"It's been a month of searching, Natasha, we have to call off the search."
"But..."
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this Natasha, but your parents and brother are dead."
Tears brim my eyes. No, they can't be dead, they can't! They promised they'd come back to me! They promised!
"There is no blood relative of yours alive who is capable of taking care of you. But there is your godfather...Christopher Pike." The Captain says.
The door opens, and a man with dark brown hair with streaks of gray in it walks in. He has kind blue eyes and a warm smile.
"Hello Natasha."
"You're my godfather?" I ask him.
"Yes." He answers. "And you're going to come live with me in Iowa."
"I-Iowa?" I stutter. "But that's so far away! That's in America."
"Yes, it is far away Natasha. But given the circumstances..." He trails off.
A tear streaks down my cheek. I'd have to leave behind everything I knew because my family didn't return from their travel to the past!
"We're leaving in a few hours." Pike says. "You're things are already packed and are being shipped there as we speak."
"So I don't have any say in this?" I ask. "I can't...I can't...?" I'm unable to finish the words, as if saying that I'm not going to live in England any more is too poisonous to say aloud.
I go back to my room and quickly change from my shorts and shirt into pants, fitted long-sleeved shirt, jacket, and boots.
I'll decide this later, I need to get away from here for now. I need some fresh air. Granted, I live pretty high up in the building and there's a cool sea breeze blowing in from the coast, but I need to get away from my place for a few minutes.
In case if Khan all of a sudden wakes up and wonders where I am, I leave him a note:
WILL BE BACK SOON, JUST GOING OUT FOR A LITTLE WALK. DON'T WORRY, I'LL BE BACK SOON
-NATASHA
When we pull up to the house, I get out of the car and crane my neck to look up at it. It looks like any other normal house on the street, with the same door as everbody else's same structure, same height and width, same paint job, same...everything.
It's quite boring.
I walk through the small gate and walk along the little walkway leading to the front door. I find the door is already unlocked, and walk inside. A small flight of stairs is on my right, and I ascend them, there are four doors in front of the top of the stairs and I open the one on the farthest left, which turns out to be my room.
Everything is already unpacked for me. The walls are white and the floor is a dark wood. There's a windowseat across from the door at the other side of the room, and a couple feet away from the windowseat is my bed, placed in the corner of the room. Next to the bed is my bedside table, and then a small strip of a floor-to-ceiling window at least two feet wide. Next to that is my in the corner desk and a large window in front of the desk. A little ways behind the desk, closer to the door, is a closet.
I walk over to the strip of window and look out where I can see the backyard consisting of four trees bearing some kind of fruit. Right behind the trees is a fence and small gate, and beyond that gate is a piece of land at least an acre long, with trees dotting the landscape and a few hills and a small pond close to the gate.
This piece of land wasn't exactly good for farming-there were so many rocks and large tufts of grass and little hills it would take a very, very long time to get ready for farming.
I turn around and cross the wood floor over to the windowseat, sitting down on the dark blue cushion next to the matching curtains, propping up against a light blue pillow. I look out at the ground below me, saddened that I've had to leave behind everything I know.
As far as I knew, there was nobody here my age to be with.
I found a small sketchbook and pencil conveniently placed on the window seat in front of me, and considering I liked to draw, I pick them up and start drawing.
"Natasha, this is James Kirk. James, Natasha Adams." Pike says.
I meet a boy around my age with short dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
"Call me Jim." He says. "How old are you?"
"Nine." I answer. "How old are you?"
"Same."
I see Pike smile to himself and then walk away back into the house.
"Where are you from?" Jim asks.
"London."
"Whoa! Really?" He asks, ammused. "What's it like there?"
"There's a lot more buildings and people than here. And they have different accents than here." I answer. "I don't know how much different it is from here though."
"I think it's a lot more different than here!" Jim says. "I mean, this is Iowa, it's farm country."
There's a moment of awkward silence.
"Is that your land over there?" Jim asks, pointing to the acre of land behind my backyard.
"Yeah." I answer. "Why, do you wan-"
"Wanna go in?" He interrupts, a smile playing on his lips. He opens the gate and runs around the back of the house to the backyard, I follow him.
We run in between the four trees and open the gate, shutting it and then running to the pond, a few trees surrrounding it which would have provided shade had the sky not been covered with clouds.
I slip out the door and into the deserted, dimly-lit hallway. I climb into the elevator and once I'm out of the building and onto the street, I take a left like I always do.
Soon I find myself in front of Starfleet HQ.
What am I doing here?
I turn and cross the street, heading towards the coast.
Soon I find myself standing in front of the calm water, small waves barely an inch high lapping the shore. I've found some little pebbles and I'm skipping them across the water, and my thoughts drift back over to my dilemma.
It had taken a while to get to the coast, there was a huge uproar at a nearby bar and people were literally being thrown out of there. I had decided it was best to take a roundabout route other than to pass that place.
I had also walked slowly, and by the time I got there it was close to sunrise.
I flicked my wrist and the pebble flew out of my hand, skipping five times across the gray-blue surface before sinking down to the bottom.
Yes! A record.
"Do I or do I not tell?" I mutter to myself, flicking another stone.
After a few more minutes of skipping stones, the pebbles nearly gone from my hand now, I don't know I'm not alone until he speaks.
"I thought you said you'd be back soon."
I turn to face Khan, who walks next to me and looks out onto the horizon.
"I did."
"You've been gone for a few hours."
"Sorry, my mistake. Didn't know there was commotion at a bar though, plus I walked slowly." I give him an excuse. "And what are you doing out here? You're supposed to stay inside what do you not understand about that?"
"I understood what you said." He looks at me. "But I didn't listen."
"Like usual."
