Staring at the same four bland gray walls all day wasn't exactly Isabelle's idea of fun, but being imprisoned wasn't supposed to be fun. It was supposed to leave her alone with her thoughts, which it definitely had. She was sitting in the center of the small room, her back to the cot that had served as her bed for the past few months, curled up so that her thin fingers could idly fiddle with the small, sloppily crafted flower charm attached to the black hemp tied around her ankle. Her chin was tilted upward so that she could look through the window in her ceiling, to stare at nothing but stars. At least her prison cell came with a good view, though it was the same view that could be seen through every window in the Ark.
Being locked up wasn't as bad for Isabelle as it was for the others. She was stuck in solitary, but she didn't have a family to miss, not anymore anyway. Isabelle had never met her father, or at least she wasn't aware if she had. Her mother said he left before she was born, which had always bothered the seventeen year old. Living in space meant that there weren't many places he could go, he had to be on the Ark somewhere. Unless he had been floated. Isabelle had lost her mother much more recently, just a week before she was locked up here on the prison station. The only people she had left were her best friends, Monty Green and Jasper Jordan. She had grown up on Agro station with them, and spent most of her childhood rolling her eyes at their antics. Even Monty and Jasper were locked up, however. So even if she wasn't, they'd still be apart.
"Prisoner 443." Isabelle head turned quickly at the sound of her door clicking open and a guard addressing her by her identification number. "Please stand."
The small brunette's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but the emotion was immediately replaced by fear, and nervousness. Had she miscalculated the date? She knew her eighteenth birthday was drawing closer every day, but she thought she still had a few days at least. Despite her alarm, Isabelle stood up, following every order the guard barked at her. She turned to face the wall, staring at the solid gray color. "Is it my birthday? Are you taking me to my trial?" she asked the second guard who took a metal wristband from a small black box. There were a few of the bracelets within it, each identical with numerous small, needle-like silver spikes on the inside.
"Hold out your right wrist." the guard responded, ignoring her question entirely. Isabelle hung her head, and lifted her arm. Tears pricked her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. The chances of her getting floated were high. Today was the last day she would be alive. If this were the case, she was going to go out strong. She wasn't going to cry. From what she'd heard, even people with minor offenses were getting the sentence these days. But, apparently, someone else wasn't as accepting of their fate. She could hear the protests of another girl nearby. Isabelle assumed they shared a birthday. Isabelle's attention was returned to the guards when they pulled her sleeve up, and put the band on. Isabelle winced in discomfort as the needles pierced her arm.
"What is this?" she asked, referring the the wristband. She was expecting handcuffs, but not this. Maybe this is would inject her with some sort of chemical to kill her. But why would they waste that resource if they could just float her instead? The guards ignored her question, and pulled her arms behind her back. Cold metal cuffs were then put on her wrists, and finally she was led out of the small cell she'd been living in for so long. As soon as she was outside, her eyes scanned the area. It'd been weeks since she'd seen another person. Had it been weeks? Isabelle wasn't even sure, it was easy to lose track of time in the Skybox. Seeing the other prisoners taken from their cells, Isabelle's mind tried to sort out what was going on. There was no way it was this many people's birthday. There were dozens of prisoners being pulled from their cells with wristbands and handcuffs on their arms. Isabelle didn't say anything more, until her eyes landed on a familiar face that made her heart skip a beat.
"Monty? Mont-" She was interrupted by one of the guards, who roughly pulled her backwards and demanded she quiet down. Despite being interrupted, the shaggy haired boy's eyes moved to her face. He looked just as fearful as she felt. Monty's birthday was nowhere near her own, so what was going on here? Was Jasper being put to the same fate as they were? Her question was answered by a woman hugging the blonde causing a commotion just moments earlier. The words "you're being sent to the ground" were uttered, just before Isabelle was shoved forward, toward the door that led out of lockup.
A few minutes later, Isabelle's handcuffs were gone, but the bracelet was still attached to her wrist with all its needles still embedded in her skin. She was sitting in the middle section of a dropship, a bright red seatbelt buckled around her. She looked at the girl beside her, a beautiful brunette with bright blue eyes. "Is this seriously happening?" the girl asked, and Isabelle nodded.
"It makes sense. If you're going to test if the ground is inhabitable, you might as well send prisoners. Why waste the star citizens, right?" Isabelle spoke, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach as the countdown neared 00:00.
The brunette smiled, then extended her hand. "I'm Octavia Blake." The girl introduced herself just as the dropship disconnected from the Ark and started its journey to the ground. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but Isabelle didn't dwell on it for too long.
"Isabelle Anderson." Isabelle responded, taking the girl's hand and giving it a quick shake before grabbing onto the edges of her seat.
The trip went smoothly, until the dropship hit the atmosphere. The entire ship started to shudder, just in time for the chancellor's message to appear on every monitor on the ship. "Iz?" Two voices called at once, and Isabelle overlooked the few boys taking their belts off, ignoring the way one of them stared at her, to see Monty and Jasper. A warm smile grew on her face. She wasn't alone anymore. But deep down, her heart ached. Regret. Regret for being the reason they were here, the reason they'd probably die as soon as the doors to the dropship reopened. Before she got to respond, the parachutes deployed, slowing the ship down drastically. Someone screamed, and Isabelle's eyes squeezed shut. The last thing Isabelle felt was Octavia's hand squeezing her own, obviously searching for some sort of solace even if it was coming from a complete stranger. Then, one of the unbelted boys was thrown into where Isabelle sat, and everything went black.