Girl On A Ledge: Mel's Story
"In peace, may you leave this shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again."
Chancellor Jaha's words echoed throughout the hold in Factory Station where people sat huddled together and strapped in by whatever improvised seat belt or harness they could use, waiting for the detonation that would launch the Ark out of orbit and send it hurtling towards the ground. In the huddle, Mel sat next to her mother who squeezed her hand in reassurance as they all repeated the final line of the Traveler's Blessing.
"May we meet again," Mel said along with her mother and everyone else while they all silently prayed that this would not truly be their final journey to the ground. Then they waited.
The sound of the detonation was distant, but still oppressive against her ears as the Ark was separated from the Earth Monitoring ring and began its descent. Mel tried to focus on her mother's hand in hers, gripping it tightly. Her mother showed no sign of loosening her hold, even when the station began shaking and dipping on its violent trajectory towards Earth. They could feel the shock vibrations of the Ark braking apart back into the original twelve Stations that had come together nearly a hundred odd years ago to form humanity's sanctuary in the sky. The Station rattled loudly and jerked side to side. People pressed against her from all sides, and Mel felt her harness digging into her ribs as her body followed the ship's movements.
A violent jolt threw Mel back against her mother's side as the ship lurched sideways, then tilted almost forty five degrees before righting itself with a stomach turning swoop. A child's wail cut through the collective gasp. Several people shrieked as the metal frame of the ship began to buckle as if it were a tin can being crushed by a giant fist. A high-pitched mechanical whine screeched through the hold, threatening to burst their eardrums, drowning out the cries and terrified sobs.
Mel clutched her mother's arm as terror surged through her. It had been hard enough watching her home fall apart as the Ark ran out of oxygen. Now Factory Station was being torn apart around her. Part of the roof was missing! And through it, Mel caught a glimpse of sky – real sky, not the unchanging see of stars that they saw from space. Shards of hot glass and metal sprayed throughout the cabin and flames shot up seemingly out of nowhere – the people closest to them tried to duck and move away but there was nowhere to go. The tang of scorched metal burned Mel's nose, while the scent of something else made her gag…With rising fear, Mel realized that it was the smell of burned flesh.
Pushing hard against the force of the ship's velocity, she turned to look at her mother. For a moment, Mel couldn't hear the sounds of whimpering and crying or the crunch of metal. She could only see her mother's face, her wide brown eyes staring aback at her like she was the only thing that mattered. Mel was brought back to awareness of the chaos around them by the sound of metal ripping from metal. It vibrated through her eardrums, and down into her jaw, through her bones and into her gut. She ground her teeth together. She watched in helpless horror as the roof peeled off completely and flew away as if it were nothing more than a scrap of fabric.
She forced herself to turn back to her mother who'd closed her eyes now but was gripping her hand with renewed intensity. "I love you." Mel could see the words her mother was saying, though the sound was swallowed up by the screams all around them. Suddenly, with a bone shaking crash, the Station slammed into something. Mel felt every bone in her body being painfully jarred, and the hand she was clutching was ripped away from her. Mel screamed for her mother as she felt herself being thrown through the air.
And then everything went black.
Author's Note: I really hate how the writers of The 100 introduce a character only for them to disappear and never be seen or mentioned again. Mel is the sole survivor of Factory Station; A whole episode was focused on trying to save her; One of the original members of The 100 died trying to save her life. And then we never saw her again! So this is a tribute to a character who may have more of a part to play. Let's see as we go how Mel will adjust to life on the ground.
Where does she fit? What do you think Mel would be doing after she is brought back to Camp Jaha?
Please comment and review; Let me know what you think :)
And let me know of any other characters that you want to see more of.