by Sophie Stern
All of it.
Willow found herself drawn to the windows. She walked slowly, staring, not caring if she looked silly. She’d never seen anything like this before. Hell, maybe she had been wrong in not springing for the deluxe suite. This was amazing.
Before she could stop herself, she continued moving until she pressed her hand to the window. It would leave a print, of course, and someone would have to come clean it, but she didn’t quite care. From here, she could see Mars in the distance. Obviously, they were moving away from it.
Far, far away from it.
Willow’s family was on that little planet. It wasn’t little, not really, but it looked so small from here. She had spent her entire life trying to please people on that planet, and for what? What did she have to show for any of it?
Willow was 25-years-old and she had nothing.
Nothing.
She had no family anymore, no husband, no boyfriend, and no children. She had very few friends and a very ordinary job and a very ordinary, normal, boring life. This trip was her gift to herself. This journey was a present to herself for working so hard for all of those years.
Willow stared out of the window and looked at her home planet.
She felt like she should miss it. She ought to miss it. She ought to feel sad or upset or anything at all, really, but she didn’t.
The only thing Willow felt as she looked at Mars was relief.
And she realized that she really never wanted to go back.
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