❝I don't do regrets. Regrets are pointless. It's too late for regrets. You've already done it, haven't you? No point wishing you could change it.❞
Elissa Bardot-Gray was never the one to be classified as a "rule breaker". She had a high-rankin...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ELISSA STOOD STILL and watched as the overly eager teens stormed out of the dropship. She was still hesitant; wasn't sure whether she should stay in the safety of the ship or walk out and accept the consequences. Sucking in a breath through her nose, she closed her eyes and leapt out onto the bright green grass.
She became vaguely aware of voices behind her and turned to see a few of the more reluctant others emerge from the dropship. "It's beautiful," a dark-skinned girl whispered as she reached down to run her trembling hand along the shiny green blades of grass.
A short, stocky boy took a few shaky steps forward. The gravitational pull on the Ark was meant to mimic Earth's, but faced with the real thing it was clear they hadn't gotten it quite right. "Everything's fine," the boy said, his voice a mixture of relief and confusion. "We could've come back ages ago."
"You don't know that," the girl replied. "Just because we can breathe now, doesn't mean the air isn't toxic." She twisted around to face him and held her wrist up, gesturing with her bracelet. "The Council didn't give us these as jewelry. They want to see what happens to us."
Elissa quickly discovered that she loved the way the sun felt on her skin; warming her core. After inspecting the area around the dropship, and marveling at the sights, sounds and textures that she'd never even dreamed she would experience in her lifetime, Elissa began to feel overwhelmed. Her mind overloaded by her senses. Everywhere she looked there was something new to be seen, something new to be explored. When her head gave the first twinge of a headache, she decided she would go find Clarke, while giving her mind a break.
The sound of whimpering caused Elissa's steps to falter.
She peered around the side the dropship and saw Charlotte, hovering next to the ship as she pulled her jacket up over her mouth.
"You can breathe normally, Charlotte," Elissa told her, looking around to see if Clarke had emerged yet. She wished she had something more reassuring to say, but there was no way to tell how much radiation was still in the atmosphere. All they could do was wait and hope. "Hmm, can I tell you a secret?" Charlotte perked up a bit, and she leaned forward motioning for the girl to do the same. "I was scared too...in fact, I still am."
"You are?" Charlotte asked hesitantly, leaning forward.
Elissa nodded her head, serious. "Of course."
"What are you afraid of?"
Elissa offered her a small smile "A lot of things. There are lots of things that we don't know about...we don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what's going to happen to the people left on the Ark. But one of the things I'm most afraid of are tiny, small spaces." She revealed to them with a small grimace.
"But...you didn't look afraid when you were strapped down on the ship."
Elissa gave her a patient smile. "To tell you the truth, I was. I have a fear, but I try to not let it control me." She explained, looking up at the dropship, remembering the way the walls seemed to want to shrink in on her. "I'm scared. But I don't let that fear rule my life. You see...fear is good, its healthy. It exists for a reason, usually it keeps us from getting hurt, it makes us cautious. But some fears can be unreasonable, they can try to control your life, and when those fears appear you acknowledge them, but you push them away."
