Astrophysical (completed)

Chapter 6

It was an easy transition to go back to her old ways. She refused to go out during the day and so had returned to sneaking in one meal a night after looting the kitchen. The first couple of days she had just flat out ignored people knocking on her door to check on her because she didn't have a better place to go, but after they had made a stop to drop the Shifter on a moon she escaped again and found sanctuary in the cargo bay where the Shifter has previously been kept.

It was completely devoid of all the crew members now that they didn't have any cargo, but for extra measure, Cassie had found that the space between the actual storage and loading dock was sufficient to slip under if she laid completely flat. So, in finding this, she had relocated out of her room almost permanently.

In the dead of night, she would walk around a little bit to stretch her legs out and loosen up her muscles. At first, this had been easy enough for her to do having done it before, but it somewhat surprised her to find that Matt and Dean had both tried to catch her by staking out in either the atrium or the training room. It was on these nights that Cassie was so desperate not to talk to anyone that she even went without eating just so she would not have to talk about what happened. She realized it was unfair and especially that hurtful to some of the others since they had obviously supported her previously, but Cassie wasn't planning on staying that much longer so why would she waste time trying to form friendships when she was so bad at them?

It was in fact her plan to get off at the next stop and yet still somehow do it without having to interfere with anyone still. She wasn't sure exactly how it would work yet, but she tried to spend all her mental energy on this instead of her emotional state.

About a week and a half later the ship docked at a new port. Cassie's plan was to wait out most of the noise in hopes that maybe at least the only people on board were just a couple of mechanics or something and they wouldn't hold her up.

When most of the noise had quieted down, she pushed herself slowly out from underneath the loading dock. Once she was standing again, though she was a little dizzy, she made her way quietly through the back hallways. To her surprise, the noise had quieted down more so than before and by the time she made it to the atrium, the door was already shut and locked. She sighed to herself realizing there wouldn't be a chance to get out now because she had no power to lock or unlock the ship.

No one seemed to have stayed on board which was better. This at least gave Cassie some time to wander freely and catch up on a couple of missed meals without anyone there. In fact, that was the very first thing she did with her freedom, and it felt all so good.

After eating until her stomach felt full, she decided to go wander back towards her room. It was getting later, and she had forced herself to stay up the day before so she could sleep last night to be up for her escape. So much for that plan, she realized, but she was exhausted and the thought of going to bed in her actual cabin was nice.

~~

The next morning Cassie awoke to feel relaxed and fully rested for once. She groggily sat up on the edge of her mattress and ran her hand through her hair noticing just how long it was getting. She combed through it a couple of times before deciding she would put it up for today. When she went to reach for the stack of ponytails on her desk, she was surprised to find a small, folded piece of paper laying on it in between the notebooks and hair ties.

Delicately she lifted it and unfolded it to find a note reading:

"Cassie-

We need to talk. Once you see this, please come find me.

-Ash"