Space Oddity

It wasn’t that unusual for me to find Micah on the roof of my house high as a kite. He picked up the habit when his mum caught him smoking when he was 13, ever since then he’s used my roof. Four years later and the only thing that’s changed is what he’s smoking. Once he noticed my presence he patted the spot next to him with an absent mind and incoherent mumbling. I rolled my eyes at his nonsense and crinkled my nose in disgust when I noticed that his blunt still had life in it.

“Sorry Joshy. I know you hate it.” I shrugged my shoulders and knocked him gently to let him know that I wasn’t all that annoyed. He smiled in quick relief and leant back against the cold tiles of my roof. The peace on his face almost shocked me, then I remembered. Nothing could worry Micah when he was high.

We were silent for a few minutes before I decided to lie down next to him. His eyes slipped shut as I watched the endless landscape of stars above us.

Out of the blue - “Do you still want to be Major Tom?” His question shouldn’t have offended me as much as it did, he was high. When he was like this he tended to forget which subjects caused unrest in me.

“Do I still want to die alone in Space?” His eyes opened in surprise at the blatant hatred in my tone, my voice softened as I continued - “No, but I still want to go there. Maybe one day I’ll be one of those rich people that can buy a ticket on to the ‘tourist shuttles’.”

He laughed at my second response but sobered pretty quickly.

“I wish you still wanted to be him.” The shock at his response must’ve been easily visible as he noticed despite the pitch black that surrounded us. “Not like that Joshy, I don’t want you to die alone in Space. I just use’ta like being your Ground Control. You know? That one connection that you had to Earth. I really liked the idea of doing that for you.”

After his speech he sort of drifted off. I removed the fire hazard from his blunt before softly pointing out “Sometimes I think you are Micah, sometimes I really think that you are.”
Here am I sitting in a tin can far above the world,
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do

“‘Space Oddity’ huh?” I looked at Micah in surprise as he smirked at his own remark.

He unhitched himself from my doorway – “You haven’t listened to that in years,” still smirking, “Not since your sister told you that Major Tom didn’t get a happily ever after once his little adventure in Space was finished.” His smirk never left his face during his whole speech. I huffed in annoyance of his complete disregard of Major Tom.

“Oh shut up Micah. Besides, it wasn’t just a ‘little adventure’. It was a journey, a voyage, an escapade - his way of escaping reality.” He snorted in disbelief.

“Come on Joshy! Have you never listened to ‘Ashes to Ashes’? Major Tom escaped reality a little differently there.” I looked at him defiantly; he never did understand my obsession with the song. Thought it was just a silly fantasy.

“So? That was ‘Ashes to Ashes’. I’ll be the Major Tom that went to Space and you can be my drugged up shell 10 years later.” Micah rolled his eyes at my continued defiance and stalked to my window – a one way ticket to the roof. Sighing, I followed him hoping that by going with him that he would be less likely to inhale more deadly toxins.
“Is that really what you think of me?” I sat beside him. “That I’m some druggy that can’t escape my fate?” His face contorted into one of pain as mine twisted into shock. Micah wasn’t like this, he didn’t give a damn what anyone thought.

“Of course not Micah” mumbling, it didn’t need to be said loudly, “you’re my best friend – I love you no matter what.” That’s not what he wanted to hear, “I know that you do it for fun. That you’re capable of doing anything and everything.” His eyes sparkled as his ears pricked in hope –

“Am I capable of being your Ground Control?” I smiled knowing that we were okay, “You already are Micah, you already are.”
Micah and I had a rule, no matter how old we were or what it was – whatever happened on the roof, stayed on the roof.

When we were 7 I fell from the roof breaking my arm. However, still to this day my parents believe that I, quite violently, fell off of my bed. When I was 13 I was afraid to kiss my girlfriend but Micah, the courageous one, had already done it. So he showed me how to do it properly. It wouldn’t surprise me if Kelly Jones thought that she was my first kiss. When we were 17 it was the startling realisation that Micah and I needed each other and without the other, escape was our only option.

Micah would escape into his drugs and I would go into Space as Major Tom. Society looked down on drugs, and it crushed dreams. It didn’t want happiness, it wanted everyone to conform. Being only 17, Micah and I probably don’t understand this properly but we do enough. We understand that being together would cause a lot of pain to society, for us though, it would bring nothing but happiness.

For the first time in my life I was saying ‘fuck you’ to convention, drugs, David Bowie and our stupid roof rule. For the first time ever, happiness was the only goal.
“Josh? What are you doing here, man?” Rubbing the sleep from his eyes did nothing at all – his grogginess was still apparent.

“Gee, what kind of greeting is that? I’m slightly offended here buddy.” Rolling his eyes, he backed up from the doorway,

“Alright then. Come on in.” As I walked in he shuffled nervously and it was only then that I noticed his attire, or lack thereof. His boxers weren’t doing much to protect his dignity but they were doing a good job of reminding me of why I was here, about to do what I was.

“I want to be happy Micah,” his eyebrows quirked in confusion, “happy with you.” He couldn’t keep the excitement out of his eyes even if he wanted to.

As our lips connected I couldn’t help but think ‘liftoff’.
When Micah stole into my room that night, I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive.

“Pipe down Joshy. I ain’t here to do anything indecent.” Blushing at his comment, I sat up from my position on the bed. “Come up to the roof with me?” His usual playful tone was replaced by a much more earnest one, one that Josh could really get used to. “I want to go on an escapade with you.” Smiling at his comment, I left the bed and led Micah up to the roof.
Lying down on the roof at 12am wasn’t all that unusual for us, doing it whilst holding hands was however a little odd.

“You know why I like coming up here so much Joshy?” Lazily I shook my head. “It’s because when I look up I know that I’m looking at your escape – that wonderful idea of Major Tom that you want to be your reality. And that if I wasn’t here as your Ground Control you’d leave without a second thought. I liked coming up here because it’s my escape to think about being with you.”

Looking at him I knew that he was telling the truth, “If you weren’t here to be my Ground Control I wouldn’t even want to be Major Tom.”