Displaced

Wicken - Thirty-Two

Climbing all of the stairs took an hour. When we got to the top, I wanted to pass out, or at the very least curl into a ball for a while and do nothing but catch my breath. We took a few breaks on the way. Justice of course didn't seem winded in the slightest. He made the journey every day, and soon I would too. There was a plain, metal door in front of us. Justice opened it with ease: no locks, no hard budging, nothing. We walked through it.

Sunshine, fresh air -the Roof gave me both of those for the first time since I'd arrived on the ship. The sun wasn't directly over my head, but I could see it shining over a massive space of green grass and forest. There was an artificial blue sky as well off in the distance.

"The Garden is over there." Justice pointed out toward the blue sky. "There the Achlivans create an ecosystem similar to what we had on Earth, as well as manage the passage of time. Everything you could ever want is there. Like the Garden of Eden."

"Cool."

"Yeah. Above us? Is real, true space. In about a minute, Earth will be in our view for ten minutes. They try to keep us from seeing home, but some people also love it." He pointed above us.

Home. Sure enough, as I gazed up at the glass windows above us, the massive blue and brown planet I used to walk on came into view. Clouds swirled over its surface. I'd seen a number of videos and pictures. None of them did Earth justice. It was by far the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

"Wow," I whispered.

Justice stared at me. "Yeah, it's pretty amazing."

"What?" I asked, when I noticed his gaze was still hovering on me. "Do I got something on my face?"

"Usually this moment is more emotional."

I shrugged. "The meltdown thing, again? It's not going to happen, man. Sorry to disappoint you. I guess I'm hard to faze."

"I guess so." He eyed me for a moment longer before waving for me to follow him down a cobblestone street. "Then let's go get you trained, and your work bracelet. You'll need that so you can stay up here. It's kind of like a way of identifying you as one of the Undesirables."

There was a skepticism in his tone. I couldn't blame him for not believing me about the meltdown thing. When I thought about home, all I felt was numb, though. It'd been so long since I had any pleasant family moments, so there wasn't a whole lot new to miss. I'd been longing for a sober mother for years now. Can't say I remember much about my dad. He died when I was three. The only thing I was leaving behind was a bunch of jobs I hated, drama, and bills. Not like I enjoyed being on the ship, necessarily, but with the hope of getting out of the Pit, I also saw opportunity to make the most of my adventure. It kept me sane.

Earth was a far-away place I once roamed, and nothing more. Numb all over.

Only Chevelle had me feeling again, feeling real emotions. She pissed me off and made me gushy all at the same time. With her, I saw more potential for a different kind of future for me. As I gazed out at the Garden one last time, knowing she was down there somewhere, I was the closest to her as I'd ever been.