Astronomically Imposterble

Cyan

Havien Parker, age seven, sits in the hospital-like playroom at the space station her grandfather, Franklin Kingston works at. She's currently sitting at one of the toys you'd actually find at a hospital. One of the ones where there's a bunch of different colored rails and beads and they're all intermingled and you need to bring the correct beads onto the other side. She absently swipes the beads onto the other side and then back again, her eyes beginning to gloss over. There's not much else in the room for her to do other than other simple toys that were clearly meant for younger kids than her. She sighs softly, a few strands of hair blowing out of her face before landing in her eyes again. She tries to focus on the distant yelling coming from the other room but she can't make out anything clearly to figure out what they're saying.

This wasn't how her day was supposed to go. She originally was supposed to go out for lunch with her father and then go shopping afterwards. But he got an important call for work early in the morning so he had to postpone. Which meant Havien was shipped off to her grandfather's for the time being. And everything was fine at her grandfather's--they were enjoying a game of Uno while eating cookies dipped in milk. But then he got an urgent call from work so he, too, had to leave. Which brought her here. Sitting in a boring "playroom" all alone with toys much younger for her.

Or at least she thought she was alone.

"Hi," a little girl, no older than three, says softly, snapping Havien out of her daze. Havien looks up from the toy she was playing with and smiles at the young girl. She wasn't expecting anyone else to show up. In fact, Havien wasn't aware that any of the other astronauts either had children or were allowed to bring them to the space station. But Havien doesn't bother asking the young girl; she appears to be way too young to know anything.

"Hi!" Havien greets back enthusiastically. She's just happy there's someone else here to be bored with her.

The young girl tilts her head to the side. "Who are you?"

Havien giggles. "Straight to the point, are we?" The little girl doesn't say anything. Havien slowly stops giggling, sensing the awkwardness in the room. "You can call me Via," she supplies, not feeling comfortable enough with the young girl yet to give out her full name. The little girl nods slowly, her eyes narrowing in on Havien. "What's your name?"

"You can call me El." Havien smiles brightly and holds out her hand. El stares at it and frowns. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she says. Havien's smile falls as she tilts her head to the side. "Why are you here?" Her eyes widen a bit before she scratches the back of her neck. "No one plays here besides me." Havien raises an eyebrow. El scoots over so she can see Havien better, then holds her knees close to her chest. "Does your mommy and daddy work here too?"

Havien shakes her head, letting out a small breath. "My daddy is a journalist," she corrects.

"And your mommy?"

Havien shrugs. "I don't know." El's brow furrows. "I never met her." El's mouth forms a small o. Havien nods and looks away. El leans closer to her.

"So then why are you here?" she whispers. Havien giggles.

"I'm spending the day with my grandfather," she explains. "He works here." El nods slowly. "He needed to come in to check something but couldn't leave me at home alone." El nods.

"I'm not allowed to be home alone either." Havien smiles. "My mommy and daddy normally bring me with them too!" Havien giggles softly. "That or they call the evil babysitter who smells like tuna." El scrunches her nose and sticks her tongue out. Havien bites her lip to keep from laughing. "I'm telling you she's evil!" she cries. Havien can't help but laugh. "She doesn't let me watch cartoons and she forces me to eat broccoli for dinner!" She scrunches her nose. El shrugs. "I like it better here." They start laughing together. El releases her knees so she can sit on them. "Does your grandfather know my mommy and daddy?"