Stealthily stepping out from the shuttle like a cat with its soft paws on gravel, John found himself again on this sliver gray orb he had seen for years. The silence, the texture of its dirt, the heavy cohesion of air... almost everything had stayed still. Unthinkingly reaching for his wrinkled, trembling face behind his helmet, his eyes watered as he moved forward, dragging his stretched shadow behind him. It should take him 1,000 feet to reach The Flag if he was on the right track.

“Please, come back to us John! It’s too dangerous. You didn’t take anything with you…” His weeping wife Julia’s falsetto voice echoed through the transmitter.
     

“What are you doing, dad? Your body cannot take this...” His son Cage’s cried vibrated from the radio now.
   

 Without answering, John leaped in the air, overlapping the silhouette of his vigorous younger self.
   

 Time seemed to slow down by seconds, by hours... and eventually stopped. Unlike the blue-watered-replenishing-planet nearby, there was no sign of life on this sphere. Following a trail of footsteps, he finally spotted the waving flag at the end of his horizon.
     

Just then, something seemed to protrude from his heart. He slowed down and stopped, grasping his left chest to stop the drilling pain. His elder son heard him through the radio and his voice floated through space and the stars and through dimensions to calm him.
     

The pain finally eased and faded. The next blow could come at any moment. But as he turned and stared at the flag, he soon made up his mind to advance forward.
     

When he finally arrived at the destination, sweat dripped and his body gave way. “It has been so long, guys, too long”, he though. John touched the flag, felt its smooth texture as if he was still standing shoulder to should with his Mercury 7 teammates.
     

He took a framed photography that featured seven smiling face in oversized suits and set it down near the flag. From far away, only a tip of the blue planet was still left peaking over the orange lined horizon. 
     

In that exact moment, would anybody back on Earth notice his existence? Would he be remembered?
   

 He wondered and opened his arms, embracing the vast gulf of nothing but loneliness between moon, earth and himself.

“Goodbye, Julia. Goodbye, my boys...” holding in his tears, he said, “Goodbye,” his hand coveting the mic.

He pinned himself down right next to the flag and waited for the warm darkness to come bury him. Half-hoping he would soon see his long farewell friends, John closed his eyes, releasing his mind as a shooting star across night sky.