Mission to Mars: Intro

I sat at the edge of the cliff. Just two weeks ago I had broken my left foot. My legs dangled off the edge and kicked some gravel off. The sun was setting like every day. Things seemed so different without the usage of my other leg. The sun lighted up the whole sky a deep red. I looked down and saw the ocean. A turquoise so pure you could see right through it. The different fish mingle amongst each other as I sighed at my inabilities. At least they were happy.  Suddenly a harsh wind picked up and kicked up large amounts of dust. The maroon sand being washed back and forth with the water was being whipped around like a tornado. I shielded my face so I didn't get any sand in my eyes. The wind died down into a breeze and it became calm once more.
I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't bother to look behind me. I knew who it was. It was my older sister. She had just turned seventeen last month. I was only two years younger but it felt like she was so much more mature than me. When I broke my foot we didn't have a cast or anything so we just wrapped it up in whatever we could find. We don't have much to work with though. We just found this small light orange tree with enormous leaves; tore them off and wrapped them tight around my foot. Then we took sap from the inside to make it stay and stick there. But what were we supposed to do? It's not like there was anyone to help us.
We're the only ones in this place. It was an accident how we got here really. It wasn't really a long time ago either. Our parents were in debt really bad so they invested in some amateur space program. They had a mission to get the first human beings on Mars. So when our parents offered to help out they wanted volunteers to go. My sister, Kayla said that she and I could go. Our parents tried to convince us otherwise but by the time that happened we were already in out shuttle. Luckily for us we found a space rover roaming around. We managed to get in contact again with Earth. Apparently there has been contact with some kind contact with another planet as well; a new one. They named it Asthenia for its dead looking texture and color. However the planet is very much alive.
All of this rushed through my head. There were so many explanations and so many things to figure out. Kayla sat down next to me and threw her arm over my shoulder. She was always the classic older sister where she was the boss and she was in charge and I was just the snot nosed little brother. It was surprising that she was acting this way. But I guess I would be mad if she didn't. Considering that I had a broken foot and we were stranded on a different planet.
"How's your foot holding up?" she asked.
"It's alright I guess." I trailed off.
"Good," she wasn't looking at me. And I wasn't looking at her. We were both looking out into the distance where the sun was now a dull red just leaving the horizon.
"Hey… Kayla?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think we'll ever get to see mom and dad again?" I asked. She sighed in honest  gloom.
"I don't know, Clyde. It's a good question but the way things are right now…"
"What? Tell me." I pushed.
"I've heard from the rover linking us to that stupid amateur space program, that it's been like hell on Earth lately."
"Why? What happened?" I asked again.
"God, you have a lot of questions…" she started then sighed. "Banks are failing…" she kept going. "People are losing their jobs like it rains in Seattle. Nobody can support themselves. And if they can't do that, then they can't send a rescue squad for us because somebody doesn't know how to build a shuttle or whatever we flew in and it crash landed here so we can get back." She spat out. I looked down in sadness.
"But, hey." She kept herself going. "I could be totally wrong. We could be out of here in a month. Let's stay positive okay?" she grinned at me. I couldn't help but notice how long we had been out here. How could something feel so short but be so long? The moonlight was shining on our faces. The moon was much bigger than the sun from our view on Mars. It looked like it took up the whole sky. I turned around and looked at our pitiful attempt of making a house. It was just a hut under a few tall orange trees; the same kind that I used the leaved for my foot.  Kayla got up and started walking towards the house-ish structure. It was really just a pile of tree we found bunched together and sat under them. I tried to stand up and my left foot dragged me back behind.
"Um… Kayla?" I called out to her. She turned around and her eyes widened from realizing that she left me there.
"Oh crap!" she yelled and put my arm around her shoulder to put pressure on and walk. "Sorry, Clyde." She finished. I smiled at her worried tone. It was nice that she really cared what happened to me. We made our way over to our tree area. She set me down and sat next to me in relief.
"Thanks for that." I told her.
"Not a problem." She said. "I'm going to go and see if I can find something to make a bucket so we can keep some water inside okay?" she asked.
"Okay, just be careful." I ordered. She smiled.
"I will." She got up and jogged over to an area that dipped downward that had just come off of the back of the cliff. I laid my head against the tree and stared at the sky. The moon was still illuminating everything. It was a beautiful sight actually. I always thought of Mars as a creepy place in a way because everything was red. Or close to it that is. The breeze kicked up once again. It blew my hair slightly across my face and I shut my eyes in relaxation. This was such a good feeling. I wish everyone on Earth could feel this. Sure, we may be stranded here so far with no way of getting home but I can't help but think… this place isn't so bad after all.