The Girl On the Moon [#Watty2015]

Prologue

The small girl, a head full of thick brown hair pulled back in two braids framing her face, waddled forward, legs functioning awkwardly in the thick, space-suited fabric. Her oxygen mask was thoroughly secured, the same as any man, woman or child in Nova II. For their biannual supplies, bells rang (so all citizens could get to safety in time) and then the oxygen bubble was temporarily opened, allowing Rowan to wander out to the the emptying shuttle unsupervised. The complex device fascinated the four-year old to no end as she inspected it with wide dark green eyes.

She spotted a man with long, graying hair and hunched posture, sneaking out a container of food. In his hands, he held already taken multiple others (the young child was unsure how many, for the colors all blended together). The idea of thievery was abstract to her, so she simply oogled at the man. He seemed different from anyone she had seen before, for she had never met an elderly citizen. The man glanced back, but his eyes skipped right over the young girl, who had begun sucking on her hair tips. She watched in interest as the man snuck away, but after he was ten yards or so away she toddled after him.

She tripped over a moon rock, collapsing onto her face. As the pain rung through her nerves, the waterworks turned on and tears started to flow out. Startled, the man's head whipped around to see his follower, a minute child in space cloth, sobbing her eyes out. Kindly, he knelt down, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. Despite the differential climate, her mask only covered her mouth. "Hello there..." the man snuck a quick peek at the name tag pinned to her chest, "Rowan! Are you lost?"

Peering up, the girl gave a toothy grin, "I won! We was playing hide and go seek, but then the bell-y's rang! No one find me after that so I won! Hey, mister, can I have a gold star? 'Cause you see, I won!"

Sudden realization slapping the man's face, he scooped up the girl in his arms, somehow maneuvering the packages so all of it fit snugly in his grasp. She was lost to her family now. There was no way she could survive out here much longer, or at least not long enough for the bubble to close. The girl's oxygen mask was almost completely used, less than an hour remaining. She was lost, Rowan Lost, he thought to himself, a small, quiet smile forming on his face. With an agility not often seen of those his age, he sprinted–more identifiable to long, desperate leaps–across the rough surface of the moon to a dark shady area, hundreds of yards away,completely out of view from the colony of Nova II.

"See, I have a game in mind," he explained. "We're gonna play hide and seek again, and I have the perfect place for you! You'll get thousands of gold stars, Rowan!" He had to get inside. He had to save this little girl who had stumbled into his life. "It'll be fun."

He regretted taking her life from her family, but it was better than having her life taken from everyone, including herself. He would raise Rowan as his own child, help her forget her first family. It would be less painful that way. If only her could do the same to her parents. He might not be able to raise her, but a chance was better than none.