I'm Just A Kid

Chapter 16: Too Soon

"Come on, Miller. It's been hours. Open the bloody door," I moaned, sliding down the wall until I landed on the cold floor. Miller had kept me trapped inside the dropship for what felt like an eternity, and somewhere along the way, I had completely lost track of how long I had actually been up there. Judging by how uncomfortable, hungry, irritated and painfully bored I was, however, it had definitely been far too long.

At first, I had tried to keep myself entertained by pacing around the cramped space and attempting to come up with increasingly creative ways to get Miller back for locking me inside. Eventually, though, boredom had become impossible to ignore, and I had tried sleeping in the hope that the time would pass faster.

That had been a complete failure. The floor was uncomfortable, my arm still ached beneath the damp makeshift cast, and every position I tried seemed to make something else hurt. If I lay on my back, my arm complained. If I turned onto my side, my shoulder started aching. If I sat up, I became painfully aware of how hungry I was. I had spent the last few hours begging Miller to open the hatch, but he either ignored me completely or told me to shut up, neither of which had been particularly helpful. "Can I at least get some food?" I asked, making one final attempt, but silence was the only response I received. I let my head fall back against the wall with a frustrated groan. Of course there was no reply. Apparently, Miller had decided that leaving me alone with my own thoughts while I slowly starved to death was a perfectly reasonable form of punishment.

Then I heard the sound of the lock clicking. My head immediately snapped up, and for a second, I remained completely still, wondering whether I had actually heard it or whether boredom had finally caused me to start imagining things. The hatch began to move before I had the chance to question myself any further, and I jumped to my feet, rushing towards the entrance. A moment later, it opened, and Miller poked his head up through the hatch. "I don't want to do this, but it's your turn to talk to your family," he sighed. He did not even bother looking directly at me before climbing back down the ladder, leaving me standing there for several seconds as his words slowly registered.

My turn. I was finally going to speak to my dad. Every thought about being trapped inside the dropship disappeared so quickly that it was almost embarrassing. I hurried towards the ladder and climbed down as quickly as my injured arm would allow, trying not to put too much pressure on it as I descended. Miller was already standing at the bottom by the time I reached the ground, and I was practically ready to sprint out of the dropship. I had waited so long for this. I was only a few steps away from the exit when Miller suddenly grabbed my arm, causing me to stop and look back at him in confusion.

"Just do the right thing and don't run away, ok?" He asked.

I stared at him for a moment before simply nodding in reply. There was absolutely no chance I wanted to spend another few hours locked inside the dropship. If I was being completely honest, I had not entirely decided whether I was going to run away immediately after speaking to my dad or wait until Miller had forgotten about me.

Either way, I was definitely considering it. I quickly walked outside, moving much faster than usual, and the moment I stepped into the open air, I felt as though I could finally breathe properly again. After being trapped inside for so long, the fresh air was almost overwhelming. I took a deep breath and looked towards the sky, allowing myself to enjoy the simple feeling of being outside again before glancing at the position of the sun.

Judging by where it was, it was around midday, which meant I had missed almost half the day trapped inside that stupid dropship. Brilliant. I pushed the thought from my mind and focused on where I was going instead. There was no point being annoyed about it now. My turn had finally come, and after waiting near the bottom of that ridiculous list for so long, I was not going to let anything ruin this.