Page 90 of Fallen Stars

Not a soul speaks. We know better.

Without a doubt, especially with so many of us in the same space, guards are in the room. Trying to talk to another prisoner is an open invitation for punishment.

Are we being moved?

Did we all get the same injection? Did they knock us out so they could move us without resistance?

I have no idea where we were before, but if they are moving us… this can’t be good.

Closing my eyes, I sift through my mind. Search for thoughts frombefore. Try to remember something.Anything. A clue as to what this might mean.

The past is foggy. Like a dream I can’t quite grasp. A part of my life just out of reach.

But if ever there is a good time to rememberbefore, it’s now.

Think.

A glint of something lingers in the periphery. Something important.

But what?

And then a memory drifts in.

Before here, I was working on a project. A big project. Something massive and life-changing.

What was it?

Think, think, think.

I pinch my eyes tighter as I dig deeper. I latch on to the memory and try to bring it into focus.

Images of screens flash behind my eyelids. Colorful lines of code on them.Research. A stack of file folders and pictures are scattered everywhere, but the details are hazy.

You can do this. You have to do this. Think.

What was I researching? What was I looking for?

One breath at a time, the details sharpen. The lines on the screen become legible. The scattered pictures become clearer. The cover of the file folder comes into view.

I was looking for… missing people.

My eyes fly open. I glance left then right. Take in the countless others pinned in place.

I was looking forthesepeople.

But where the hell are we? I never learned where the abductees were taken. Had I, none of us would be here right now. And if I didn’t figure out their location, how would anyone else sort it out? How the hell will anyone findme?

Simple answer… they won’t. No one will find me. Or these people.

And if this rocking motion means what I think it does, we are no longer in the same place. So even if they figure out where wewere, it’s too late. We are already gone.

“In the shadows, we hide,” I whisper as the backs of my eyes burn. “Until every star falls.”

I don’t know why those words bring me comfort. I don’t know why those words make me want to live when every cell in my body begs for the end. Whatever the reason, these words are all I have left. So, I hold on to them with every ounce of mental strength I have left.

If anyone can hear me, please hurry. I won’t last much longer.

TWENTY-SIX

---