"Terra Nova. A new world. A name everyone, everywhere has come to know as a symbol of hope."
That's what everyone was told when scientists discovered that humans could have a chance to have happy and healthy lives 85 million years in the past. When i heard about it, i was 18 years old. It was my first year out of college and i was the happiest anyone could be in the dying world we lived in. Why? Because i was a young, newlywed woman. I know what you're probably thinking. How could an 18 year old girl like me be married? I'm married because when i finished college, i was so in love with my boyfriend, Lucas, that we decided to get married. I can still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. It was just the two of us. The only person with us was the person who married us. There were no guests. Not even my boyfriend's father, Nathaniel, was present because we knew that he would most likely forbid it. It was the best day of my day after our wedding, we told Nathaniel about it, and his reaction surprised us. He wasn't angry. He was glad. He said that he always knew, since the day his son introduced me to him, that we would get married sooner or later. "What does it matter if you got married when you're barely adults?", he said.
A few months later we heard that Nathaniel was going to be sent to the past alone, to make sure it was a safe place to send people to start their new lives. I was really worried about him. He was going to be alone in a world filled with things that could hurt or even eat you whole. I tried to convince myself that there was no way he could get hurt. He was the famous Nathaniel Taylor, an extremely well-known and respected soldier. Fortunately, i was right.
Almost 4 months later, Hope Plaza got ready to send the rest of the people of the first pilgrimage, they got in contact with Nathaniel. He was fine and he was waiting for the people who would go through the portal. The people who were on the first pilgrimage were mostly soldiers and people taking building materials there. Days after they left, me and my husband heard that we were going to be on the second pilgrimage. I was so happy when i heard it that i started packing the very next day after hearing the news. My thoughts were full of what our life would be like once we got there. We were going to see Nathaniel again and we were going to have a chance to have a better life.
On the day before we were going to Terra Nova, i could see small changes in Lucas. I didn't know why, but he seemed more serious than normal and maybe even a bit nervous. Maybe he was only nervous about going to a place so different from 2143.
The next morning we took our things and went to Hope Plaza. At home, i had been excited about going to Terra Nova, but once i saw the portal, i got nervous. Seeing my distress, Lucas held my hand until the end of the walkway. Lucas went through the portal first, promising me that he would be right there when i came through. Seconds after Lucas walked through the portal, i took a deep breath and went after him.
In the first weeks of living in Terra Nova, we were quickly getting used to everything. I spent most of my time just wondering around Terra Nova, meeting new people. I could say that my life was almost perfect. Only, there was something bothering me. Ever since we came to our new home, Lucas had been spending more and more time away from home. Everytime i tried to ask him about what he was doing, he told me that he was working on something. To this day, i still don't know what he was working on. However, a few days after i asked him about it, things got bad.
One evening, when i was getting ready for bed, Lucas almost ran inside our house and threw the door shut. I watched him as he walked back and forth in the living room. Worried about him, i asked him what was wrong. He said that he had had a fight with his father, but he didn't tell me what the fight was about. I could see from Lucas' face that the fight he had had with his father had been a bad one, maybe even the worst they had had. After i had calmed Lucas down, we went to bed and quickly fell asleep. Before i fell asleep, i hoped that they could fix everything soon. I knew that it was going to take a while, because they were two of the most stubborn people i have ever known. But i also thought that no matter how stubborn, they were father and son, and i had hope that they would be alright eventually. Unfortunately, they never got the chance to fix things up. Three days after that night, was the worst day of my life.
It was noon, and i was walking to the market. I had woken up that morning in a cold bed. Lucas was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't the first morning i had woken up alone. Sometimes he woke up in the early hours of the morning and went to do his research. But he usually came home about an hour after i woke up.
As i walked through the market, i saw Nathaniel standing in the balcony of the command base. I decided to go ask him if he had seen Lucas, so i walked up the stairs. When he noticed me, i saw something in his eyes. It was sadness and i thought that i saw even guilt. I could tell that something was wrong, and i immediately got worried. I asked him what was wrong, and what he told me, broke my heart to pieces. He told me that Lucas had gone missing. I told him that he was most likely donig his research. As i saw Nathaniel look at me, i knew that Lucas wasn't doing his research. As my head slowly wrapped around the thought of losing my husband, i started to get dizzy. In seconds, the dizziness got worse until i fainted.
I woke up about half an hour later in the infirmary. The moment i woke up, i tried to tell myself that what i had just heard was a dream. But when i realized that i was in the infirmary and when i saw Nathaniel standing next to me, i knew that it wasn't a dream. Lucas was really gone. The man who i had known since my freshman year in university, and who i loved with all my heart was gone. Nathaniel told me that he had gone missing, but i knew that when someone wandered outside the gates, they wouldn't come back if they were alone. I was consumed by grief.
I spent the next weeks alone in our house. I barely ate or drank anything. Nathaniel came to check up on me everyday. He tried to cheer me up, but there was nothing that could ever cheer me up. At least that's what i thought. A few days later, everything changed.
One morning i was feeling incredibly sick and tired, and Nathaniel noticed it too. He was worried about me, so he took me to the infirmary. We thought that i was nauseous and tired nly because i hadn't eaten anything. A doctor scanned me to make sure that nothing was seriously wrong. When i heard the small sound from the bed i was lying in, i asked the doctor what what was wrong. What she told me, made tears fall down my cheeks. She told me that i was pregnant.
I couldn't believe it. Only weeks after losing Lucas, i found out that i was carrying his child. As i was lying there on the infirmary bed, i cried even more. I cried tears of happiness because i was having the child of the man i loved. And i cried tears of sadness because Lucas wasn't there beside me when i heard the incredible news. He wasn't going to be there when i gave birth and he wasn't going to be there with me to raise it. Even though he was gone, i knew that he wouldn't want me to succumb to grief when i was carrying a child. Knowing that, i started to take better care of myself. If not for me... Then for the baby.
A little over 8 months later, i gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She looked so much like her father with her few blonde hairs and green eyes. Some time after i had given birth, Nathaniel came to see us. I gave the baby in his arms, and he hesitantly took her. As he looked down at her, and as he saw the resemblance she had with Lucas, Nathaniel actually cried. He cried even a little more when i told him what i was going to name the baby. Isabella Ayani Taylor. Isabella just because i've always liked the name, and Ayani after Nathaniel's wife and Lucas' mother.
As i watched Nathaniel hold Isabella, i wished that it was Lucas who was holding her. He should have been there to hold his child. I was sad that he wasn't there, but i knew that i had to stay strong. For Isabella.