So, I was sitting on this hill the other day. A red hill, coincidently. Mars, I do believe was my location. I was far too captured by the beauty of an untouched landscape to even bother thinking about the consequences of not having an atmosphere. Great dust clouds rose and fell. Enormous spires of red rock climbed into the sky. Another of the greatest art pieces. Silence, but for a light whispering of wind at my back. I put my hand down, and picked up some of the dust. Gritty, just like Earth dust. I let go and it drifted away on the breeze. Smiling, I must have pushed myself off the ground. Since the next thing I remember was standing there. Humming to myself. Not quite walking yet, just standing. Admiring. At some point, I had begun meandering away from my spot. No direction in particular. Towards the next hill, really. At some point, my eyes drifted heavenward again. Stars, sprawled across the sky, like a canopy of lightning bugs. Fascinated, I had reached up and wrapped my hand around one of the many flickering lights. Brought my hand to my face, and opened it slowly. A small rock rested in my palm. It slowly unfurled and a butterfly spread its wings. As it took flight, the planet that I had come to rest upon began to change. That atmosphere that I had neglected to miss earlier, came into being. Trees shot up, and grass grew. Red clouds pulled themselves together, and began their lazy dance across the now blue sky. I wandered back to my hill, grinning like a fool. Openly admiring the paint now on the canvas. A single tree had sprouted at the top of my hill. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to sit under it, or climb it. I must have figured that I had all the time in the world to climb it, as I took a seat underneath its grand branches. Not a moment later, a butterfly came to rest upon my knee. There was no way that I could have discerned this butterfly to be the same one from earlier. I had stopped humming earlier, as it had been to difficult to gasp with amazement while I hummed. Now that I had finished gasping however, I began to hum again. No song in particular. Maybe every song. It was impossible to tell. I had only been hoping that if anyone had come along, that they would take pleasure in it. Not that anyone would wander by. I had been equally grateful and displeased with this knowledge. Here I had been, on a virgin world, with no one to share in its discovery. I had been blessedly alone, and accursedly lonely. I didn't really mind that much, so long as the butterfly was there with me. I must have sat there for hours. Just watching the world develop. Just myself and the butterfly. Missing something, someone. Content, but not happy. Overjoyed at the creation unfolding in front of me. Saddened that I was the only one to witness it. Hours, maybe days later, the world stopped its advanced growth. As it came to a halt, I stood up once again. The butterfly flew up and perched on my shoulder. I had decided at some point that I would leave when the world finished itself. So I left.
