Dorothy

Chapter 19

     Dorothy's eyelids flickered open. Her bed felt plush beneath her. Bed? Dorothy jolted fully awake. She gazed about her and recognized this as her room on the leisure ship. She sprang up, pulled on jeans and a red T-shirt and raced out of her room. Raced? She glanced down. Her legs had only pale scars tracing down them. How long had she been asleep? 

     She ran all the way to her sister's room and burst in without bothering to knock. Her sister and brother-in-law were both already awake and lounging on comfy chairs. Dorothy's heart swelled seeing them. She rushed forward and hugged her sister, bursting into tears along the way. "I'm sorry. So sorry. You'll make a great mother, really."

     Her sister stroked her hair. "It's okay. You were mad. I'm not your mother. It's good to see you up. It's almost nine," she said with a chuckle. 

     Dorothy pulled back a bit. "Did you miss me?"

     "What? I mean, I hate to end the night negatively, but I didn't really miss you while you were asleep."

     "What are you talking about? I've been gone for more than a week. Speaking of which where is everybody?"

     "Where is who?" her sister was looking really bewildered by now. Why didn't she get it?

     "Everyone I came back with. Auden, Ronan, Thayer, Rosie, and Connel." 

     "Dorothy, I don't know what you are talking about. You've been asleep all night. You just saw me yesterday."

     "No. I've been to Luna and back. Look," she rolled up the leg of one of her jeans. "Where did I get these from?"

     Her sister looked dumbfounded and perhaps a little hurt now. "From the accident that Mom and Dad died in. Dorothy, are you sure you're alright."

     Dorothy looked at her sister, heart sinking. "Yeah..." she muttered, getting up and crossing to the door. She put her hand on the nob. "Yeah, I'm fine."

    About eight months after her 'return,' Queen Channary gave birth to a baby girl. A few weeks later she died. An autopsy said regolith poisoning, but the pathologists were at something of a loss. They couldn't be sure what really happened. Dorothy, however, had her own idea. 

Thank you all so much for reading this story. I hope that you've enjoyed it. I would love to hear what you thought of it in the comments.