Hope Begins in the Dark

[4] Her

There was a slight sway. It reminded her of her fathers raft only, different. There was no sound of the water lapping against the sides of the wood. The brackish smell that usually soothed her, and her stomach turned.

Lurching up, her eyes scanned the room, metal on metal on metal. There was a door and she could see past its threshold, a bathroom. Thank the stars.

Getting to her feet was harder than she thought and she stumbled, barely able to keep the bile down that rose up into her throat. A thickness lodged in the base of her mouth as she moved. Falling to her knees, her hands grabbing at the edge of the silver toilet she heaved. Emptying what little she had in her system.

Her eyes watered at the sting of acid that coated her mouth. Another wave came forward , truly the last of whatever she had. With shaky fingers she reached to flush, feeling slightly better now that it was out of her.

Using the sink as leverage she hosted herself up, the mirror reflecting her shocked expression back at her. She looked awful. Her skin was waxy, small cuts on her exposed arms, dirty caked onto her dress and hair. Crusting on the edges of her face.

Andi turned on the water, rinsing her mouth out first before her face. It was something to make her feel a bit more human.

Human.

The flesh on her arm pimpled as her memories rushed to her. The lake, the forest, that Thing. She whipped around and listened, there were no birds, no sounds of leaves and trees moving in the wind. She flexed her hand and couldn't even feel nature. Not. A single. Thing.

Pushing her hair from her face she took a deep calming breath moving back into the room she had woken up in. A very small bedroom it seemed like. The bed was still made with nothing but a crease in the top sheet from where she had woken up.

She searched again for anything. Any life. A single mushroom or weed. Anything at all.

Just an unnatural sway of things that she couldn't recognize. It had her stomach turning again but she pushed through. Moving toward another door. When she went through it there was a hallway.

Pushing herself more, searching for something to tell her she was not alone, till she earned a throb behind her eye sockets, but she felt it. Just a tiny bit of something alive but it was growing weaker by the second.

Following it down the hall as though it was calling for her, the hallway opened up to a space that she didn't even take in because her mind was hyper focused on the bunch of wildflowers sitting in an empty chair. They had been haphazardly ripped from the ground and they were dying.

"You're awake." She flinched at the sound. Trying to keep herself from trembling at the robotics, morphing their voice.

They were seated in the chair beside the one laid with flowers and her lips parted but words wouldn't flow as she finally took in the room. Took in the view from the glass in front of them. Lights, blues and whites shooting past them so fast she couldn't recognize exactly what they were.

"Where are we?" She bravely stepped forward. To see the array of colors clearer. To try and understand them.

"Hyperspace." They said, her brows furrowing.

"I don't –."

"Could you feel them?" They asked, cutting her off as they turned in the chair. She wasn't sure with the mask if they were looking at her, but she could feel a gaze, nonetheless. She took note when the helmet tilted toward the flowers, and she swallowed thickly.

"Yes." She muttered. Afraid if she said the wrong thing, they would fling her about again. They did it with such ease.

"What does it feel like?" They questioned and she didn't hesitate to answer.

"Death." She whispered. Thickness grew between them before the mask turned back to the glass, to the rushing lights. Andi clenched her fists at her side. Their movement made her feel dismissed. Like she wasn't just snatched from her home and tossed into this metal monstrosity.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Where are you taking me?"

"What do you want?" She snapped. Every moment of silence after her questions was a slap to her face. She dared to take a step closer, her hand grabbing the back of their chair.

"Hey! I asked you a –" Her words died on her tongue as they whipped around grabbing her neck with a gloved hand. The pressure was not enough to cut off her air but enough to feel the threat behind it. Alarm bells going off in her head that this person was not to be trifled with.

"Never take that tone with me." They said and by the stars she wished she was staring at a face. One she could read instead of this ... this menacing mask of mystery. Is there a face under there? She wondered. A face meant emotions she could work with that but this.

Their fingers squeezed, just the smallest bit of pressure and she tried to picture a face, to erase even an ounce of her terror that creeped up her spine slowly like ivy, winding around her bones.

Picture a face Andi! Anyone will do! She screamed inside her head. A hiss of air escaped the mask and their free hand lifted. Moving to the mask before she heard a click followed by another before the front part pushed out and suddenly it was gone.

There was a face. A strong one with full lashes and lips. Eyes boring into hers. A honey sort of brown that did not match the stoic look. A sweet brown that did not pair with the clench of his jaw. "Well?" He asked and gods she hadn't even said anything and yet — it was as though he could read her mind. Balling her fist, she pulled back, and the wildflowers shot from the chair and into his face.

As his grip loosened, she wacked her arm against his to get them away from her, putting some much-needed distance between them. A growl of anger pushed out of him, "There is nowhere to run, you stupid girl!" He snapped and before she could say anything about the fact that he called her stupid the entire room lurched.

Losing her footing she flung forward. He caught her as she tumbled but all she could do was look at the stars outside. She was in awe at the sight. The darkness, space and the large ship in front of them. When he released her roughly, she staggered but caught herself on the empty chair. He was back on his own, putting a headset on and flipping switches and pressing buttons too fast for Andi to make heads or tails of what he was doing.

"What is that?" She asked as they moved closer to it, her stomach churning.

"The Finalizer." He said, almost disinterested in anything she had to say. Prick.