The Rocket

A strange meeting. A strange acquaintance. Meet the living being from another dimension, trapped in our world.

I stare down at the man. He was certainly tiny, like a small child. I turn my eyes at the contraption that he had built. Was it a bottle? I squint my eyes it’s a rocket.

Rubbing my eyes, I sigh sadly. I forgot to take my glasses today, and wearing contact lenses was a pain, so I took them off for a second while I was on a break. I stopped rubbing my eyes, the child is still there, it wasn’t a dream or a hallucination.

“Can I help you?” I asked, squatting down so I was eye level to the child. On closer inspection, what I had thought to be a blanket around him turned out to be a lab coat.

“Yes, you are to help me,” The child affirmed, not answering my question. It wasn’t a request as it was actually an order. I frown but forced myself to smile.

“What can I help you?” I asked the child.

“You are to give me your eyesight!” The child says, snatching at me. Alarmed, I stand back up and move away. Fear crawled through me, why does this child want my eyesight? If this child managed to take my ability to see, then for sure I would be blind the rest of my life.

How will he take my eyesight anyway?

My voice shaky, I tried to maintain my composure. ”Why would you need my eyesight?” I asked the child.

“I need your eyesight for I am blind,” the child said, turning to my direction. My eyes, still blurry looked closer at the child but I can’t make a single thing.

“I will go back home to terrestrial planet 0067845932XX,” the child continued. “With your eyesight, I will be able to see again!”

I shake my head in confusion, “But if I lose my eyesight then I won’t be able to see…” I said, not knowing on how the child will react.

“Hm…” The child grows silent as if deep in thought. “How about we trade our eyesight?”

“And if I lose my ability to see?” As far as I know, the child is blind.

“And if one of us is unsatisfied with the trade, we shall return our own products and I shall look for a different person,” The child said.

I nod. “Sounds reasonable.”

The child takes my hand and shake it. Suddenly the blurry world turned black and I blinked, clutching my head dizzily. Had my eyesight been replaced?

The blackness receded and I gained the ability to see again. The blurry world is gone, and everything seemed sharp. I look down and see the child. In fact, it was indeed a child.

The child is wearing a lab coat. His skin is extremely pale and he looks up at me with my eyes. We had indeed traded our own eyesight. Behind the child there is a complex rocket.

The child brightens at the trade.

“Thank you!” The child says, beaming up at me. “I am satisfied with this trade.”

“But my eyes are blurry, I have literally bad eyesight!” I said, confused.

“You are wrong. This is good eyesight for my kind. I have lost my past eyesight when travelling in between planes and thus I became stranded here,” The child said. He turns and began to climb the rocket. “You can have those eyes, they’re horrible.”

With a bright flash, the child disappears inside the rocket and I was left alone in the hallway of the university.

My eyesight is still sharp. Maybe the encounter is actually real.

Author's Note

I found the song as a weird one. An odd song. Like floating in outerspace, eccentric.... that kind of waltz. Listen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1rBhosS7LM&list=PLLLYkE3G1HEBjOwevVnv-x3OxNqjhVp5f&index=2