𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒔 - 𝑨𝒏 𝑨𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑼𝒔 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚

•{𝟏𝟎}•

I'm proud to present the last chapter! Enjoy <3

My poems scream of a dark pain,

that only I can hear.

The scary depths

too disastrous to even feel.

Those who hear it shrivel up,

shaken from within...

Darkness

Day 89 

1800 hours

Dropship

I turn to see 5up connect the final two wires on the panel, just as I finish charting the course. Shelby's waiting patiently behind us. 

"Done!" Alex declares triumphantly, swiveling around. 

Shelby groans in response. "Finally," Alex grins.

"I'm going to be a second, you guys can go, though," I say, fiddling with how the ship will pass Jupiter. 

"Okay!" Shelby agrees cheerily, and they walk off, chatting excitedly. When I eventually get the path I want, I close the cover and brush a bit of dust off the words on top. "The Orion," I whisper, reading the ship's title. I wipe the dirt off on my pants and head towards the lab to enter specimen. After getting doused in cleansing chemicals and violently blown dry, I see Shelby downloading data. 

"Hey!" She greets me, watching the bar slowly fill up on her tablet.

"Hey," I respond. I smile softly and start unlocking the manifolds. "I don't think I ever really appreciated how dark it is here," I say, peering through the slats on the wall out to the outpost, the black silhouettes of the buildings blending in with the starry sky. 

Shelby giggles. "You better appreciate it while we're here then, there are only four more days left of this," She remarks. The lights flicker ominously, sending black shadows crawling up the concrete walls. My gaze shifts to the ceiling, dim LED lights run across the gray cement. 

"Yeah, as much as I'm looking forward to leaving, I will miss this place," It's true, I will. Yet at the same time, one too many nightmares have come alive here. My memories of the outpost will forever be splattered with blood and I can't wait to leave all that behind. The lights flicker again and I glance and Shelby worriedly. "That doesn't seem right," I start, the lights blinking back and forth between feeble light and absolute darkness.

Shelby hums cautiously, squinting at the dingy lights. "Probably just the wind," She says, but sounds like she's trying to convince herself of the statement as much as she is me.

"It hasn't done that before though," I point out. She shrugs but looks frightened.

"We'll be fine," She dismisses. I nod reassuringly and go back to unlocking the manifolds. Just as I finish, the screen dies, the lights flash and we're plunged into darkness. "Ravyn?" Shelby's voice calls out to me.