archenemy | clexa

four

The Ark is roaring with life. Citizens saw the dropship on its way to Earth and now, people demand all kinds of information. Who sent the ship? Who was sent? Why? What else does the oh so democratic council decide behind closed doors?

Jaha is ready with his speech, talking about all that has brought the council to this 'hard, but exciting' decision and that they're happy to inform the people that Clarke Griffin has survived the ground. Clarke's name is soon the only one to be whispered around the ship. Every day, Jaha needs to update the girl's status of life- alive? dead? sick with radiation? The Ark is buzzing with excitement, fear and hope. Many of the citizens have spent a tedious life; boring jobs, a single child if wished, maybe a partner. Movies and other old entertainments have brought them through the day, but the promise of seeing Earth? It ignites a spark, it brings up passionate discussions, shared opinions and imaginations.

Finn Collins, stuck in his small cell, doesn't notice any of that. He's been restless all day. Hell, he's been restless for weeks. Exactly the amount of weeks he has lived too long. He was meant to be executed at 18. Now, he is 18 and 7 weeks old and nothing has happened at all.

Every time a guard comes in to bring food, they're silent. No matter how politely Finn asks, no matter how often he pounds against the door and screams in pure despair, they don't come back. When they do, it's only for his next meal.

Finn thought that the day before he was appointed to be floated, that was the most stressed he's ever been. But now? He'd rather be floated than live in such uncertainty. Did they forget him?

Finn can't stand the prison room. For the months he's been in there, he has only been stuck at the small window, trying to get a glimpse of something that would remind him not to go insane.

He feels like he's going insane now. The hair he loved to have a little longer, always neatly brushed back, has reached his chest. His always smoothly shaved face is itchy with the beard that's grown against Finn's will. He reminds himself of that man that sunk so far into depression a couple years back, he was only known for his bad hygiene and his terribly long, greasy hair and beard.

Finn is practically crawling in his skin, despite the showers he is allowed and the hair he's been overly careful of. Why hasn't he died yet? If they forgot him, then why don't the guards react to him? If they forgot him, would he have to pay for 'his' crime for the rest of his life by rotting away?

No matter how badly the crime, Finn is convinced that no human deserves to be locked up for a whole life, 60 or what years left, with nothing to do at all. Of course, strictly speaking, they are all locked up on the Ark. But the others have TV, books, paint and pencils, jobs and friends to hang out with.

Finn? He has become a master in braiding hair that last year and a half. His biceps has grown by obsessively clutching the edges around the high window and he has become excellent at chucking his grey plastic mug onto his grey plastic plate from any corner of the room until the guard comes for the next meal.

He misses walking around aimlessly, visiting the Ark's museum with the remains of the old world, watching football and most importantly, he misses his friends. Monty, Jasper, Octavia, Clarke. Raven and he aren't a thing anymore, despite or because he is now sitting away his life for her, but he misses her anyway. The only one in their little friend group that Finn doesn't miss is Bellamy, but he'd prefer Bellamy's company over no one at all anyway. Even the outsider boy that Raven has adopted into the group Finn would love to hang out with right now.

But nothing of that happens. He just keeps sitting there on his bed chucking his plastic mug through the room and when the guard comes for supper, his voice is strained with the endlessly repeated beg not to be forgotten.