During the first eleven years of her life, Anna had always been able to fall asleep as soon as she put her head on the pillow. But now it was completely impossible. She had been lying in her bed for hours now, twisting back and forth while thinking about what would happen tomorrow. The next day, she, her brother Erik, her mom Helena and her dad Sven, would go up to the space station with the space elevator and then head off to Mars with a spaceship.
The idea of using an elevator to go into space was really staggering, but it was not the elevator that made her stay awake. It was the fact that she would leave Earth, probably forever. Out of thousands of candidates, her family had become one of the chosen ones to have the honor of colonizing the red planet.
Although no one had told her directly, she knew it could be a dangerous journey. But that wasn’t what worried her. It was the fact that she would never meet her friends again. Each time she realized she would never see her best friend Lisa again, tears began to run down her cheeks. And when she thought of her beloved grandmother and grandfather, she began to cry uncontrollably.
She pulled the blanket over her head to not awaken her brother who was sleeping in his bed on the opposite side of the small room. He didn’t seem to be the least concerned about the fact that they soon would leave Earth forever. But on the other hand, he was four years younger than her and probably didn’t understand what was awaiting them. In his childish mind, they were just participants in some sort of exciting adventure. He always talked about how big the spaceship was and how fast it was, and whether it had laser canons and whether they would meet aliens and so on. He seemed completely trapped in his fantasy world, inspired by countless space movies. But what could you expect from a seven-year-old boy? He was as he was, and even though he was the most annoying person she could think of, she liked him. And deep down, she was glad she had her brother. Without him, she would be completely alone in this.
Anna wiped away the tears, got out of bed and went to the only window in the room. She looked out through the dark windowpane but the only thing she could see was the diffuse reflection of herself. She thought she looked a bit like a ghost with her long blonde hair, her dark eyes and the white nightgown. Slowly she pressed her hand against the window, as if to make sure that there wasn’t real ghost in front of her. She stood motionless for a few seconds, but then the enchantment faded away, and she quickly moved her hand down to the handle and opened the window at a glance. A cool breeze slipped into the room, and she focused on the sounds from the world outside the window. She heard crickets playing, leaves rustling in the wind, and the sound of small animals running around in the bushes. It felt comforting to stand there in the darkness, just listening to the sounds of the night.
She didn’t know for how long she had been standing in front of the window, but suddenly she yawned, and a drowsy feeling came over her. Okay, maybe I should try to get some sleep now, she thought, and yawned again.
Anna sighed and crawled down under the blanket again. Maybe something good might come out of all this somehow? she thought and closed her eyes and felt a little tingle of expectation tickling in her stomach.