The first thing I feel when I wake up is the shaking of the earth. In my half-asleep state, I don't realise that that would be impossible. We have no earthquakes on Atera.
A large boom makes me sit straight up in bed, definitely awake now. Another blast goes of so close to our house that I can feel the it hit the house, making it shake even more. Frozen in shock and fear, my heart beating so fast and my breathing quickening, I can feel a dread filling my stomach.
Then suddenly, I hear my mom scream. A scream so filled of terror it makes my skin crawl. My mother never screams. She is one of the softest people I have ever known.
Everything she does is like water. A soft stream making its way quietly down from the mountain. She is pure like the water and her heart is as clear as can be.
So whatever is going on, it is very, very bad.
I throw the covers off of my body and run through the house, something that I would normally get a warning look for, while trying to keep from falling over because the ground was shaking so bad, I feared the roof would fall in.
When I saw her standing in the small living room looking out the window, with my dad frantically running around throwing things in bags, I knew my life was never going to be the same. The peace we had found here on Atera, we would never get back.
'Mom?!' I yelled at her, 'What is going on?!'. 'Mother!". She didn't turn around. She just stood there in front of the window, frozen in time.
My father finally noticed me standing in the doorway. He bowed down to my height, put his big hands on my small shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. My father was never this serious. He was always laughing, making jokes. I loved his jokes.
'Aayala', his grey eyes held sadness and panic in them, but his voice was strong and sure, 'Go get some clothes and put them in that purple bag in your room. Be quick, be quiet.'
'What is going on dad? Why is mother just standing there?' I tried to look brave and show my dad that I could be his strong little girl, but I had trouble keeping the tears out of my eyes and stop my hands from shaking.
'Your mother is just a little afraid Yala. We need to help her. Can you do that?' I wasn't sure what I could and couldn't do at that moment, but I nodded my head.
'Good. Go. Put some shoes on, don't worry about the pajamas.'
I rushed off to my room, grabbed the backpack from my closet and stuffed some clothes in it. I didn't even look at what I had in my hands, I just stuffed it until it was full. Tears were running over my cheeks now and I had a hard time seeing through the water in my eyes.
A big rumble of the earth made me lose my balance and fall on my butt on the floor of my small room. I don't know what happened but at that moment I just lost it. It was all too much.
Not knowing what was going on, the shock of seeing my mother so distressed and the pain in my father's eyes made me cry my heart out. I could hear myself over the sounds of war outside and just wished I could go back to yesterday, when mother made my favorite food and we played games until it was far past my bedtime.
I was shocked out of my thoughts when my father came running in my room and saw me sitting on the floor, rocking myself back and forth with my head on my knees.
He didn't say anything, just put my backpack on my back and picked me up.
While he ran away from my bedroom, I looked back over his shoulder at the room I had been sleeping in for 16 years. It still had the glow-in-the-dark stars I made him glue on my ceiling when I was 10. It still had the same rug with the purple lines I got when I was 8. My stack of books I had collected over the years seemed to scream at me to take them with me.
When I saw my mother standing in the living room with two bags in her hands, I felt a little better. She was away from the window, where the curtains were now closed, and tried her best to smile at me. But I saw right through her. I always did. My mom and I were the same person and I loved her with my whole heart. I always knew what she thought with one look at her and what that told me now is that she was putting on a brave face, but that behind that, she was very very scared.
I learned later that she probably wasn't scared for herself or for her husband, but for me, the one person that meant everything to her. Her daughter.
When my dad put me down, I heard his words in my head again: 'Your mother is just a little afraid Yala. We need to help her. Can you do that?' .
So I walked up to her, took her hand and smiled the most believable smile I could manage. I wasn't gonna show her that I was afraid. I was gonna be her strong daughter.
I looked into her beautiful pastel purple eyes, that were also mine, and wished I could paint them. The pure and unconditional love she felt for me shone so brightly that it almost overwhelmed me. I loved her more than anything.
My father picked up the last bag and with his other hand he grabbed mine. What he said next are words that would haunt me forever, 'Everything is going to be alright, my girls'.
What happened after the moment we stepped out of the house was one big blur to me. I probably didn't want to remember it.
What I do remember is that we didn't make it very far from the house when a big blast hit very close to where we were running. Our ship was a little way from the house and we were going to get it and find refuge on another planet. That was the plan. But life sometimes has other plans for you. Plans you don't agree with, but whose consequences you have to live with for the rest of your life.
So when I felt my father's hand slip away from mine, I know life had screwed me over. His soft hand left mine and left a space that would never be filled again.
I wanted to look back and I was going to, but my mom saw what happened and pulled me along with her. Away. Away from our house. Away from our life. Away from him.
I cried and begged for her to let me go. I wanted my dad. The man I loved so much and who's laugh I would never hear again. I hung on her arm, but she was much stronger than me and just dragged me with her.
Our ship finally showed up in the distance, which encouraged my mother to run even faster. Deciding that struggling against her was not helping our situation in any way, I ran along with her. I willed my legs to go as fast as they could without falling over the uneven ground. But the faster we ran, the farther away the ship seemed to be. We ran for what felt like miles before my mother suddenly went down.
At first I thought she just tripped over a stone or something, but when I heard her moan in pain, I knew it was over.
A big hole sat in the center of her stomach. It sizzled and it burned around the edges. The sight almost made me want to throw up, but I couldn't. Not now when she needed me the most. Even my mom knew this was the end for her. She tried getting up, but I saw the immense pain in her eyes when she did. And when she started coughing up blood, I knew she would die.
'Mom? Mom! Mommie!', I yelled and cried at her. But she wouldn't hear any of my pleads.
'Aayala, my beautiful Aayala, you need to let me go.' With every word she said, it became more difficult to talk and it hurt her to say those words to me. But I think it hurt even more in her heart.
'No! Mommie I am not letting you go! You need to get up, please! I need you!'. I was crying so hard that my whole body shook. I had never cried like this, but I could feel the inevitable hanging above my head. Like Damocles' sword hanging from the ceiling with a strand of horse hair. It could break at any moment and I was standing right below it.
'Look at me honey', my mom's eyes also had tears in them, but she didn't have the energy to cry anymore, 'you will be okay, do you hear me. You know how to fly the ship. Get to Hala, they will help you.' But I didn't want to go to Hala. I wanted to stay right here on Atera, but the constant shaking of the ground and the fire all around me told me that wasn't an option.
'I love you, my beautiful daughter, stay strong for me and never forget that you are more powerful than you think.' And with those last words, she closed her eyes and let out her final breath.
I have no idea how long I sat there. Her words for me to get to the ship were long forgotten and all I could do was hold her and cry silently. It couldn't have been long until I heard someone walk towards me, but I had no desire to look away from my mother's face, taking in all her features. Her beautiful skin, her rosy lips, her long black lashes, she was beautiful. Was. Because that is what dying is. Someone goes from is to was.
'Hello there', I heard a kind voice say.
I dared look up to the person whose voice called out to me. The man I see standing in front of me looks a lot like my father. He has the same hair, the same kind eyes and the same smile. But that isn't what made me trust him immediately, it was his suit. A suit that was known across the universe, the recognizable green and black with the star on the chest. Kree.
I had never seen a Kree Starforce suit, but I had seen Kree before. Because Atera was a border planet of Hala, we traded with them and sometimes visited each other's planets. I had never been to Hala, because the journey was expensive so we didn't go there unless needed.
'What is your name sweetie?', the man asked me. I saw the pitiful look in his eyes as he saw the way I was holding my mother. This made me finally let go of her and stand up. I was a little dizzy and unsteady of all the crying, but I wasn't gonna show him that. I didn't want this man's pity, he had no idea what I lost and I didn't know him.
So I wiped the tears from my face and held my head high. I promised my parents that I was gonna be strong, so that is exactly what I did.
'Aayala. My name is Aayala.' I was surprised at the strength in my voice, like it didn't belong to me.
'I am Jaa-Nus and I want to help you Aayala. I can get you to the safety of Hala where we will protect you and care for you.' His words sounded true and he seemed trustworthy and my mother wanted me to go to Hala, but I was doubting whether to go with him or not. And he seemed to sense my doubts.
'I promise you I will protect you and give you a new life, but you need to decide now, because it is getting too dangerous to be here.' That was definitely the truth. Even my healthy, young lungs had felt that the air was getting worse and worse with the fires everywhere. I couldn't see past 65 feet and the smoke was stinging in my eyes. I thought I had a choice. Go with him or stay here, but I was fooling myself. Staying here would mean death and however lonely I felt, that was not an option.
So I started walking towards him and grabbed his hand. I didn't have to say anything, he knew what I meant. He seemed surprised by my touch, but accepted it nevertheless.
He stalked off and I had to run to keep up with his long strides. I couldn't see where he was taking me, because I had to squint my eyes to keep the smoke from getting in, but I soon heard the whirring of engines and knew he was taking me to a ship.
When we were close enough to see it, he yelled at the soldier at the bottom of the ramp to keep it open because he 'had one more'.
We walked up the big ramp, our feet thumping on the ground, and he sat me down on the bench along the right wall of the ship. The ramp closed the moment I sat down and dimmed the sounds and the light from outside. It was so quiet it almost felt unnatural. Only then I heard my rapid wheezing and pounding of my heart. My eyes hurt from the smoke and my head was pounding. I coughed and whiped the ash from my eyes. When I could see something again, I looked around.
The ship was big, but not too big, all black on the inside. I could see the blue-ish lights from the controle and cockpit, and there were around ten soldiers in the front, including the one that brought me in. Beside me on the bench and on the one in front of me were six other children, some younger than me, some older. They all looked shaken, some had blood on their faces and torn clothes. A lot were crying. I wasn't crying. Not anymore.
One soldier came with some water and blankets, she had blue skin as I knew a lot of the Kree had. She didn't smile at me, she didn't say anything. So when she came to me, I was the one to talk to her. 'Do you have a bathroom?', I asked her.
She looked up, a little surprised that I had spoken, because everyone had been quiet till then.
'Yes, we do. Follow me.' A short and direct answer, something you would expect of a soldier.
I stood up, careful not to fall because we were in the air now, and followed her to the front of the ship. None of the other soldiers spared her a glance when she lead me to a door at the right side of the ship.
'Don't lock it,' she said, 'I will be waiting right here.'
I nodded at that and grabbed the doorknob, turning away from her. Inside was a very small bathroom with just a toilet, a sink and a small mirror, but it was all I needed. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself. I had bloodshot eyes and the skin around them was red from crying, but it could also be from the smoke. My light-purple eyes however, didn't have a hint of sadness in them. They looked strong, determined, brave. Everything my parents wanted me to be.
My face was grey with ash and my tears left little trails down my face. I didn't look bad, I looked like a warrior.
My purple hair was messy and knotted and definitely needed a brush, but I didn't have one, so my fingers needed to suffice for now.
I opened the tap above the sink and let the cold water run over my hands. It felt amazing. Refreshing and clean.
I ran my wet fingers through my hair until they came back clean and brushed my hair back in a tight, high ponytail.
I then ran my hands along my face and splashed the water on my skin. The sink turned black from all the ash and with that, I felt like I rinsed of part of who I was. The little innocent girl who thought she would always have what she had. Her planet, her house, her parents. A weak girl who cried and let emotions take over when she needed to be strong.
So when the water turned clear and it no longer reminded me of my mother, I turned it off and looked in the mirror again. Who I saw now was a new Aayala. The one without parents, a planet or a home, but the strongest sixteen-year-old across the universe.
I locked my parents deep in my heart, built a wall around it and promised myself that she would never be weak again, that I would never cry again, that I would never let anybody in and that I would never love again.
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Wow this turned out very depressing and I am sorry, but I wanted to show you a little of how Aayala became who she is today and where she came from.
More about her will be explained in the following chapters, such as her purple eyes and hair, and her powers.
Thank you for reading!
Let me know if there are any mistakes, because English is not my first language.
And also please let me know if this chapter is too long (3032 words), because I will chop them up in smaller pieces if you think so.
Until next time!