Dieing to Live

Another teardrop fell into a growing pool of liquid sadness. Curled up tightly, the little girl did her best to stifle her sobs, squeezing her plush doll tighter against her trembling body. The building seemed to shudder as yet another object was thrown from its place in the room beyond the door of her bedroom. The screaming and the shouting continued for what seemed an eternity. No matter how regularly this same scenario took place, it still ripped at the heart of the little girl. But today something was different. Today the arguing outside her bedroom door seemed more intense.

Slowly the little girl slipped from her bed and crept to the door. She could hear the fear in her mother’s voice, hear that same voice as it became strangely muffled. The little girl hestitated for a moment. Something wasn’t right. Something out of the ordinary. Her father still continued to yell, his usual drunken slew of profanity and curses making little sense to her but yet this just seemed….different. Soon curiosity won over fear and she slowly drew open the door. Her mother’s eyes widened as she locked eyes with her daughter, her scream muffled by the steel barrel stuffed in her mouth, just before….
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Selina snapped upwards from her bed, a scream barely escaping her lips. It took a moment but her senses slowly calmed to the point of realizing where she was. She wiped the sweat from her brow and fell back again upon her pillow. “Time,” she nearly yelled.

“Zero three twenty three,” the cold metallic voice of the neronet computer responded.

Damn, just a little over a half hour before she had to wake. Not enough time to get back to sleep and too long before she really had to be up. Clicking her teeth a couple times in frustration she sat up and propped her pillow against the headboard. “Screen,” she called before a holographic image materialized before her. Checking her data log, she made sure the skill training was still in order, checked for any outstanding contracts, mission logs, transaction summaries….but nothing really of interest. Even her email was rather quiet with little but useless junk from the school’s news net, most of which didn’t even pertain to her. She even checked the various comm channels she monitored for anybody of interest but found none she was in any mood to talk to.

Rising from her bunk with a sigh, she crossed the room to the sink and flipped on the small overhead vanity light. A slight grimace formed on her face as she saw her wreck of hair, yet another symbol of restless sleep. Locking eyes with her reflection, scowled at it. “Get yourself together girl…” she mumbled.
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“Seliiinaaa! Selina!”

Grumbling at the sound of the house mother’s calling, the girl checked herself one last time in the mirror and frowned, her eyes staring at the reflection’s chest. “Any day now would be nice….” she nearly whispered before turning to head out the door.

Bolting down the stairs, she nearly collided with the elderly woman, the one all the girl’s referred to as Gilly. Though at times a bit of a nuisance in the eyes of the girl, Gilly was a very kind woman, always giving and rarely expecting anything in return. She cared for every foster child as if they were of her own flesh and blood and saw to it they were never in need, that they always felt loved. As the longest residing child in the house, the girl had become one of Gilly’s favorites. Always respectful, always caring for her other “siblings”, Gilly was sure the girl would someday turn into one very respectable Gallentean…..if only she could release the poor girl of her demons that haunted her every night.

“Where have you been child,” Gilly quipped at the girl. “We were supposed to be enroute to the shuttle station to pick up the new arrivals 15 minutes ago!”

“Sorry….I got sidetracked…” the girl said as she grabbed her cloak from the hallway closet.

“Well whatever it was, it could’ve waited I’m sure. As wonderful as you are, you just can’t ever seem to be on time. Fashionably late right?” the old woman smiled, the girl smiling in return. “Now… are we ready?”

“Yes ma’am,” she said, grabbing the usual welcome gifts from the entry desk and rushing out the door after Gilly.
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Briskly walking down the corridor, Selina checked her timepiece and grimaced. “Wake up early, get to class late….good one Selina…” she thought as she stepped up her pace. Stopping at the door to the classroom, she took a deep breath, preparing for the possible berating of her flight instructor, before pushing the door open.

Nothing.

The room was empty. Not a single student or instructor in sight. “What the….” And then it dawned on her. Today was the field trip to the mining colony in sector 6-K8. She smacked herself in the head repeatedly as another student passed her in the corridor, shooting her a strange look. “What?!” she snapped at the too-thin male, her eyes narrowing in a feral, cat glare. The man just shrugged and carried on with himself, turning the corner at the first intersection.

Glancing at her timepiece again, she knew she’d never make it to the docking bay before they would likely be launching. Slapping her hand against the wall in one last release of frustration, she started down the hallway in the direction of the docking bays anyways. “No use in going back to my room,” she thought.
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Garrick smirked, dropping the med pack on the table before plopping down in the seat across from her. “You know, if you didn’t lose your temper so quickly and get into all these fights you do, you’d prolly have gotten that scholarship you been wanting so bad.”

“Shut up,” the young woman grimaced as she pulled a vial of healer gel from the pack, snapped the top off and rubbed the cold goop across the cut on her forehead.

“I’m just saying….you want to get into medical school so bad, you need to show you actually care about fixing wounds rather than making wounds.”

“You know what Garrick,” she fixed her cat glare on him.

“What?”

“Eat shit,” she snapped a half second before launching the rest of the med pack at his head. “How’s that for temper, you little pricked punk.” With that she stood and walked out of the diner and yet another of her growing line of ex-boyfriends.

So infuriated by the day’s events, she turned down the nearest alley, wanting nothing more right now than to just get away from people in general as much as she could in such a busy city. And so deeply immersed in her thoughts, little did she realize that she was not the only one that turned down that alley. When she was about half way down the alley, it was then she suddenly found herself being shoved forcefully to the ground. Large, rough hands grabbed her by the wrists and attempted to hold her arms behind her as a deep voice hissed in her ear sexual obscenities that would make any respective citizen cringe. Unfortunately for her assailant, his timing couldn’t have been any worse.

The mood she was already in was like a standing pool of gasoline, the words of the man being the match. What transpired after that point, she would never remember, as a mad rush of adrenaline overcame her mind, sending her into a rage even she didn’t know she had. And when it finally passed, her blood cooling in its aftermath, she found herself standing over what once was a man but was now no more than a mash of blood and mangled limbs. His face so beaten that when the authorities found him, they were only able to identify him through DNA tests.

The girl stood in horror over the body. For a moment, she tried to convince herself that she had only passed out, that some unknown hero had come to her rescue. But looking around, seeing no soul in the alley with her and feeling the open cuts on her fists from the destruction of her assailant, she knew the truth. And as her ears picked up the sounds of sirens approaching, she did the only thing she could think to do.

She ran.
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As the door slid open to the hanger bay, she smiled seeing her favorite mechanic hard at work on the rookie ships, prepping them for the class’s upcoming first solo runs. And what will be their final day in the Academy before being sent out into the deep unknown of space.

“Hey there Brockis! How ya doin?”

The giant man turned his head to peer at the Selina, his face contorting into the exact opposite of what she normally saw when they would see each other.

“An wha’ da hell are ye doin ‘ere miss? Ain’t ye supposed ta be on that there field trip yer instructor had planned,” he asked in his usual mess of slurred words. Many of the students often joked that he ate just as much grease as he used on the ships he babied with skilled hands.

“Yeah….I was. But I was late and missed the shuttle.”

“Hmm….cap ain’t gonna be ta happy wit ya.”

Selina chuckled. “Yeah….you’re right. But what’s a girl gonna do?”

Brockis smirked and shook his head. “Always such a trouble maker ya be. Which is why I be reckonin yer gonna be one hell of a fine pilot.”

Flashing her most award winning smile, she approaches him and ruffles the big man’s hair. “Thank you Brockis, no kinder words could be spoken.” She then turns and looks over the small rookie ship. “So they gonna be ready for us tomorrow,” she playfully asks.

Scoffing, he stands straight, throwing his shoulders back in attentive pride. “Miss…these beauts is gonna be ready to take on da worst. Don’t ye be worryin yer perty little head wid dat nonsense.”

Selina smiles as she runs her hand across the smooth hull of the small ship. It wasn’t much for a first ship but it was a start nonetheless. For that reason alone, she was more than excited for the day when she would first set out in the little ship. It was one step closer to her eventual goal….just one more step….

“Aye, tomorrow is gonna be a good day,” she thinks with an inward, sinister smile.