Incomplete Dreams

A five-year-old child, still not aware of the danger that was approaching, asked his mother, "what's going on mum?"

"Nothing dear. they are just showing the news." his mom replied. there was a video of a meteor playing on the television screen. the kid had seen those in many movies before, but this looked like it was animated in hurry.

"You're not going to explain this to him?" the child's father asked. he was looking tired, just like he did when he returned from work. "He will understand," he said.

The child, named Ryan by his parents, was still young but understood enough to know something was not right. he wanted to ask his mother the same question again, but stopped. "Do you want some water mum?" he chose this question.

"Yes, can you bring me a glass of water sweety?" she said with a smile. It was a fake smile, but Ryan didn't know exactly how to differentiate between real and fake ones. he just went and got a glass of water for both of his parents. his father gave a tired smile as he grabbed the glass. "Ryan, what do you want to be when you grow up?" He asked Ryan.

"An astronaut," Ryan replied immediately. he had always thought of becoming an astronaut since he had seen them on the TV. Being able to go on other planets and find aliens, what a fun life it seemed.

"you know that means you have to study for it, right?" his father asked. "they don't let dumb kids go to space."

"I know papa," Ryan had seen how hard the astronauts had to work to be able to go to space. "if don't let me go there, I will make my own rocket and fly to space alone."

"Ah, hahaha. is that so?" his father picked him up. "you know building a rocket is just as hard, my genius son." he said as he lifted Ryan above his head. Ryan saw his father's face slowly go from happy to sad, and then tears flowed down his father's face as he let Ryan down.

his father was crying, Bryan had never seen his father cry. it was as if someone defeated superman, something that he never imagined could happen. "why are you crying, papa?" Ryan was confused.

he turned to his mother for any kind of answer but found her silently crying to herself with a pillow in her arms. Ryan was getting worried, he felt like crying. it wasn't his fault, he didn't know what to do in this kind of situation. both of his parents, who were like the strongest people he knew, were both crying hopelessly.

Ryan was just a kid, an innocent child who had only abstract dreams and limited intelligence, yet he was able to hold back his tears. he hugged his dad, his hand only reaching about halfway across his father's body.

Ryan's father reached out and embraced his son. he wanted to say so many things to him, but it was not worth the effort it was going to take. "Thank you, Ryan, you just proved how brave you are." he straightened himself and wiped his tears, "remember what I promised you for your next birthday?"

"The telescope!!??" Ryan jumped with pleasure. he always wanted to see the stars with a telescope, and asked his father to get him one for his next birthday. "you're getting me a telescope today?"

"yes." his father replied awkwardly. "we are going to the star watching spot I told you about. I already brought your telescope, it is in the car, get changed so we can go there."

"Really?" Ryan jumped and went to get his shoes and jacket at full speed. his mother was perplexed and just stared at his father in the meantime. Ryan had changed and was at the door in a few minutes, itching to run out. his mother opened the door for him and he ran out to the car while she closed the door behind her. Ryan didn't notice, but she didn't close the door this time.

his father drove for a few hours while Ryan stared at the roadside, his telescope in his hand. there were a lot of people outside today, they all seemed to be having fun. many cars were parked just on the roadside. "why are there so many people having a picnic today?" Ryan asked his mother.

"that-" his mother thought for a second before answering, "They gave us a special holiday today. so everyone is celebrating. just like we are going to see the stars, they are having a Barbeque."

"Oh." Ryan finally understood. 'today is a special holiday, and everyone is having fun.' his understanding was a rather optimistic one, but it was a good one. they reached the stargazing point just as the sunset took place. the place was a big field, with a hut at a distance and an empty place near where they were standing.

"this is the place, let's set up you telescope or we are going to miss it." his father started to find a good place to place the telescope. ryan helped his father in setting up the telescope. this was way harder than ryan thought. there were many parts and they needed to go in a specific place so that the telescope would work. he tried reading the small book that came in the box to understand what his father was doing, but it was too hard for himself to do anything.

"all done?" his mother asked, coming with small cans of juice for both ryan and his father.

"yes, this thing is awesome." his father replied, letting ryan get hold of the telescope. then he turned to his wife, "you know, i think i saw that thing. it was beautiful."

"was it?" she replied, "seems ironic." the light was getting less bright. and soon enough, 'that thing' was visible in the sky. it was small, but was very clearly seen beside the moon. "what is that thing papa?" ryan asked his father, spotting the meteor in the sky.

"son, that is a meteor." his father answered, "you know about them, right?"

"Yes. they are like rocks in space."

"correct, here drink this." his father handed Ryan the can, "meteors are space rocks, and when they enter the earth, they are called?"

"meteorights," Ryan answered enthusiastically.

"hmmm, you know what is the difference between them?"

"meteors are in space where they are not hot, meteorights are hot." his simple answer made his father chuckle a little.

"you know, they are pronounced 'meteorites' and not 'meteorights'. and you are almost correct about the difference." he slowly laid back on the grass, "you see, the only difference is which place they are at. meteors are in space and meteorites are in the earth's atmosphere. when they enter the atmosphere, the meteors start burning, which makes them hot."

Ryan went back to look from his telescope. the rock was not burning, so it was still in space. Ryan spent the next few hours just staring through the telescope. no matter what he was trying to look at, his curiosity seemed to bring him back to the meteor. it was getting bigger and looked like it had many smaller rocks with it.

about two hours after that, his father found Ryan lying there with the can still in his hand. he was sound asleep. he softly picked up his son and put him beside his wife. they both were sleeping like there was nothing to worry about.

he finally decided to sleep as well. he pulled out his phone from his pocket, took a good look at it, and then threw it in the field. he went back to his family and lay down beside them. using one arm as a headrest and the other over his son and wife as if to protect them, he went to sleep.

about fifty meters from him, there was his phone. the screen was cracked but still showed the last screen. there was a timer on it, it looked like it had stopped because the phone froze.

[00:32:23]