Worlds Away

Chapter 1

The Earth has been gone for hundreds of years now.... or the Earth we knew. The planet is now just an abandoned, desolate, floating rock. It spins in meaningless rotations over and over again. We left it years ago, more like our ancestors did. They never looked back and neither have we. There's no point, all life is gone because of us. We forever stripped our once beautiful green planet because of our ever growing greed. Because of us, brown rots where green once grew. The planet is nothing but dirt, ash, and ruins. Darkness emits from the planet, a haunting reminder of humanity. Not even the Sun which still proudly shines can reverse the effects.

()()()()()()()()()()()

I glance up from my electronic journal and glance around my cold and lifeless room. The large window across from me shows the endless darkness that we travel into. The only home I've ever know. I wonder how different my life would've been on Earth. What color would my room have been? Would I still have had a large window, but instead of darkness, sunshine flows in with fresh air? How would my life look surrounded by other life?

To everyone else the darkness of space is home, but to me, I am more terrified of it. Although I don't know what Earth was really like, I want to believe that it was better than this. I want to believe that anything is better than endlessly floating through space. For in an instant I could be completely alone and no one would know it.

A loud crash jerks me out of my deep -yet stupid- day dreams. I jump up and race over to my door, hitting the button just in time to see Amelli sprint by. Closely following her is Lyal. He chases her down the hallway but its not for game as I can hear Amelli's little whimpers. Lyal finally catches up to her and grabs her shoulder, turning her to face him.

He pulls her into his chest holding her tightly." It's okay. It's okay. You're okay, Amelli," he coos softly. She hiccups into his chest and he pulls her closer.

"See you're okay. There's no reason to tell mommy or daddy, or even Brea and Bidem," he persuades, as a few drops of her blood falls onto the chilling metal floor. She sniffles then nods and Lyal releases a silent breath. He looks around meeting my eyes and freezing." Brea! Oh hi! Everything's okay now. You can go back to your room and be a teenager and whatever," he says quickly putting on a big fake smile.

"Lyal, what did you do," I scold and walk down the hallway to them. I gently pull Amelli back, but Lyal tries to hold onto her. Slowly, he lets go and I get a good look at Melli. Her little cheeks are swollen and red from her tears. Her nose keeps running and she tries to sniffle at it. I finally find what's hurt. Her small hand has a shallow cut down the middle of it.

I softly grab her hand and she tries not to make a noise." What happened," I ask looking at both of them.

"We were just playing and she slipped and she cut her hand," Lyal explains but he won't look at me.

"What were you playing," I ask knowing full well that I'm not getting the full story. Bidem used to do that exact same thing when we were little.

"Nothing," Lyal says quickly.

"Amelli," I question. She looks over Lyal and he shakes is head quickly. Then she looks back at me and I give her a small smile. Her big brown eyes watch me sadly as tears fill them again.

"We were running down the hallway with blankets and sliding with them. I hit the wall and hurt my hand on it," she reveals and hugs my body. I pull her close to me and rock her a little. Lyal looks down sadly.

"Lyal, why didn't you just tell me the truth? It's not your fault."

"I just didn't want you to be mad at me," he cries and steps towards me. I open one of my arms to let him in. He quickly runs in and buries his face in my shirt." I'm sorry."