Kingdom Of Heavens - The 100 [1]

Chapter 3

Flashback, Venus's POV (6 years old)

The two of us ran through the halls together, oblivious to anything other than ourselves, and especially oblivious to her mother chasing us through the corridors. I ran as fast as my little legs allowed, huffing and puffing the whole way until my hands reached the far wall that we agreed would be our 'finish line'.

"I win!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, throwing my hands up in the air in celebration.

"Na-ah, I won!" Skylar pouted as her mother caught up to us two.

"In my eyes, you both won." She knelt down and took us both into a big hug simultaneously before kissing each of our foreheads. Skylar's mother was a kind woman, who always had a way of making a child feel happy, even in the darkest of times. She was a teacher for young children, and Skylar and I were beyond excited to have her as our teacher in the upcoming year.

"I bet I can beat you to that wall over there!" Skylar pointed to a wall across the way, on which a large window overlooked Earth. We were both about to take off, full sprint when her mother stopped us, gently grabbing our arms to hold us back.

"It's getting late Skylar, we need to get Venus home." Her voice was sweet, and I could listen to it all day long if I was allowed to. Oh how lucky Skylar was to have her. She had the most beautiful singing voice, and sang to Skylar each night before bed. Sometimes, I'd be lucky enough to sleep over and listen to her beautiful song.

"Can't we just go look out the window Mama? Just for a minute?" Her mother reluctantly nodded, and smiled as she watched us run over to the far window.

And there it was, Earth. I often dreamed about it in my sleep. I wondered how the breeze felt, what it was like to be outside, how the cool water felt against my skin. I knew I'd never get to go down there and find out, we were still 100 years away from going home. Even six year old me could understand that. But I still liked to dream about it. My breathing fogged up the glass, blurring my vision as I squished my small nose against it, trying to get as close as I possibly could to home. Earth had always been my home, even if I'd never been there. The Ark was just where I was trapped for now.

"Come on girls, time to go." The two of us began to whine, wanting just five more minutes to stare at the beautiful blue and green planet. Why we left I couldn't understand at the time. And five more minutes, that's all we ever wanted was five more minutes.

We walked through the corridors, hand in hand with each other and slightly ahead of Skylar's mother. We both had a slight bounce to our step, as we always had. Once we reached my quarters, we giggled as we knocked on the door one right after the other – trying to copy each other's beat or come up with a new one to trick the other. It wasn't until Skylar's mother got us both to stop knocking for a second that the door opened.

"Grandma!" I squealed and ran into my grandmother's arms. She said a quick thank you to Skylar's mom, and I said a quick goodbye to Skylar as we closed the door and sat at the table. My drawing supplies – charcoal and some ink – were still all over the table, just as I had left them that morning. "Where's Daddy?" I asked, now working on a new drawing. In my head I saw a field of grass down on Earth, but what I drew didn't look exactly the same. Sadly, it never did.

"He's working a little late tonight, just council stuff. Do you want to draw him a picture for when he gets home? He may be home late."

"Yeah!" I quickly pushed away the picture I had been working on and started yet another new one, hoping this would come out better. I was about half way done when I stopped and looked up at my Grandmother. "Can I visit John?"