My condition

Mi condition is lonely, yet necessary.

It's not easy being the strongest, fastest and most handsome man in the world, but someone has to carry the burden that was trusted upon me. Whenever I please I could just leap towards the air and have a glimpse at the Earth, floating solemnly through space. My might is such that I could carry the whole world over my shoulders. My enormous speed allows me, without a hint of effort, to run around the world in a matter of seconds. My looks are so astonishing that each and every other person in this world falls irremediably in love with me.

My condition is lonely, yet wonderful.

I sit upon the cold floor and see a small spacecraft advance towards the Earth, it's pace sad yet determined. I wasn't always the most interesting man in the world. I was recently nothing more than an astronaut, returning from a routine mission to Titan, one of the few colonized moons orbiting Saturn. On our way back just passing Jupiter, a fragment of an asteroid was trapped in the colosal gravity of the gas giant and pierced the ship cleanly, cutting through it's hull and missing the captain by an inch. The life support systems were severely compromised. We had to be quick to repair the damage if we wanted to survive the trip back home. We did our best and although we were blazingly efficient, it was too late. The remaining oxygen in the ship's reserves was barely enough for three grown adults to survive the trip home and there was four of us. Not without sorrow and a sea of doubts, we all new that one of us would have to sacrifice himself so that the rest of the crew could get home safely.

Destiny chose it's agent by chance and it chose me.

I got ready to take the lethal pill when I took a peek out the window and saw the Earth from afar, augmented by the magnifying lenses of the ship. What a lovely tiny sphere, so bright and inviting, so familiar. Thus I dared to ask the unthinkable. If I were to sacrifice myself, I would do it my way. We were barely passed the asteroid belt and a thought was born and therefore burned in my soul. I would ask my crew to leave me here, on an asteroid, witnessing the vastness of space and the pristine beauty of our home planet. At first they wouldn't have it. They seemed to think it would be cruel of them to just leave my behind, yet I insisted. I asked for about an hour of oxygen and a bit more of nitrogen so I would eventually just slip away into a dream.

The moment arrives soon, I can feel it.

I can feel my eyelids weighing on me, craving for a dream from where there is no coming back. Upon my asteroid I am the luckiest man in the world and possibly, also the last. The silhouette of my ship no longer fills the night. Emptiness envelops me, interrupted only by the shy and otherworldly glow of the Earth. It's radiance warms my heart and moistens my eyes. One last teardrop escapes my eyes and wanders doubtfully throughout my cheek. By the time it falls upon the glass of my helmet, nobody is left there to hear it sing.

My condition is lonely, yet eternal.