auris

Escape

     "Your highness, you need to leave, now." Viola begged her prince.

     "Only a coward leaves his people behind." Prince Auris shook off her pleas, turning as he watched the enemy destroy his home planet, Vexxon. The rest of his family had already taken shuttles to Earth, a planet with hope for him and his people. The shuttles, however, could only hold so many people and their planet only had so many.

     Cowards, he scoffed. They left their people to die, unlike him. Auris decided to stay behind to perish with his planet, his people. He shielded his eyes from falling debris as he looked up at the enemy ships. The blended colors of the orange sky and the magenta sun grasped at Auris' eyes, threatening to melt them. A small scowl formed on his face, watching as his people ran and screamed in terror as the Silvatacans destroyed the civilization of Vexxon for their own pure joy. There was nothing he could do except to save himself and one other person.

     "Auris, please, you really need to leave now. Before they detonate the planet." His best friend nagged at him, nervously tugging at her long, straight, charcoal hair. Auris was too busy thinking of ways to save his planet to notice her continuing to beg. He looked away from the Silvatacans and up to the pleading eyes of his best friend standing next to him. As he tried to tell her no, his throat closed up and her eyes alone pulled at his heart strings.

     How could I ever tell Vi 'no'? It would hurt her. He finally gave in to his longtime best friend's begging and filed into the escape shuttle, Viola following close behind. Guilt boiled in his stomach; Auris didn't want to leave Vexxon or the people behind. It was his duty to protect his people as prince and soon to be king and fleeing the planet was doing the exact opposite of so. Sick to his stomach with guilt, Auris placed his hand on the identification pad as the robot welcomed him and took off for their destination, Earth.

     Auris woke up to an abrupt beeping noise in the shuttle. It took him a moment to remember the events of only hours before. He looked out of the window, hoping to see Vexxon behind him, but they were too far out. Turning back to the beeping noise, he noticed his friend was a little pale. Auris rushed quickly to her side to take her pulse. Nothing. Neither of her hearts refused to beat.
"Viola! Viola wake up!" Auris pleaded. He opened her eyelid of the middle eye, but saw no iris.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Distracted by the noise, Auris turned away from his best friend and moved to the pannel. Trying to find an answer, he questioned his ship, "Star, what's the issue?"
"Hit by an asteroid. Major damage to the right wing. Losing fuel." his ship replied.
"Shit. How far away are we from Earth?"
"100 miles."
"Will we have enough fuel to get there?"
"Yes." Auris panicked as he remembered his best friend. "What's wrong with Viola?" The machine buzzed as it analyzed Viola.
     "No vital signs." Auris shook his head in disbelief and ordered Star to examine again.
     "No vital signs. Died from shock." Realizing that his best friend was gone, he went over to her body, laid his head in her lap, and waited for his arrival to his new home.