A Triple Lunatic
Insanity is bliss
New Moon
“Is it just me, or is that tree winking at me?” I asked.
“No, it’s not just you Jess,” said Herman next to me, “I saw it too,”
“Eh,” I said, on what had been my seventieth day on the always-night triple-moon planet, “Crazy World.”
I took a piece of fish out of the campfire with a sharp stick and ate it. I offered it to Herman.
“Dude, I’m half fish.”
“Oh, right, of course,” I said, forgetting Herman was a merman. Fish from the waist up, of course.
“Are you sure they didn’t suffer?” asked Herman.
“After I killed them, they didn’t…” I smiled as he groaned. “Anyway, ignorance is bliss.”
Herman coughed.
“You’ve got to laugh, I suppose,” I said.
“Well, did you do anything interesting today?” Herman asked.
“I walked around the island again. Had more of the food supplies from the ship and added to what we, I mean I, am having now. I think I’ll check out why that tree was winking at me.”
“Good idea.”
And that’s pretty much what I did on that day, diary. After talking to the tree's wife and saying I wasn't flirting with her husband, I called it a day.
First Quarter
You know what, it’s boring being stranded on an island on a weird planet, dear diary. And my food delivery ship is running out of supplies.
“What you need is a purpose,” said Herman that day.
“Sure you don’t mean a porpoise?” I winked.
Herman facepalmed, a wet slap. “Be serious.”
“I already got one,” I said.
“Oh yeah, and what’s that Jess?”
“Annoying you,” I punched his shoulder.
Herman groaned as I laughed. “You’re crazy.”
I looked up at the three moons. “Maybe so.” The flames of the campfire lit up my eyes, “Do you think it makes you crazy, the moon?”
“How could you tell?”
“Shut it.”
We laughed.
“Well, there are three moons there. That will make you — ”
“A triple lunatic.”
Full Moon
Full moon today. I feel no different. Although Herman, who now has three heads, would disagree.
I told him if he doesn’t shut it, I would fry him.
Third Quarter
“It’s coming.”
“What is?” I asked Herman, the wind whistling.
“The lunar eclipse.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that when it’s at home?”
“Well the fish in the sea have told me, that's the locals, that when the eclipse happens the grip on people's insanity loosens.”
“And?”
“Total sanity beckons.”
“Oh,” I said, staring into the flames. “Cool.”
Total Lunar Eclipse
I woke up, Herman had gone. There were no trees. There was no water around. And yet…the world was drowning in bright light. No moons in the sky.
“Herman?” no reply. “Herman, you fish breath idiot, where are you?”
The silence held no answer for me. I stumbled back to my crashed spaceship. The food that was usually there had all gone.
What was there, was the crew. Dead. Chunks of them were missing. And then I remembered how I survived. What I lived on.
Gasping for breath while simultaneously choking on it, I checked the jackets, recalling the crew members that weren’t as lucky as me. Or maybe they were more fortunate.
Each jacket had its space officer name and rank imprinted on them. When I came to Herman’s, my shock turned to vomit. Going on this mission was always my stupid husband's idea.
I sat outside the ship, staring up at the light, hoping it would blind me. But no, I kept sight.
But the next day, there would be moonlight. And the delights of madness.
I’m going to delete this diary. It will automatically erase after the day is done and the night is born, under the glow of three new moons. I only write now for catharsis. And who knows, maybe I had done this before?
As the light fades of the day, I know one thing for certain; insanity is bliss.
Inspired by the prompt under the category ‘Sci-fi’
