Page 45 of Between Earth and Eternity
“Maybe,wewill run into you again,” Bex says.
God. I hope not.
He nods before walking away, and I wait until he is gone before I let out a sigh of sweet relief.
Now nothing is certain
And the song isn’t done
The new melodies rise up with the sun
“Give Me The Future,” Bastille
For the next week, my daily routine begins to feel normal, or as normal as it can feel on an intergalactic ship. I wake up, go to the gym, spend a couple of hours in the library before Ori and I grab lunch, then we go exploring somewhere new. Sometimes, Pace and Laz join us. Yesterday, we tried our hand at virtualgolfing, which I was surprisingly good at, but regardless of what we find each day, Ori and I spend every evening on the couch, watching a movie or two before we fall asleep.
She and I have created a perfect bubble of comfort that usually starts with copious amounts of popcorn followed by lots of girl talk and bonding while we swoon over another fictional man and a perfect love story. I adore a lighthearted movie, but I’m excited for us to move on to more dramatic films once we get through my must-watch rom-coms. I hope she’ll enjoy them as much as these. However, I haven’t dared to check the console to find if anything is missing, and I haven’t noticed any alterations, but it’s difficult when I have no idea what I’m looking for. The words of my father’s letter linger in the back of my mind as well as El’s last words. “Keep your eyes and ears open.”But for what exactly? To find what’s missing makes sense, or is it something else? I feel like it was more of a riddle than a goodbye. The thought is like a screw; each time I think about it, it tightens a little bit more, and there’s no way to loosen it from my mind.
Despite my thoughts swirling with questions, last night, I had the best sleep I’ve had since before my birthday. That might as well have been a lifetime ago.
The ship runs on Wasatch time. Lights dim and change according to the hour, and my sleep schedule seems to be adjusting to the concept of the outside never being truly dark nor bright; space simply is. Time is lost and meaningless, yet somehow, it continues to pass.
I haven’t seen Vallen in the library since that day, nor have I seen him around the ship. Thankfully neither Slade nor Kol either. If only I could avoid them for the 12 months, 12 days, 7 hours, 33 minutes and 12 seconds we have left of the journey. The countdown is displayed above the com console in our room as well as on the large display here in the Lunar Landing dining hall. I watch it as I wait for Ori.
We decided we’d grab dinner and bring it back to the suite for tonight’s movie. I wait in the hallway with our to-go containers while Ori picks out an ice cream flavor for us to share.
The dining hall is full, as it usually is this time of day. Families and couples laugh and enjoy their evenings, as if they’ve done this a million times before. It’s like I’m peering into a goldfish bowl; they are so unaware of what is beyond the glass. The only problem is, I’ve been tossed into the bowl with them, and I am completely aware. Too aware. Claustrophobic and waiting for the barrier protecting us to crack.
Freakishly, as if on cue, an alarm suddenly blares. My heart practically jumps into my throat as people drop plates onto the floor and glance around in a panic.
“What does that mean?” Ori shouts over the noise as she runs over to me, ice cream in hand.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it isn’t good.”
We were instructed to review the safety and evacuation protocols; the reminder keeps popping up on my StarComm, but I’ve been ignoring it. I’d rather not voluntarily think about an emergency situation; my doom-obsessed imagination has already come up with enough life-threatening scenarios on its own, and spotting the pair of space suits in our suite only made me consider the moment where we would actually need them.
“Skyler! Ori!” Pace weaves through the crowd toward us.
“Do you know what’s happening?”
“Not sure,” Payson yells. “I think it’s just a drill.”
My head pounds, and the floor and walls seem to move.
“Hey.” Payson grasps my shoulders tightly, forcing me to look at him. “Everything is fine. Trust me. The ship is designed to keep us safe.”
I hear the words, but they do nothing to ease me. I wish they would, but fear continues to creep over every inch of my skin and bones. I battle with the urge to point out that there could be athousand different emergency situations when it comes to space travel. Could they truly have prepared for all of them? Highly unlikely.
“Zenith passengers, please follow the lights indicating the evaluation station nearest to you. Please move in an orderly and calm manner.” Zara’s smooth voice is projected throughout the ship, repeating over and over again.
“Come on.” Ori begrudgingly grabs the containers out of my hand and tosses the perfectly good ice cream in a nearby bin. She weaves her arm through mine and pulls me along with her.
My lungs are trapped in a steel cage, my mind in a cloud as I listen for anything that might signal something is out of place, but there is only the steady beat of feet hitting the floor as we follow Zara’s instructions. Payson watches me like a hawk as he follows us, and I wish he wouldn’t, even if he is trying to help . . . again.
We soon file into the narrow hallway that leads us to a hangar bay. Either it’s a different bay than we boarded through, or I didn’t notice it before, but this bay is lined with shuttles much like the ones we used on launch day. Stewards check everyone in with their datapads, then instruct us where to go. None of them seem to be in distress. Maybe Pace was right and this is just a drill after all.
There are large numbers on the floor that separate us into groups. All three of us are sent to group two. The hangar bay continues to fill, and when we locate our group, some of the other Lottery winners, including Romy and Laz, are already there.
“Skyler!” Romy runs to me, but once she sees my face, she stops abruptly. “What’s wrong with her?” she asks, her little lips forming a tight line.
