travis’ final words… letting the others go. Easier said than done. If I opened that kitchen door, there would be no defending my actions. I would face the full wrath of Dom’s fury and the complete rejection of any hopes at escaping the ship with my life intact. Hell, they’d probably tear me to pieces before I’d even had the chance to open my mouth, especially with Emma apparently no longer on my side. Whatever happened now, there would be no turning back.

  Yet I’d already known that from the moment I’d chosen the knife over the lighter. These were the consequences I deserved. No need to debate this any further. I returned to the corridor. The extent of the damage was quite extravagant for a couple of guys awkwardly grappling with a single knife. A burst red-hot pipe was leaking into a puddle of steaming water, while cables and ceiling rods lay scattered across the floor and sparks continued to burst sporadically out of the walls. Still, it was less dramatic than it had been earlier – the lights were stable for one thing. It seemed that the ship was already starting to compensate for the damage and wasn’t in any immediate danger; well, beyond the scarily imminent potential threat of an asteroid collision at the back of my mind.

  I tiptoed across to the common room and put the knife on the coffee table. I couldn’t stand to hold it in my bloodstained hand any more. I looked around at the mess of destroyed Travis chairs. Forget the sofa, now there really was nowhere to sit. Bob was also on the floor, right where I’d left him, where I’d almost stomped him to oblivion. He wasn’t moving.

  “Travis! Travis are you there?!” Dom suddenly started yelling from behind the kitchen door. I began walking back to the corridor. I was going to have to get this over with.

  “Is it over, Travis?” Dom continued to yell. I was getting closer to the door – bits of it had begun to peel off from the repeat trauma Dom had subjected it to, but the pole I’d jammed across it had done its job. I was going to have to remove it before anyone could get out.

  “Travis? Can you let us out?”

  Defenceless and dejected, I grabbed the pole with both of my arms and swiftly pulled it away. The door swung open slowly as the damaged hinge let out a chilling high-pitched screech. Dom didn’t react as his eyes met mine instead of Travis’ – as if part of him knew all along that I had been the one who’d survived. Emma and Chloe turned their heads towards me, both of their faces streaked with tears. I wasn’t going to be the first to speak.

  “Well…” Dom said with an ironic quietness. “We meet again.”

  “What happened?” Chloe asked with a no nonsense tone. “Joe…” her voice trembled. “What… happened?”

  “Travis is dead.” I announced, coldly.

  “No… no… no…” Chloe repeated in disbelief, her voice getting more and more hysterical.

  Dom dived on me, causing my head to hit the floor with a crash. I could barely feel the force of the impact. He raised his fist threateningly.

  “TELL ME WHAT YOU DID!” He screamed.

  “Travis chased me around the ship with a knife and then he killed himself in the airlock,” I answered, truthfully.

  “YOU KILLED HIM!” Dom violently brought a right hook crashing down onto my cheek, following up this with an equally strong punch from the left. The savage beating continued three, four more times.

  “Stop it!” Emma cried. “Dom, stop it!” She and Chloe grabbed the bald-headed brute from behind and pulled him away from my vulnerable frame. I started coughing, feeling the taste of my own blood on my lips.

  “I can’t believe you’d… do something like that…” Dom wheezed, eyelids dilating. “You monster…”

  I sat up, looking back at the enraged trio with my sour gaze.

  “Well that settles it,” Dom said. “Emma, Chloe, we’re leaving. Now.” He shook himself free from the girls’ grasp and went storming off in the direction of the luxury escape pod. Chloe went running after him.

  “Get up.” Emma ordered before following after the others. She didn’t offer a hand. I crawled around on my trembling hands and knees, bracing myself against the wall to finally pull my aching body back into a standing position, before heading off in the same direction to the hole in the wall. As I peered through the opening, Dom was pacing around, agitatedly.

  “Jesus…” he muttered, almost slipping on the path of blood leading to the escape pod.

  “What about Bob, don’t we need him too?” Chloe was asking, frantically.

  “No, we don’t need him,” Dom had made up his mind. “He’ll only slow us down.”

  “You’ll never be able to open it,” I muttered, as Dom stood by the escape pod. He banged his fist on the large white outer shell. It opened. That’s all it took?

  “Ah, ah, ah… What are you doing?” Dom asked, noticing that I had one foot through the panel opening. “You stay right there, Joe. Right there where you belong.”

  Without speaking, I put my foot back in the corridor. I felt like Travis.

  “Wait, Dom. What are you doing?” Chloe grabbed Dom’s arm.

  “Chloe, you’re not actually suggesting we give this monster another chance to redeem himself?” Dom asked in disbelief.

  “No, but I…”

  “There’s three of us, and there’s only three seats in the escape pod. What do you want?” Dom scoffed.

  “Well, I’m just saying, we still don’t know what happened, don’t you think we should find out before we…”

  “Do you think we can believe a single word that comes out of this guy’s mouth?” Dom growled.

  “It’s okay, Chloe.” I said. “Dom’s right. There’s nothing I can say now that will change anything.”

  “So you’re saying that…”

  “Yes. I’ll stay,” I said, contentedly. Chloe turned to Emma as if for guidance.

  “It sounds like he’s made his choice, Chloe,” Emma said. Chloe started pacing up and down.

  “Come on, let’s go!” Dom shouted, getting ready to climb into one of the three empty seats. “He’s a monster, Chloe, leave him!”

  “You know…” Chloe stopped walking and looked back to me with an oddly relaxed expression on her face. “After all this time, after all these things you’ve done and are capable of, Joe… I still don’t think you believe what Dom says.”

  “I do.” I replied with as much sincerity as I could muster. “I’m staying here. I don’t deserve this shot at freedom.”

  “Okay…” Chloe said, simply. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to help you.”

  “What is there to be sorry about, the man’s a monster!” Dom shouted.

  “Says the sweaty bald man who threw our sofa out of the window and talks to his wigs,” Chloe retorted.

  “Chloe, seriously? Are you comparing that to Joe killing Travis?”

  “I don’t think he killed Travis, Dom.”

  “But he admitted it!” Dom snapped.

  “No, he said Travis chased him with a knife an
d then killed himself. Learn to listen,” Chloe said.

  “Jeez, look at the evidence, though!” Dom pointed around the room.

  “Yeah, I am. Cuts on Joe’s arms and legs, matches the bloodstains we’ve seen in here.”

  “It could have been Travis’ blood, though… Look, the trail of blood leads right up to the airlock where Joe disposed of the body.”

  “So then where’s all the blood INSIDE the actual airlock, genius?”

  “Blasted out into space, duh!”

  “I don’t think you know how bloodstain physics work, Dominic…” Chloe was certainly in full-blown confident-girl mode at the moment. It was refreshing to have her back.

  “So Joe must have just knocked Travis out and then forced him into the airlock instead of cutting him with the knife.”

  “Look at the lights, Dom,” Chloe said.

  “What about the lights?” Chloe was pointing at a pair of lights above the airlock.

  “It’s the one on the inside that’s glowing. You remember what Bob told us that must mean?”

  “That this ship needs a repair man?”

  “No, that the airlock was triggered from the inside. Only Travis could have activated it.”

  “Well, fuck it. Doesn’t change anything. Can we go now?” Dom, irritated at being outsmarted one last time, stormed across to his seat in the luxury escape pod.

  “Why did you do that?” I asked Chloe. “Why defend me?”

  “Oh, no reason, just couldn’t stand to see this guy passing judgment like he’s the one with the moral high ground,” Chloe smirked.

  “Oh, stop talking to the crazy person, woman,” Dom yawned.

  “Seriously, though. You didn’t have to do that…” I whispered.

  “Well, nobody else was gonna. Certainly not Emma, not even you,” Chloe looked back at me. “Yes there’s something wrong with you, and whatever you did to Travis… it wasn’t acceptable. Yet maybe, just maybe, somehow, it isn’t entirely your fault. Remember that.” Chloe smiled, then turned to join Dom in the luxury escape pod. That just left Emma.

  “What do you care about, Joe?” Emma asked, cryptically.