𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘳

Chapter 22. It's October so The Past Feels Like Haunting Me

*I'm so sorry that I literally waited until now to publish because of the title

[ Gambler ]

How strange was it that Shana looked like me, save for her golden hair and that she didn't suffer, being born and broken out in three days. Then again everything my parents did to create was strange, like inspect me with a poke and touch where I didn't want it as the human race deteriorated back into jackasses, aka animals again. They got desperate, I guess. My parents died when I was nine, when my dad stopped humming. That's when the earth was poor because humans fucked it up, and fucked themselves over. That's when I began to mourn for them as they opened the first gate to hell for me. Their true death anniversary was around 153 years ago, a little detail I'll never tell Vash. I don't like my own history myself.

I tilt my head to see Vash, in a bed of his own, and beyond him Wolfwood. I can just barely make out their shapes, and Vash's remarkably pointed nose compared to Wolfwood's crooked one. There are IV drips for each of us, meaning somehow we all passed out. God, that reminiscence reminded me of how I need a really good reason to be telling Vash my life story considering his nobility makes me wanna puke.

Besides that little dark side of my family, I understand now why I felt so on edge in this ship.

I slowly lift out of bed, not noticing either awake. A shot of pain shoots through my side, and I clutch at my bruised and tender abdomen. Must be a broken rib, or some real nasty bruise.

Not to mention the terrible migraine. It could have easily been a concussion that could have sent me into a coma, yet no one woke me up.

"They said you probably shouldn't move," Vash's voice alerts me, and trace my eyes over to the wide eyed blues staring at me through the darkness. "You've been out three days."

"I'm told a lot of things, but I usually don't listen," I reply dryly, shifting uncomfortable to try and sit up straight. It flashed across my mind that I was in a good position to move and strangle, to avoid confrontation but I was reminded by my barely-present conscience that was a terrible solution. I only feel a flare, and wince quite obviously. "In my defence, I have an evermore underdeveloped brain."

I touch my arms, only to find more bruises and swollen wrists. Being so pumped up on adrenaline, I failed to notice just how much my rough missed-landing costed. They're wrapped tightly bandages but that doesn't make the swelling pain go way when I touch them.

"So... you reckon your folks would care if I go night explorin'?"

I change out of the nightgown into my worn cargo pants and my old blouse, opting for them over the bloody clothes I had earlier, no matter how unflattering. Against my will, I am escorted by Vash around the halls, there to watch me silently as I lean against walls to get by without pain. The first thing we hit is the pharmacy, so I can get on drugs and off my pain. I'm also not allowed to smoke, the reason being I went unconscious when a rib decided getting friendly with my lungs was okay and gave it a little nudge. Now I'm at risk of infection..

Vash steers me to an artificial earth-ground, the tree from earlier surrounded by grass and unnaturally blue sky, and a giant cavity. He stares at me glumly as I choose to make fun of it, pointing with the arm not directly beside a broken rib, saying that they must have a hell of a lot of pollution in the ship for that ridiculously blue sky. It's more confusion to that, as I have to explain that's the reason skies are so blue on earth, and less so here (because of our lack of resources, we don't have many cars nor factories, nor did we make the mistake of using coal as fuel).

"That tree, there," I point, "is a willow. That stand-alone in the night in America, where the teens I met were generally stupid, would find this an amusing playground, when we all thought the end of the world was coming. A girl on my ship about two years older than me said she chose to get really close with her boyfriend that night, until she was accepted for a launch ship and he was not."