R.O.N.A.

Chapter 19

When we got back, I numbly asked Tyzon to take the day off; I was sure I wouldn’t be able to work safely while my mind was so distracted. He told me I could and so after returning to headquarters, I headed straight to my room to think.

So we are really from Zenix after all? I thought, I can’t believe we were born here… I thought about the tough childhood Aris and I had and wished that the people who had been transported to Zenix had thought about what our lives would be like on Earth. We had both grown up in numerous foster homes, since we were deemed orphans, and had had to move several times. The only thing we had was each other and school. At least now I understand why many aspects of R.O.N.A. are similar to Earth. And that explains why most of the humans here are no older than 25 or so.

I suddenly missed home and its simplicity. My head was spinning with all the truths I had just learned. I subconsciously made my way over to our walk in closet and pulled out my old clothes from Earth. When I saw them, for some reason they made me cry. I had always wanted to know who my parents were, but now I wished I didn’t. They were dead and there wasn’t even the hope left of finding them. I just wanted things to be like they were before. As I looked at her clothes, I unexpectedly noticed a bulge in one of my jeans’ pockets. I dug my hand in and pulled out my old iPod.

“I forgot you were in here! I’m so glad I found you!” I said to it. Instantly I stuck the ear buds in and walked over to the couch, sat, and just let the music fill my head. It’s been so long since I’ve listened to all of my music! I thought. I laughed when I noticed I had Tron music on my iPod and I thought about how I was basically living the real thing.

After a while I decided to go for a walk around the building. Forgetting my iPod was in, I went straight to the engineering bay to see how Tyria was.

“Hi Tyria,” I said, trying not to startle her.

“Hi Sephora.” Tyria then turned to face me and when she saw my headphones, she looked at them with curiosity. “What is that?”

“Oh this?” I thought for a moment. “It plays music. I had it back on my home planet.”

“Really? That is so cool! Can I look at it?”

“Sure.” I took out the headphones and handed her clunky iPod Classic over to Tyria.

She looked at it quizzically and eventually, with my help, she figured out how to operate it.

“I just got an idea!” I exclaimed.

“What is it?” Tyria said, equally excited.

“I will have to ask Lexy, but maybe we could have a girls' night again and listen to my music. We could dance too.” I smiled.

“That would be cool! Let me know what she says.”

“Okay.” I smiled and waved, “See you later hopefully!”

I raced down to the first floor where Lexy usually worked the front desk. Thankfully the entry room was empty except for Lexy, so I was able to talk to her.

“Hey Lexy, do you wanna have a girls’ night tonight?”

“Of course! I always do,” she said and laughed. “Your room?”

“Yeah. After dinner time.”

“Okay sweet!”

Just after this, the dreaded Zena walked up and interrupted. “You’re inviting me right?” she said with a snobbish tone.

“Um… I guess you can come if you want to,” I told her. I didn’t really want to invite her, but I thought it would be rude not to.

“Good. I never miss out on a party.”