Acadia

chapter 2

i wasn't sure what i was expecting. I never understood why i had impulsive needs to just run and help those in need. it was as if i just had to. still i couldn't sleep at all knowing there was an unconscious boy downstairs. maybe he was dreaming. maybe he'd woken up hours ago and left. i was to scared to check. i moved through my home like a ghost most days. today i felt especially transparent. maybe i just wasn't sure of much at the moment considering all thats happened which so far hasn't been all that much. the city hadnt been entirely on lockdown. which means the order has probably sent soldiers out to check on the wreckage. id hear later on the public news station what the official report is.

until then i made my way to the kitchen and drank a glass of water. i figured i should check on that boy. i walked to find him sitting straight up and staring at the window.

"youre up, thats good. for a second i thought we'd have to take you to hospital for life support or something." he turned around slowly, his snow white hair seeming to just move a second out of time with his head. he looked me straight in the eyes with a sort of confusion.

"My name is kirim Rosly, if you dont mind my asking, what happened to you?" i sat on the recliner across from where he sat. i wasn't shocked when he still didn't respond.

"Do you not speak English?" he looked at the window again.

"what will they do with the remains of the Crystelia?" i looked at him surprised. his voice was sad yet controlled, it was as if he was expecting the worst news.

"if youre talking about what ever crashed into habitat four, the order'll probably have crews clean up the wreckage and fix the bio-dome. until then i dont know what'll happen to the people living there." i said what i knew. i could tell he was resigned to whatever fate came his way.

"where am i?" he asked slowly like it was setting in that he wasn't home.

"Youre currently in Helix, the fourteenth habitat built. this place is also know as research and development." my response was cynical. i didn't really enjoy living here mostly out of love for wide spaces. you stay in a smal place for so long you forget you could have kept moving forward a long time ago. i stay here because of my parents. yet last year on my eighteenth birthday they asked if i wanted to go apply for a visa to move into another habitat. i didn't understand then that they knew i didn't enjoy it here. i just cant bear to leave them.

"what do you mean habitat? isn't this earth?" he asked, his confusion clear.

"youre looking at what remains of earth, it was destroyed decades ago. it no longer exists except in the form of pieces floating around its now crystallized core." i couldn't look him in the eye when it hit him. i looked away just as tears started falling. i dont know what it was but it didn't feel right telling someone that earth just went boom and now Acadia stands in its shadow.

"that cant be possible... what is this place?" he asked in a cracked voice.

"Acadia, a group know as the order built 72 habitual domes to stop the extinction of the human race. may ask where your from?" this was getting to strange.

"im from earth. i was on an expedition vessel. it launched in 2021." wait what did he just say.

"that isn't possible there were no expedition vessels the last human launch was in 2019 and it was to Carry the first dome. plus if thats true youre over five hundred years old because its 2672." he was obviously escaped from a facility somewhere. none of that added up.

"thats not possible we were meant to return ten years after launch. it was yesterday when we left earth.... then we were put in a cryo sleep.... oh god..." he coverd his face with his hand. i heard a soft sob move through him. i guess there was a lot going for him and only a little bit of time to absorb it.