SaltwaterHeart
Takeoff was coming. My first flight. There was a feeling in my stomach, and I didn't know if it was fear or excitement; maybe a little bit of both. The world was finally getting ready to meet me, and I it. Wonder-lust is a wonderful thing when your dreams finally come true.
The terrain was rocky and sparse, similar to many deserts on earth. Dust and rock stretched out in all directions. The only thing that made the planet remarkable was the substantial imagination that permeated what lay before them. Even in reaching Mars, the thing that made it truly great was what it had taken to get there.
A gust of wind overtook him, pushing him along the sidewalk. His collar was up, umbrella open, chin nestled deep in a nest of scarves and layers of jackets, but none of it helped. The wind pierced through every defense without trouble - a steak knife cutting through butter. It didn't even notice he was there. So he trundled along, stumbling against the superior forces of weather that could have swept him away at any moment with a fierce blast, miserable, wet, and cold.
Her face looked worn, like the old sweater she wore. She hadn't always looked like that. Once she had had life in her eyes, wrinkles from laughter, not time. But somehow she was still beautiful just as she was.