The Sunless Years

Written by Anakin McFly

From the time they let her out of the closet, Margot was never the same again.

She had emerged from it eerily silent as the tears streamed quietly down her face, her eyes lifeless as they stared ahead of her at nothing; oblivious to those of the other children that closely followed her path from the closet to the rain-splattered windows. None of them knew what she was thinking; and that in itself was scary. Most would probably have preferred it if Margot had charged them in fury upon their releasing her from the closet they had locked her in... but instead her silence served only to increase the guilt they all felt.

Seven years. Another seven whole years before the never-ending rain ceased for a moment and the sun came out again to bring natural light and warmth to the planet Venus for a mere two hours as it had done that day. The two hours that Margot had spent locked in the closet, trapped there against her will by the children who had done so out of childish spite against someone who did not act like they did. It had been meant as a joke; but if it was one, it was a joke that had reduced Margot to almost nothing, a person alive only in how her heart still beat.

Margot had always been unnaturally silent. Now, however, she seemed closer to dead. In the past she could at least be heard uttering the occasional sentence, whereas now not a single word escaped her pale lips no matter what the circumstance.

William, too, was changed. The boy knew that in a way what Margot had become was his fault, and his little conscience troubled him no end the night after that fateful day Margot missed the coming out of the sun. The day that by right should have been a happy one... and for a while it had been until the rain came again and the children remembered Margot in the closet.

William had never liked the girl ever since she arrived from Earth. He had bullied her repeatedly, seeing it as a way to hide his obvious discomfort every time he saw her. She was strange; not like the other children. For one, she rarely spoke. Her mind seemed to be perpetually somewhere else, somewhere where the sun still shone freely each day. To the children, Margot was a freak. Unlike her, they had lived on Venus all their lives and could not long for that which they did not know, could not understand Margot's obsession with the sun and her intense fear of the rain and water of any sort. Some recalled the many times they heard her in the shower, screaming that the water must not touch her. Margot had been one to stay away from... and so the children left her to themselves after several unsuccessful attempts to befriend her.

Today, though, one day after that when the sun came out, William saw Margot once more staring lifelessly out the window and his young mind prompted him to do something about it. Slowly he approached the girl, fighting the urge to run. "I'm sorry," William said, in such a way that implied he was apologising only because he had to. In no way was he willing to reveal that he was really sincere; least of all to someone like Margot.

But the girl did not respond, and neither did she show any signs of having heard him.

"I said, I'm sorry!" William repeated, louder this time but to no more effect. Margot's silence was scaring him. It wasn't normal. It used to be that even during her quietest times, she would at least acknowledge it if someone was speaking to her.

"Say something, can't you?" William yelled, unable to disguise the tremble in his voice. "Can't you speak anymore? You... you freak!"

The boy shoved Margot to the floor and ran in fear, heart thumping, away from the girl as she picked herself slowly off the ground and returned her expressionless gaze once more to the window and the rainy world outside.

One year. Just one year more, and her parents would be coming to bring her back to Earth; back home, where no more would the sunshine be limited to two hours each seven years, where there would be people who would understand her and sympathise with her having to spend so much of her life on a foreign planet away from the sun.

It would cost a lot of money, that was sure – thousands and thousands of dollars. But it would all be worth it in the end... for Margot would be home once more.

All she had to do was wait.

The time soon came when the shuttle should have arrived to take her home, and for the first time that year Margot seemed more alive than she had ever been. She had become more or less like her old self, which although was not much of an improvement was still an improvement all the same; and it was with eagerness that she waited for someone to announce the arrival of her ride home.

That someone soon came, in the form of her teacher as she entered the room. "Margot?"

The girl looked up, her eyes filled with hope... an expression that vanished when she noticed the teacher's solemn, almost sad expression. "They're here, aren't they?" she barely managed to mumble, afraid of what the answer might be. "I can go home now, right?"

The teacher sighed. "I'm sorry, Margot. I just got the news that the shuttle met with an accident on the way here and didn't make it. They'll be sending another ship... it'll probably arrive sometime next year. I'm really sorry."

Margot's nod was barely visible as her mind struggled to accept the truth she had just been presented with. Next year... another year of waiting, another year of rain...

The teacher patted the girl apologetically on her shoulder and left the room, leaving Margot to herself.

In the days that passed Margot reverted back to that lifeless state she had been one year ago, but it was worse this time. She refused to eat or drink; and at night she could be seen staring into space as she lay on her bed, unable to sleep. The children avoided her like a plague as rumours abounded among them – reasons for Margot's sudden strange behaviour that was last seen so long ago.

One week after the teacher made her fateful announcement to Margot, good news came in: A shuttle departing from another planet was coming back to Earth, had just arrived on Venus for supplies and had space for three more people – Margot and her parents.

The teacher rushed to the schoolroom upon hearing that. "Margot?"

The rest of the children looked up from their play, but the girl was not among them.

"Where'd she go?"

The children shrugged. "I think she went out," one boy said, whereupon the teacher dashed outside after her.

Margot was standing a few metres away from the entrance, staring out at the rain falling around her.

"Margot!"

The girl turned; just enough to see the teacher calling out to her... and then with fierce determination she ran, ran without purpose or destination. She just wanted to get away, get away from it all... away from the children, away from the teacher, away from civilisation, away from the rain.

"Margot! Come back!"

She just ran, leaving the safety of the human colony and its protection, ran until bshe finally escaped into the untamed part of Venus with its uninhabitable environment.

That was where the search parties found her; completely and utterly dead, crushed by the deadly climate and atmosphere of Venus. On her face was the faintest outline of a smile as she lay, sprawled out on the ground where she had fallen for her last time; and all around her the rain kept on falling, and falling, and falling.

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