Star-Crossed

Part 6

Inside the GST-53, the sound of the siren is very faint, so I pull off the headphones and let them hang around my neck.

I see Eva and Max whispering together at a table in a corner of the ship. Well, Eva is whispering to Max, and he's answering with some strange sort of sign language that only Eva understands. It looks like a tribal dance.

Eva keeps drinking from a sparkling black bottle, while absent-mindedly rubbing the splotches of hair left on her head. The bottle has a neon word plastered across it, which I can't make out, but whatever's in there, Eva must really love it. She's straight-up chugging it now.

Zayn is at the center of the ship, with a man who seems a bit older, getting ready for lift-off. They are surrounded by a complex-looking array of buttons and screens.

There are two other people in the corner opposite of Eva and Max that I don't recognize. Their faces seem serious. They are both looking, with expressions of severe intensity, at a large screen on some sort of tablet-like device.

Everyone is wearing a gold Galactic Squad suit except for me.

I decide to walk over to Eva and Max, but as I approach them, they both angle their bodies away from me. I am not welcome.

Eva takes another swig of whatever is in that black bottle. I now see what's written on it: Iggy's Elixir. Who is Iggy? I suddenly feel really thirsty.

I find another corner of the ship that's empty and plant myself there. I look out of the window into total darkness. I've never seen so much empty, black space. I've also never felt so alone.

I suppose I don't blame Eva and Max for not wanting to include me. I didn't get into the Squad fair-and-square like they did. But, I still don't understand what happened...

I didn't choose for things to unfold this way.

"Everyone, please be seated and buckle yourselves in - we are about to launch into space," booms a deep, kind yet commanding voice from the older man who stands beside Zayn at what appears to be the control center of the ship. "Our journey is going to take exactly twenty-four hours, and we are going to be traveling very, very fast, so hold on tight!"

Almost immediately after the older man stops talking into the small mic attached to his suit, the ship begins to shake. I quickly buckle myself in and take lots of deep breaths in and out, focusing on the darkness and reminding myself that I am with some of the bravest, most talented people in the galaxy.

In what feels like only a few seconds, I hear a huge whooshing sound and we are being propelled up and up and up and then almost like a sling-shot, flung out into space. Soon enough, we are soaring so fast that from the inside, everything is remarkably still and peaceful. The alarm sound has completely subsided by now, and it is extremely quiet.

"Karina," Zayn whispers softly as he puts his hand on my shoulder.

Again, I feel a tingle in my body.I turn around swiftly. My cheeks are slightly flushed.

"Here is your suit," he says, as he hands me the coveted golden uniform.

I take it and feel its soft yet strong fabric in my hands. I lift it up to my nose and take a deep breath, inhaling all of its glory through my nostrils and into my lungs. Zayn laughs.

"Welcome to the fam," he smiles and winks.

"Thanks," I reply shyly. There is a sort of awkward moment of silence.

"Hey Zayn," I say quickly as he starts to get up "I umm..."

My voice trails off as tears start to well-up in my eyes.