PLANET 65 (A Star Wars Story)

Chapter 6

A line was formed leading to the kitchen where every worker received their food rations.

After Darius received his he walked over to the closest table in front of him. On his tray was a pile of octo chunks, a piece of bread, with a small cup of water. It was cloudy and had a few specs of dirt chunks inside. This water looked more enjoyable for a frog to swim in!

He pushes the cup away and starts eating his rations. It tasted terrible but he was use to it. Besides what else could he eat but the food work provided for him.

While he was in the middle of eating another worker approached Darius and sat across from him.

Darius recognized him instantly as soon as he saw the buzz cut hair and the thick beard. It was his friend Cade Monger.

Cade and Darius met a few years ago when Darius began working at the factory.

He barely knew anybody at the work place but as soon as he met up with Cade, they became inseparable.

"Isn't this a surprise, we get slop for lunch AGAIN. Must be the factories favorite meal."

"Or maybe they just feed us scraps while the higher ups enjoy the main course" Darius replied.

Cade chuckled and started picking at his slop food.

While trying to eat the slop Darius looked up to notice Cade was looking at him with concern.

"What? Do I have food on my face?"

"No." Cade pauses as he sips his water, then resumes the conversation. "It's your eyes."

Darius tried to act dumb. "My eyes, what about my eyes?"

"Come on. I can tell you haven't been sleeping well. You having the same nightmare again?"

Darius hung his head down trying to ignore the question. But he couldn't keep it up for long.

"Yes" he answered. "Nothing is new It's just the same nightmare. It keeps repeating in my mind over and over and over again."

"Hey... don't let it get to you. It will go away eventually...."

"THIS DREAM ISN'T GOING AWAY BECAUSE ITS A MEMORY AND MEMORIES DON'T GO AWAY!" Darius's shouted, his voice echoed loudly throughout the room.

Every worker stopped what they were doing and turned to Darius-the cafeteria went into complete silence.

"I'm sorry" said Cade. "I didn't mean to push a nerve."

The whole cafeteria soon went back to normal, and the noise picked up again.

Darius rubbed the side of his head with his hand and closed his eyes, trying to pull himself together.

"No I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"Well for someone who's been having nightmares almost everyday without a break, it makes sense as to why you did."

Darius stared at his food without touching it. He began to zone out of reality and into his thoughts.

Sleep is the one thing he struggled with for most of his life. In fact he couldn't remember the last time he did have a good night sleep.

The last time he slept well was when he was sixteen years old. That... was the last time he would ever sleep in peace.

To this day he was only able to rest easily by taking a few knock out pills that his medical droid recommended to him.

The pills helped him to fall asleep, but they couldn't stop the nightmares.

Deep down Darius didn't care. He felt as if he deserved these nightmares. That he deserved the torture and the lack of sleep he got from them.