Earth, we were on Earth. I never thought I'd ever be able to say that. I was the first person from the second level of the drop ship to get out of my seat. I ran to the hatch and tossed it open. "How's it going down there?" Another girl called out, running up behind me. "Let's go!" She urged. I grinned at her and descended the ladder.
The first level had already started to move around and most of them where standing in front of the door already. A blonde stood at the front of the group. "We can't just open the door, we don't know what's out there," she argued.
"Well we can't just stay in here!" Someone yelled back.
"Open the door!" Another person added.
As the door was lowered, a girl pushed her way to the front. When she turned towards the blonde I recognized her. "Octavia, you're ok," I mumbled. I started to walk through the crowd towards her when I saw him. I stopped in my tracks.
"You mind? I haven't seen my sister in over a year," Bellamy said. He walked right past me without even looking at me. I backed into the crowd quickly, before he noticed me.
"That's the girl they found in the floor!" Someone said. I wanted to run and give Octavia a hug; I hadn't seen her in a year either.
"Let's give them something else to remember you by," Bellamy told her. "Being the first person to set foot on Earth in a hundred years."
Octavia smiled and turned towards the open door. After a moment she jumped to the ground. "We're back, bitches!"
The next few minutes were chaos as the 100 flooded out of the drop ship. I all but forgot about the Blakes as I was pushed forward with the crowd and out into the forest. Everyone was yelling and cheering and hugging each other. I felt the urge to run, so I did.
In hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea but it felt amazing to be so free. I'd always loved running on the track and treadmills on the Ark, but that was nothing to running in the wide-open spaces of Earth.
When I got tired, I stopped. I sat down on a bed of moss and leaned back against a tree. I looked around and took in the exotic pink and purple flowers that dotted the landscape and sighed. I was on Earth. I was home.
★ ★ ★ ★
For the next few weeks I avoided camp, the only reason I snuck in was to steal food or blankets or whatever else I needed. I never strayed too far. There were grounders in the area, I'd seen them near camp and nearly decided to move back in. Fortunately I didn't, camp was turning into a dictatorship and Bellamy Blake was running the show.
I learned important information from a couple of girls who liked to gossip, they told me about the guy who got speared by a grounder and that Bellamy was forcing everyone to take off their wristbands. I kept mine on until one day it shocked me and popped right off. I never let the girls see me slip back out of camp because I didn't want anyone looking for me. I was doing all right by myself.
At least I was until the storm hit. Octavia had gone missing and I was looking for her, but the farther I got into the woods and the more it rained, the less I knew where I was. Finally I heard voices up ahead. I walked through the trees quietly, trying to make as little noise as possible.
When I reached the group, I realized it was Bellamy and a few of his goons. At least I could follow them back to camp and the safety of the drop ship. When I got closer I noticed they weren't alone. Two of the guys had ahold of a grounder. He looked tough and I wondered how'd they managed to take him down.
One of the guys kicked the grounder in the ribs. "This is going to be fun." As we got closer to camp I was forced to step out of the trees. I cringed for the grounder as he was pushed around.
For the first time since reaching Earth I was within a few feet of Bellamy. Looking at him it was hard to reconcile the Bellamy I'd known before with this one.
As we walked into the drop ship I finally got the courage to speak, though I was sure Bellamy had already realized I was there. "Bellamy, stop," I called. One of the guys carrying the grounder glanced at me but Bellamy didn't turn around. "This isn't you."
He climbed up the ladder and pushed up the hatch. He and his guys lifted the grounder to the second level and I followed them. "Damn it, Bell, look at me."
"Who is she?" One of the guys asked.
"Maia Farrin," I told him.
Bellamy turned around and looked at the others, but avoided me all together. "You can see her."
"Yeah, she's been tailing us for the past ten minutes."
I stared at him. "Did you think I was a ghost or something? Well, surprise. I'm alive. No thanks to you."
"I thought you were dead."
"They just threw me in jail. If you had stuck around after you turned me in you would have known that. But you didn't stick around. You ran, like a coward. Didn't want to see me hate you, I suppose."
"I'm sorry."
"It's too late, Bell."
"We've been on the ground for two weeks, why are you just now coming after me?"
"You think I'm here to kill you? I'd like to think I'm a little cleverer than that. I don't want to kill you. I may hold a grudge, but I'm not a murderer. Just like you aren't a torturer."
"So you came to save me from crossing a line?"
The hatch was thrown open again and Octavia climbed up the ladder. She saw the grounder where the others had tied him up. "He saved my life, Bellamy! You can't do this!" She whirled on us and her next sentence died on her lips. "Maia?"
"The one and only."
"You're supposed to be dead."
"But I'm not."
"The two of you need to leave," Bellamy said. "I'm trying to save a kid's life."
When neither of us made a move to leave, Bellamy nodded for a couple of the guys to drag us to the hatch and force us down. "I hate him."
"And he loves you," I murmured. "How've you been, Octavia?"
"I've been better. But where've you been? Why haven't I seen you?"
"I wasn't exactly keen on running into your brother after what he did to me. Not to mention he's gotten a little power crazy since the landing. I figured it was better to lay low."
"Until today."
"I heard you'd gone missing and I was out looking for you. I ended up getting caught in the storm and I ran into Bellamy and those other guys and followed them back here. If it hadn't been for that I'd probably still be going it on my own."
"People mentioned things going missing, that was you wasn't it? You were always a great thief."
"The best." I smiled. "It's good to see you again, Octavia."
"How are you still alive?"
I shrugged. "Just lucky I guess." I pulled up my shirt to reveal the scar across my abdomen. "Got a nifty scar though."
"I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry. Bell thought he was going to save you, but clearly it was just bad news for both of us."
"Octavia!" A girl called from the other room.
"Go. I'll be around."
★ ★ ★ ★
The storm finally passed and I was about to head out. "Maia, wait," Bellamy called. I stopped but didn't turn around. "Can we talk?"
I turned around slowly. "Sure, let's have a nice little chat."
"You're mad."
"You turned me in! I have every right to be angry with you!"
"I hated myself for it. I started seeing you everywhere, like my conscious was catching up to me."
"I figured that when you asked your guys if they could see me. You've really gone off the deep end, haven't you?"
"Seeing your girlfriend die right in front of you has that effect on people."
"Except you didn't see me die, you turned around and walked away."
"I shouldn't have done it, I know that."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? You feel bad about it, so that should make it all ok? I loved you, Bellamy! I would have done anything for you!"
"Anything, except saving my sister."
"I would have gotten her out of there if you asked me too! I was queen of getting into places I wasn't supposed to be. I could have stolen someone's key card, or climbed in through the vents, I could have brought her back to you. But you never asked."
"They said if I brought you to them they'd let her go. They told me they already knew who you were, but if I brought you in first they'd make a trade. I didn't think I had a choice."
"If you'd just told me that, I would have told you they were lying! They didn't know who I was, and they were never going to let Octavia go." I shook my head. "You know, I got lucky. My eighteenth birthday was the day they sent us down here. I should have been floated but I got a second chance. I got down here expecting a fresh start, but there you were standing in between Earth and me. I'm not the ghost, you are, and frankly I wish you were still dead."
★ ★ ★ ★
I sat in the woods, in my favorite spot with the odd-looking flowers and soft, mossy ground. It had been my haven away from the others since that first day. A branch snapped and I sighed. "I told you I wasn't a murder, but I'm seriously beginning to reconsider that."
"Whoa, I'm sorry I followed you," a guy said. I looked over my shoulder; it wasn't Bellamy or any of his guys. He held his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry, thought you were someone else."
"Bellamy? I heard you yelling at him. Actually, everyone did. Octavia asked me to come looking for you."
"Oh, well, you can tell her I'm fine."
"Do you mind if I sit down for a second?" He asked. I shrugged and he sat down on the moss next to me. "I'm Jasper."
"You're the guy who got speared by the grounder, right?" He nodded. "I'm Maia."
"I know, you're Robin Hood."
I laughed. "What?"
"You stole medical supplies to give to people who needed more than their allotment, right?"
"And food, and tech, and a lot of other stuff, yeah."
"See, Robin Hood."
"Please don't call me that."
"You helped my mom when she got an infection. There was nothing the med staff could do; she'd used up her ration. They were just going to leave her to die, but then the antibiotics she needed showed up in our apartment one morning. She ended up being ok."
"Yeah, um, glad to help. That's what I do."
"Don't be so modest, you helped a lot of people on the ark."
"Well, there was never anyone to help me. I just wanted to make sure other people didn't lose their families too."
"I guess you've known Octavia and Bellamy for a while, then."
"Yeah, I lived next door. When I was eight I was climbing through the air ducts, it was kind of a hobby, and I saw Octavia in the Blake's apartment. Not too long after that my mom got sick and died, my dad was floated for trying to steal meds for her. The Blakes were nice to me. I tried to help them out when I could, they needed extra rations, you know. I started dating Bellamy when I was fifteen, and well, I guess you and everyone else heard how that ended."
"Bellamy's a dick."
I laughed. "That's the understatement of the year."
"Want to come back to camp? I'll introduce you to everyone."
"I'd prefer to be alone," I told him. He nodded but didn't turn to go. "Octavia told you to bring me back, didn't she?" He nodded again. "Ok, fine, but she's not getting me to stay."
★ ★ ★ ★
"Listen, you cannot keep me in here, I'll go crazy," I told Octavia.
"And if you stay out there you'll die."
"It's not like I'm completely isolated, I can come back whenever I want," I told her.
"Except whenever you want is never."
"I have to come back to camp for supplies," I protested.
"We're closing camp down," Bellamy said. I hadn't even realized he was listening to me and Octavia argue. "No one goes out without a damn good reason. End of argument."
I glared at him. Octavia pulled me away before I could decide if I wanted to yell at him or hit him. "Now, I can finally introduce you to everyone."
"I know who all your friends are, I haven't been living under a rock."
"I get that you don't like people but I am going to force you to play nice. Come on, do it for me."
I sighed. "Fine. Let's get this over with." She pushed open the flap of a tent and nodded for me to go inside. One guy was lying on a cot, must have been the kid poisoned by the grounders, he looked all right now, a girl sat next to him. A blonde who'd argued about opening the door was talking to Jasper and some other guy.
"Good, you're all here. That makes this easy, before Maia runs off again," Octavia said as she came in behind me. They all looked over at us. Octavia ran though a quick introduction, "You already met Jasper, that's his friend Monty. She's Clarke, the doctor's daughter, and that's Finn and Raven. Raven was the girl who came down on her own, she fixed the radio."
"I'm Maia," I said uncomfortably. I looked at Octavia. "Can I go now?"
Monty hit Jasper. "That's Robin Hood."
"Dude, I know, we're friends," Jasper told him.
"I didn't expect her to be so hot." To me he said, "I can't believe the Ark ever caught you."
"That makes two of us."
"What do you mean Robin Hood?" Clarke asked. I cringed at the nickname again.
"She's the girl that stole supplies and gave them to people who needed them," Jasper explained. "Steal from the rich, give to the poor, ya know?"
"You were a thief."
"Not just any thief, the best thief," Monty added.
"Did you ever stop to consider the consequences for what you were doing? Do you have any idea how many people got in trouble for what you did?" She asked.
"Do you have any idea how many people are still alive because of me?" I countered. Normally I would avoid talking about it, but I felt the need to defend myself.
"You helped Finn get extra rations for me when my mom traded mine," Raven said. "Thanks."
Clarke looked between Raven and me before shaking her head and ducking out of the tent. "What's her problem?" Octavia asked. "Anyway, now you've met everyone worth meeting. You can leave if you want."
"I um..."
"We could use some help cleaning up after the storm," Raven said. "If you want to help."
"Yeah, I mean, where else am I going to go?"
She smiled. "Alright, well, let's put you to work."
Octavia laughed as Raven pulled me out of the tent. "Have fun!"