Subjects

18- Swimming In The Seas Of Love

Pitch black.
Underwater even the sun can't reach. As the pod sinks deeper and deeper into the ocean Eva keeps thinking, so this is it, this is how I die. After everything they've been through, I must admit it would be a bit of a bummer if they died like this. Good thing they didn't.

One minute and 783 meters below sea level, the ship stops sinking. And starts floating back up. At first they don't even realize what's going on but then the water become a little brighter. Soon enough the ship rises over the waves and they can see the sun again.

"We made it," Ben is the first to come to.

"We made it!" Eva cheers.

"I can't believe it!" Emily sighs with relief.

Roger laughs, it feels so good to be alive. They can't contain their joy. If you didn't know that they just escaped an alien spaceship and survived falling from the sky in a tiny spaceship, you'd probably think they lost their minds. Umm... Well... Maybe they have.

When Angie finally opens her eyes, the first thing she sees is four teenagers running around, cheering and hugging each other. Carefully she unbuckles her seat belt and gets up.

"Angie!" Emily notices her first. "Are you okay?"

The girl nods quietly. "Where are we?" she asks.

That just might be a problem. The group glance at one another briefly, or more accurately, they all look at Roger for answers. After all, he's the one that landed them there.

"I guess I can check the control system, see if there's anything there."

"I'll see if there's any water around here," says Ben. First rule of survival, as he likes to remind his subscribers, is to always have water. He once was even sponsored by a mineral water company.

Ben and Roger both leave for their missions, while Angie is sitting back in her chair looking very unhappy. The longer she's there, the more terrified she becomes. And the more dizzy, but she barely notices her sea sickness due to the fact that, well, she's stranded in the middle of the ocean. Emily seems to notice Angie's despair and rushes over to seat by her side.

"How are you feeling, Angie?" she embraces the girl.

Angie keeps staring. After a few seconds of silence she says, "I miss mommy and daddy. Where are they?"

"I don't know," Emily says at first, but then she leans closer and speaks to Angie softly, "I promise, sweetheart, that I will do whatever I can to get you back to them. I know that things are scary right now, but it's going to get better. I can tell that you're a strong girl and you will need that strength until it is safe again. I don't know how long it will take but I can assure you that I'll be by your side until this is all behind us."

Angie is not exactly cheerful but at least she's not miserable anymore. She rests her head on Emily and closes her eyes, "can you tell me a story?"

Emily defiantly isn't known for her storytelling skills but she can pull off a descent Cinderella.

"Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, lived a beautiful young girl."

Ugh.
Is what Eva would have loved to say at this point. She has this uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, it takes her a while to realize that it's jealousy. How can she be jealous? What exactly is she jealous of? The more she thinks about it, the more annoyed she becomes, annoyed with herself more than anything.

Eva was never the type to get jealous, and she isn't about to let herself start now. So what if she's no good with little kids? Or if she always wished to have a big sister to tell her stories? This means nothing. She's just upset because of the whole kidnapped-by-aliens thing, that's all.

Just as Eva's about to leave, (not because she can't stand this feeling, of course. She was only gonna leave because Emily's version of Cinderella was awful and she couldn't stand her favorite story being demolished like that) Roger speaks up.

"I have some news, and I don't think you're gonna like it," Roger announces. "The whole ship is shut down. Nothing is working. I think maybe it's because of the fall, but I don't know how to fix it. I think that for now we are stuck here."