We Look Up at the Same Stars and See Such Different Things ☆ Kylo Ren

☆ Chapter i ☆

I jammed my thumb into the down button and tapped my foot as I waited for the elevator. My backpack swayed, hitting my shoulder as I bounced nervously. I ran my fingers through my wavy hair and sighed as the elevator doors slid open. I inched inside. One small step for Maddie, one giant leap towards total embarrassment. As the metal doors closed I was met with my silver reflection. I failed. I was a failure. I let down my grandma and I let down myself. What kind of girl loved technology and coding all through middle and high school but couldn't handle a computer engineering degree? I know that I tried, I really tried, but all the numbers seemed to slip through my fingers. I shook my head. "No. I've thought about this. I'm making the right deci—". Suddenly I was thrown off my feet. The elevator lights flickered and died. I remember my eyes watering. I wasn't sure which way was up as I was tossed around like a meat puppet in a metal box. I heard glass shattering and my arm suddenly became wet. I could almost hear the blood, dripping, leaving my splintered veins. The funny thing was I couldn't feel any pain as my awareness became fuzzy and I was pulled to unconsciousness.

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I was awake. I was aware and I could hear and feel, but my eyes wouldn't open. A cold light illuminated my eyelids, and all I saw was their fleshy pink glow. My hand wandered around, grasping for something familiar. A cold floor, silky fabric, my beating heart. My fingers tingled as my heart rate rose. Good, I was alive... scared, confused, but alive. At least... I thought I was. I fought to pull my eyes open, to pry my eyelids apart, but I couldn't fight the exhaustion gnawing at my brain. The sensation slipped away once more as I fell into a sleep-like state.

Sand. I dreamt that I was lying on the beach when suddenly wisps of sand began falling onto me. Wisps grew to buckets, and sand was blanketing me. It was in my hair and my eyelashes. My mouth went dry as sand filled it, cloaking my tongue and throat. I gasped and wheezed, stretching my arms as if I could grab oxygen with them. I finally forced open my gritty eyes and realized that sand was actually covering me. My brain went numb trying to process my surroundings. The elevator doors, bent ajar and dusted with golden specks; a vast desert wasteland past them. The floor around me was buried in sand, and so was I. I violently coughed as I sat up, and clouds of sand rose from my mouth. I brushed off my arms and legs, realizing that some of the sand next to me was dyed a deep red. Nervously, I peeled my eyes from the ground to my arm. Jagged glass protruded from my skin, forming a constellation when reflecting the desert sun. All at once, the pain hit me like a truck. I grabbed my chest and inhaled sharply. My back creaked, my legs were bruised, and not only were there deep cuts in my arm but they were sprinkled with sand, too. My face contorted and my jaw locked as I moaned and grimaced through the pain. I was so focused on my other injuries that I hadn't noticed that the sand was searing hot. "Ouch! Come on!" I shrieked, annoyed as I pulled my now red, blotchy hand off of the elevator floor.

Once I felt I had managed the pain, I forced myself up and wobbled over to the door, wrapping my fingers around it and peering out cautiously. My eyes grew wide as I looked around. Gigantic, futuristic-looking ships surrounded the crashed elevator. Huge heaps of sand framed each one, and seemed to continue on for miles on end. The sun emitted a bright copper glow that deepened the shadows in the crevices of the ships. Overheated and delirious, I wobbled to the nearest ship and collapsed in it's shadow. It was still hot, but not as smoldering. I turned, wincing at the pain in my back, to get a closer look at this unbelievable sight. Two large cylinders stared back at me. The ship was a metallic grey, and it was shaped like a horizontal diamond. It was tilted, and the bottom half sunk deep into the sand. From the looks of things, I would guess it was a crash landing. "I've never seen anything like this." I gasped, as I traced my fingers along the metal indents of the vessel. I looked towards the horizon and wiped my brow. I might be lost, sore, confused and bleeding, but I knew that finding some water would have to be top priority, or I wasn't going to live long enough to sort things out at all. I reluctantly got to my feet, and was about to choose which direction to walk through a game of eney meeny miny moe, when suddenly a dusty figure swerved by on some kind of hover bike. The side pouch of the vehicle was filled with metal pieces and a long staff. "Well, I guess I'll follow them." I shrugged as I followed the hover bike's slices in the sand.