Galaxicon [Finished]

New Outlook

Hands pinned down her shoulders as she jerked awake, screaming. Her eyes flew open.

"Rose, enough!" her father shouted above her. He leaned heavily on his hands, holding her down on the bed. "Stop your screaming, child!"

Behind him, Rose's mother glared at her, talking on her phone. "No, she's awake now. We're all fine. Thank you."

At the sight of her parents, Rose felt her heart nearly stop. Didn't they leave me here? All alone...

She stared up at her father as he stood up, releasing her. "You came back," she croaked.

He gave her a puzzled look. "What on earth are you talking about, Rose? We always come back. This is our home."

"But, but you... You left me here, and I was locked in the room, and... and..." she looked around. Her laptop sat on the desk where she left it, not a blurry image but a very real and solid object. Her bookcases were covered in her books, the blankets on her bed still held the warmth of her body.

Next to her desk, her window was open, letting in a rough breeze. The room quickly cooling, but outside, the sun shone brightly.

Her breath left her. "It was a dream," she whispered. Her emotions suddenly couldn't decide if she should be elated by that news, or utterly depressed by the knowledge. She'd learned to love her powers. More than that, she'd finally gotten somewhere out of her bad home life. She'd had, for a little while, freedom...

A hard slap jerked her head to the right. Her left cheek burned, and she blinked to keep the tears from falling.

Looking back at her parents, Rose found her mother holding her hand close to her. She glared at Rose. "Control yourself, you whore. We don't need a child that's going to go off sleeping around in her dreams, let alone in the real world. Fill your mind with something else."

Rage darkened Rose's vision, and she launched herself off the bed at her mother.

Her father intercepted her. Snatching her out of the air, he threw her to the floor. Her head hit so hard, her vision blurred temporarily.

"You stay away from your mother, you animal!" her father sneered. "We don't need a rabid dog in the house: start acting like a human. If you even can." Taking his wife's hand, he led them out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Rose heard the lock click into place. For a moment, panic clouded her mind. Were they going to leave her here? For real, this time? Was she going to die in this little room, with nothing to her name or self?

She looked over at the computer, tears threatening to fall. She pushed the panic and pain aside. At the moment, she needed an escape.

And stuck in her room, her head aching too much from her mother's slap and father's smack down, she didn't want to try reading. The words and letters would just float off the page, screwing her up even more. No, the only escape she wanted at the moment was the one her computer offered.

Stumbling over, she pulled out her chair and hoped against hope the computer worked. She really needed a break...

The screen turned on. In the lower right corner, she saw the battery was almost dead. Finding the cord in one of the desk drawers, she plugged it into the wall, the computer, and made sure the computer was charging.

Relieved it worked, she logged into her game and looked through her messages. 11 successful and 29 failed defenses, 13 messages from the other players, asking where she's been and what's up. A few missed calls to arms from YesterYear.

A personal message from YesterYear, sent only a few days ago. She opened it up.

YesterYear: Galaxicon - you haven't been on for some time. If you don't get on before the end of the week - Saturday, to be exact - and explain yourself, I'll be forced to kick you out of the fleet for inactivity. You know the rules. Keep an active profile in the fleet, or leave. And you've missed four raids...