ice

- chapter 1. -

           Before my family and I came here, to this desolate ice planet, I had it easy, at least that's what my father says.
I disagree, I miss my friends on Earth. They were all I had, and now they're light years away.
California is where I'm from. I hated it there, but now I miss it. Anywhere is better than here.
I miss the summer. I love the heat, the sun, flowers, and more. But now? There was no way in hell I would ever get to feel the heat from the sun again.
Everyone from this planet is, for the most part, modded.
           Modded.
           I hate that word. It makes people who are modded sound like mindless robots.
           In a way they are. They are super fast, super strong, and they adapt easily to the cold, because they can't feel the temperature.
Unfortunately, my younger brother, Fletcher, is modded. It's obvious my parents favor him over me. He has more friends than I do on this planet.
He talks about them often, but I've never actually met them.
Logan and Brume were two of the ones he's talked about, I can't quite remember the others.
Anyways, enough about me.
I got up from my bed and walked over to the door, I cracked it open slightly. I could hear my parents and Fletcher having a conversation at the table. I peaked through the crack in the door, watching, and listening.
"I don't know. Boss is pushing my team the hardest. Wants the harvesters running doubles." My father said, taking a sip from his beer.
"You think he's hard on you because we're not from here?" My mother asked, smoking.
"I doubt he gives a shit where we're from! The proles on my shift do. Don't like having an extro for a manager." He said, taking another sip from his beer.
Extros are non-modded people, 'boring', 'weak', 'unreliable' people.
My mother sighed, and went silent. I open the door more and started to walk out, Fletcher looked at me. I smiled at him.
"Fletcher, have you made friends with any local kids?" Our mother asked. I froze in the doorway. Our parents remained faced away from me, they hadn't noticed I walked over out of Fletcher and I's bedroom.
"Yeah. Been hangin' out with a few of 'em. Talk kinda strange. But other than that, they seem cool. They're all modded like me." Fletcher said, fidgeting with a small bouncy ball.
"What about Celeste? Has she made any friends?" Our mother asked, I quickly backed up into our room, and closed the door, leaving a small crack again.
"I, um—.. I don't really know, Mom—" Fletcher was quickly interrupted by our dad.
"Right. Of course, she hasn't! She's too fucking depressed over her god damn friends all the way back in California." He said, rolling his eyes.
"Fletch, can you keep an eye on her for me?" Mom asked, politely.
"You know how she is.." Fletcher said, glancing at the door.
"She needs to learn to adapt!" Our father yelled.
"You're too hard on her." Our mother said, pausing. "Poor kid's the only unmodded 16-year-old girl for a hundred light-years."
Our father slammed his fist on the table, dishes clattered. "Bullshit! It's about character, or lack of it. No amount of modding could fix that." He complained.
"Not her fault." Mother said, looking over at him. "Dumped onto a frostbit, fucking colony world."
Father scoffed. "Not her fault." He said, mockingly.
"I know she can be difficult, but maybe if you—"
"Celeste's always had it too easy. How is she gonna learn to adapt if she doesn't even try?"
I sighed, and closed the door fully. I pulled my hoodie over my head and laid back down in the bottom bunk of the bunk bed that Fletcher and I share, and fell asleep.