To the Stars and Back

Chapter 14

Scarlett

"Hazel?"

Her voice is breaking up, but I can still hear her. "Guys, it's Hazel. I-I found out why nothing's happening down there."

"Hazel?" Nyssa's here too now.

"Yes, it's me! I'm on the spaceship! And- the asteroid? It's not real."

"What?"

"They made it up! They made it all up!" She sounds really distressed and panicked. "I found out from- someone else on the ship.

"Wait, why would they do that?" Cat asks.

"I don't know!"

"How did the person find out?" I ask.

"She overheard someone. They were saying, like, 'We're running behind schedule, and people are going to start realizing something's off.' and 'people could contact their friends on earth and find out this isn't how it seems' and 'it's too early. They can't find out on their own.'"

"Oh my god."

"Wait, how did they manage to be so careless that someone overheard them if they're so worried about people finding out?" Rhea asks.

"I don't know. She just went to the front of the ship where the door to where pilots are is, and she just heard them talking."

"So are you guys still going to Awe?"

"I think so. But I think their whole plan was to put us there and test the living areas on Awe and then take us back when they say, 'oh, turns out the asteroid's path changed. You're all okay, thanks to us!', but some things went wrong, so they might change the plan."

"Why would they do all that?" Nyssa asks.

"Well, again, I don't really know, but my guess would be power, money, if they save everyone, they'll be trusted by everyone and they'll get money and jobs."

"Jeez, this is kind of a lot to do for some money." I say.

"Yeah." Hazel says.

"I never thought any of this could get worse." Cat says.

"Well, this could be a good thing. I mean, good because we're not going to die, but we were never going to die anyway, so we were kind of put in more danger when they put us on the ship. We have hit two meteor fields already." Hazel says.

"Well, what do we do?"

"This is really important. You can't tell anyone yet. You could get in trouble. I have to make a plan." Her voice is getting more and more static.

"But we have to!"

"No! It's too dangerous! They could-" Her voice breaks up and is replaced with static for a second. "They could find out you know. Which puts everyone in danger. You can't-"

The call ends, without anyone having turned it off.

"No no no! Hazel!" I shout into my phone, even though I know she can't hear me anymore.

"It's no use." Cat says. "But we heard the most important information. We know what's going on now."

"Yes, and... and we can't tell anyone. Not even our families. Not until she contacts us again with an update."

"And a plan?" she says it more like a question.

"I hope so."

Hazel

It's been a few hours since I talked to my friends over the phone, so around midnight on Earth, if my watch still says the same time it would there.
    I shouldn't have told them. But I'm glad I did. They deserve to know what's going on. They're the ones who thought they were going to die. No, but they still might die.
    I didn't tell them everything.
    Which I regret. But I can't explain everything. I can't imagine how hard it was for Alyssa to tell me.
    I'm still on my bed where I was when I called them. I watched another movie, but for about half an hour I've just been lying here, thinking.
    Maybe I shouldn't be mad at Alyssa. She is right, after all.
    I heave myself up off the bed, walking to the door and pulling it open. I stare down the empty hallway.
    Maybe I shouldn't do this.
    I ignore my doubt and walk to the door titled "Hansen."
    My knock is quickly answered by a "go away Alyssa".
    "Um, it's me, Hazel." I call.
    "Oh, Hazel. Sorry." Dawn opens the door.
    "Um, why is Alyssa not allowed in her own room?"
    "Ugh. Please don't ask."
    "Um, okay. So she's not in there then, I guess."
    "Oh. No. You were looking for her?"
    "Yeah. Do you know where-"
    "No. I don't want to know. As long as she's not with me."
    I hesitate. What the heck happened between them that they're that angry? "Okay, I'll go look somewhere else then. There's not many places she can go on this ship. Well, other than the showers, in which case I would not be able to find her." I chuckle awkwardly. "Okay, bye."
    She closes the door without saying anything more.
    I walk to the food hall. She's not there. She's not in the game room either.
    I go up the stairs to the lookout, and when I get there Alyssa's lying on the floor by the window, asleep.
    "Alyssa?"
    She grunts and looks up.
    "Oh! Hazel." She sits up and leans against the window when she sees me.
    I don't really know what to say, so I sit down and look her in the eyes as if I can telepathically communicate what I want to say to her.
    "Um, so are you not mad at me anymore?" She asks.
    "I wasn't really mad at you, more... mad at the world. The universe, I guess. Sends us all the way here."
    She snorts. "The universe is just the contents of time, matter, and space. It doesn't care what happens to us."
    "Okay, nerd." I say.
    She rolls her eyes.
    "Well, I'm glad. That you're not mad at me, I mean. It's bad enough with Dawn..." she trails off.
    "What happened?" I ask.
    "Nothing..." she says, then explains when I give her a questioning look, "I can't explain it. It's... not one thing, really."
    "Okay." I guess if she doesn't want to tell me, I'll respect that.
    Then I realize, if there are things I kept from my friends about Alyssa finding out, could Alyssa be keeping something from me too?
    "Hey, why are you even up this late?" Alyssa asks.
    "I don't know. I couldn't sleep. As usual. I've probably gotten eleven hours of sleep. ALTOGETHER."
    She laughs. "Yeah, me too."
    We both sigh at the same time, then giggle at it, and then realize how dumb we sound giggling at it and stop.
    She leans back again, still smiling. "I've never seen such bright stars."
    I look up, glancing around at the little lights around us, then look back at Lyss.
    "Me neither." I reply. "It's beautiful."
    She nods.
    Suddenly Alyssa's parents burst in.
    "There you are, Alyssa! Dawn wouldn't tell us where you were or why she was mad at you! What happened?"
    Alyssa sits up, looking slightly irritated.
    "It's nothing." she says.
    "She can't make you sleep out here!" Her mom says.
    "It's fine, I want to." Alyssa says.
    Her parents study her like they don't know if this is really their daughter.
    "Okay." Her dad says. "Let's go then."
They leave,  her mom taking one last glance at Alyssa.
"God, they're annoying." Alyssa says, and lays back down.
I can't help but wonder how much she's lying to me about right now.