Monster || among us

o n e ;

o n e ;

She was standing on the bridge of the launch pad that led into the space shuttle named Europa VII. It was ten minutes to lift off and she looked up at the sky with curiosity and a hint of sadness. They would be up in outer space within the next thirty minutes, on their way to Vesta, a part of the asteroid belt for an exploration mission. They needed to collect specimens to bring back to Earth for studying. The mission would last them approximately eight years--four years to travel to their destination and collect the specimens, and four years to travel back to earth. But it wasn't like they had much to come back to anyway.

There was a group of eight explorers who had trained together for most of their childhoods and teenage lives, with two other members joining their specific mission one week prior and two more joining them that morning. That was the way things worked on Earth. The world was divided into Provinces separated by colors. As a Pink, she came from the Province of Flowers, the only place where flowers and trees could grow. No other place on their planet was the ground good enough for flowers. It was merely where they grew and mass produced flowers for fancy government parties. She came from one of the more useless provinces, as the more useful province kids like to call it. But she didn't even have that many memories of her home anyway. 

At four years old, each child was required by law to be taken to The Garden for special intelligence testing. One or two from each province were taken every year and trained for years until they could be ready for their missions in space. Pink had been chosen and her parents were proud of her. But she didn't want to leave their side. They were more than happy to offer her up, since they saw it as their patriotic duty as parents and her patriotic duty to have been selected and represent their province. She didn't even have a name yet when she was selected. Her parents hadn't even gotten to name her because it was customary to name children only after knowing that they hadn't been selected. They wouldn't be needing names in The Garden or in space anyway. She would simply forever be known as Pink. It wasn't until she was about eight years old that she received a name. Someone cared enough to give her something that was solely for her.

She ran a hand through her pastel pink wavy bob hair. It felt different, lighter, since she had gotten her long hair chopped off the previous night, much to her dismay. All members of the crew had to have short hair, and that left her female crew members getting a hair cut the previous night. It just didn't feel right, but that was the way things needed to be in order for her to wear her space suit properly. 

She turned slightly when she heard the slow footsteps of someone approaching her. It was her crew mate and captain of the mission Black. She offered him a warm smile as she looked up to meet his eyes, since he was almost a whole foot taller than her. "Ready for take off, Rosie?" He asked her in a voice that almost had a hint of teasing in it. Rosie was her nickname and it was short for Roseanne, which was the name he had given her. Black, and it was the name her other crewmates called her. Their trainers, and instructors, they didn't bother. They still called her Pink.

She still remembered that sad little four year old boy who was brought into The Garden when he was four years old and she was eight. His tear soaked face made her frown because she remembered how upset she was too, when her parents dropped her off and said their goodbyes for the last time. This was probably the first and last time she would ever see him, since he was a newcomer and she was training with all the other children born in 2994. He was four years younger than her and would be training with the children his age, born in 2998. 

She saw him again the following week. As it turned out, the eight year olds and the four year olds had their play time at the same time and she had been sitting at a bench, reading on her holo-tablet when she saw the 2998 generation boys getting together to play a game with a ball. The little Red boy placed a hand on Black's shoulder and shoved him down to the ground, towering over him. Black was easily the runt of their group. All the other boys there--Red, Blue, Green--were taller and bigger, coming from more powerful provinces. "You can't play with us. Why don't you go play dolls with the girls?" He asked, snickering. The other boys around them laughed.