Moonlight •• Bellamy Blake

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The door slid open, and Genesis knew that it couldn't be anything good. Her eyes locked on the guards boots, and she braced for the rush of fear, the fear of desperate panic. But as she rose up onto her elbows, peeling her shirt from the sweat-soaked cot, all she felt was relief.

She'd been transferred to a single room after having many arguments with her old cell mate, she had wanted the silence although it wasn't what she received.

She heard voices. They called to her from the corners of her dark cell, only the moon from the window above lighting up a small corner. They filled the silence between her heart-beats. They screamed from the deepest recesses of her mind. It wasn't death she craved, she wanted to silence the voices once she finally retrieved her freedom. She often heard her moms voice, especially in her dreams, or should she say nightmares.

Thankfully, due to her limited interaction with people, her insomnia had became a minor inter fence with her life. Even though she didn't have much of a life to live.

She had been confined for the simple fact of being forced into something she didn't want to do. Even if by some miracle she was pardoned, they would never take the chance of wasting oxygen.

The guard cleared his throat as he shifted his weight from side to side. "Prisoner number 319, please stand." He was younger than she'd expected, and his uniform hung loosely from his lanky frame, betraying his status as a recent recruit.

A few months of military rations weren't enough to banish the spectre of malnutrition that haunted The Ark's poor outer ships, Walden and Arcadia.

Genesis took a deep breath and rose to her feet.

"Hold out your hands." He instructed, pulling a pair of metal restraints from the pocket of his blue uniform. Genesis shuddered as his skin brushed against hers. She hadn't seen another person since they had brought her to her new cell, let alone touched.

"What's going on?" Genesis toppled from one foot to the other as she awaited his slow reply. She wasn't supposed to be floated for another year or so, a concept where they were sucked into the atmosphere without oxygen or any way of getting back in.

"Are they too tight?" He asked, his brusque tone frayed by a note of sympathy that made Genesis' chest ache. She was confused at the compassion the guard had shown to her, she rarely got the privilege of having someone be nice to her.

She shook her head.

"Just sit on the bed. The doctors on his way."

"What are they doing to me?" Genesis asked hoarsely, the words scraping against her throat. If a doctor was coming then maybe they were preparing her for an early death. It shouldn't have come as a surprise. The Ark wouldn't pass up the opportunity to save some oxygen.

Still, it was hard to believe they'd actually do it in her cell. In a twisted way, she'd been looking forward to one final walk to the hospital where she'd spent much of her time whenever she hurt herself, they were nice to her there— one last chance to experience something good, if only the smell of disinfectant and the hum of the ventilation system— before she lost the ability to feel forever.