Survivors

Day Two

The next day, I wake up to a gentle alarm. Nothing like the blaring thing I have on my phone. I groggily get up and look at my toiletries I packed. Only two sticks of deodorant (one unscented and one not) and my shaving supplies. I groan and get dressed without having the supplies to brush my teeth. I use the unscented deodorant.

I open the door, briefly forgetting how to open it. I am not a morning person. I make my way down the hall. I arrive at the dining room, where there's a breakfast. I immediately head for the "just add water" pancakes, still not completely sure about the alien food. Despite the fact that something on the table smells like chocolate.

"Is there any coffee here?" I yawn.

"Any what?" Wessa asks.

"It's a thing you drink to wake up more." I say.

"Here." Maggie hands me a cup of something. I am immediately hit with spices, ice-cold liquid, and sugar.

Doesn't taste the best. Cold and spicy. But it sure did wake me up.

"Thanks." I nod, grabbing some orange juice to wash it down.

Regeit pours himself a glass of it, casually sipping it as he looks at some sort of alien newspaper.

"How was your sleep?" He asks.

"Good." Jade replies.

"Better than I expected." I admit.

"It was good I guess." Xavier shrugs.

"It was nice! Maggie let me borrow one of her glowing things as a nightlight." Wessa smiles in her usual enthusiastic way.

"Normally, after breakfast, Magri and I like to exercise for a bit in the gym." Regeit says, finishing his plate of whatever he had. We space-wash our dishes and head to the gym. I get on something that vaguely resembles a bicycle exercise machine. Jade seems completely comfortable using workout equipment she's never seen before, not even asking how to use it before grabbing some bar attached to a wire. Maggie doesn't seem to be extremely good at physical exercise, panting and sweating while on a treadmill-like piece of equipment, drinking lots of water. At least she's trying to get better. I haven't exercised in years. My mother did make me hike, though.

My mother who is now dead.

It's the first time I've wanted to cry. I want to be able to process the fact that everything I've ever known is gone, and properly grieve over it.

My mother and I lived on a farm with our family. A few aunts and uncles, my maternal grandparents. She and my father divorced before I was born. The farm wasn't that far from town. No, I didn't walk around in a plaid flannel milking cows and stabbing hay with pitchforks. I got to climb up trees to pick apples, though. We couldn't afford all the good machinery. The smell of manure was easy to get used to, but the manure itself was not something I enjoyed dealing with.

But it was certainly easier to deal with than what I have now.

My legs pedal slower as I space out. I focus on my exercise again. Perhaps it's better if I don't process the doom of my home planet. At least I wouldn't have to be slowly torn apart by it. I take a swig of water just as Regeit orders us to stop. We go to a lounge, where there's clean white walls, a large couch, and a coffee table.

"So." Regeit says. "Are you ready to get to know each other?" We all offer silent agreement. "What's your favourite colour?"

Hooray. We get textbook icebreaker questions.

"Green." Jade says. "Closely tied with blue."

"I like purple." Wessa answers.

"Um, I don't know?" Maggie seems unsure.