"With their bombs, and their guns. In my head, in my head, we are dying."
or
a mute boy with a troubled past is sent to the ground with 99 other delinquents
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Everyone in the skybox knew Ayden Deyoore. He had grown up in the Skybox, making friends with everyone and anyone. Ayden and John Murphy showed people around the skybox, settled them in, taught them the rules and how to use the language the two had created.
Ayden shook Charlotte awake as she screamed and yelled. The girl suffered from night terrors, and had since before she had been placed in the skybox. Ayden knew this. He had helped the girl out before, kept her quiet and safe from the guards that roam the halls of the skybox at night.
She sobbed into his shirt silently, as they had done many times before.
"My parents..." She cried. "I miss them so much. Ayden... I'm so scared down here!"
Ayden pulled away from the girl with an understanding look on his face. "It's okay to be scared. I'm scared too."
"Really?" Charlotte asked quietly. Ayden had always seemed like he could never be scared, never hurt, to Charlotte. Ayden nodded before turning to the sky and pointing.
"See that bright star up there? That's The Ark orbiting above us. I think what happened to us up there, you know, the pain... maybe we can move past that now. Maybe being on the ground is our chance for a better life than what the Ark, and the stupid skybox had to offer us."
"Do you really believe that?"
"I have to."
Ayden pulled Charlotte's head down onto his shoulder with a small smile. The pair stared up at the stars where the Ark orbited. Charlotte's soft snores soon graced Ayden's ears, the boy pulling himself gently out from beneath her. He pulled off his jacket and placed it over the girl, shivering slightly as the night air hit his shoulders.
Ayden walked quietly between the people sleeping, in and out of the dropship, like a guardian angel watching over them. These people, Ayden knew each and every one of them by name. They all slept soundly as Ayden moved between them.
John looked up at Ayden as the boy approached. He was shivering, with no jacket and his thin orange singlet not at all contributing to his warmth. He held out his arm and Ayden slotted into his side without a word.
"Trina and Pascal are missing," Ayden signed.
"We'll look for them in the morning," John signed back. Ayden sighed, resting his head on his friend's shoulder.
"I can't sleep even though I'm tired," Ayden signalled. "I have to make sure everything is alright."
"Not your job."
"Yes it is." John pushed the taller boy's head off of his shoulder, pressing a hand to his hair and forcing it to his lap. "Sleep. I'll keep watch."
"Die."
John laughed softly at the threat. He threaded a hand through his friend's blond curls, massaging Ayden's head in a way he knew made him sleepy.
"Not fair," Ayden mumbled, voice full of sleep.
"Sleep well, Ayden."
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short one, but an important one
working our way up to the longest chapter yet, chapter 12
