This is a re-write of an old story I wrote over two years ago. I realised my old one was terribly written and decided I really wanted to have another crack at it! The old ones still up so feel free to read for a good laugh! Enjoy!
Hope you all enjoy this one, I planned out all of Season One and will try to upload as often as possible! - I'm currently quarantined for being high-risk anyway, so I've got plenty of time!
On the Ark, everything is limited; food rations, medical supplies, free time and even oxygen. Nothing can be spared and everything is shared based on need.
At least, that's how it's supposed to be.
Glancing down the corridor as some workers walked behind her, she waited anxiously outside the dull metal door, listening for the occupants inside as they continued to bang around and mutter to themselves. Suddenly, the door slid open to reveal a frail, young woman. Mousey blond hair was piled atop her head, most hanging loose around a haggard face - out of place on such a delicate woman.
"Oh thank heavens." the woman breathed out, shuffling her visitor inside quickly, making sure to check down the hall before the door closed again.
The room was identical to all others aboard the Ark; the only distinct difference to most being the bassinet tucked away to the side and, upon looking closer, the collection of baby bottles along one wall and the haphazard pile of baby grows hanging from the beds.
"Thank you so much for this, I just haven't been sleeping and now I can't shift these headaches but he cries all the time! I can't get away from it and I can't focus - I'm supposed to go back to work next week! How am I supposed -" The words tumbled forth from her cracked lips in a barrage of unreleased panic. Her dainty hands began to flail around erratically and her brow furrowed with stress as she desperately expressed her struggle.
Her visitor held up two slender hands and motioned for the new mother to sit on the low bunk,
"Kimi. Stop talking and just breathe, ok. In and out. One and two." the reassuring tone of her voice had the young woman nodding with teary eyes and she took a great breath in and deflated with a great breath out.
"There you go," the visitor encouraged, her expression one of comforting amusement, "now you stay there and rest for a moment okay."
Just at that point, the baby in the corner roused awake and began to squawk, causing Kimi to shoot up again with alarm.
The visitor placed her hands gently on Kimi's shoulders, pushing her back onto the bunk before moving towards the bassinet in the corner.
The little boy inside was wailing with all his might, tiny features scrunched up in dissatisfaction and little limbs flailing back and forth. Reaching down, the visitor scooped the baby boy into her arms, pushing his head into her chest and began to bounce him gently.
Kimi looked on in relief as her baby calmed and stared up at the woman holding him,
"You don't need to do that Isabella, really. You've already done so much."
Kimi's face betrayed her words. She sounded apologetic and yet her body had sagged in relaxation, and her expression of gratitude and peace was obvious. Isabella wouldn't have minded either way. She was here to help Kimi, and if that meant holding her beautiful baby boy for a few moments then she was more than happy to. Besides, it wasn't too often that a baby was born on the Ark - there weren't too many resources to allow it anymore, it had to be meticulously planned and approved first.
And he truly was a beautiful little boy. Great big blue eyes, just like his mothers, and a thick mop of curly ginger hair, just like his father. Both of them worked in Hydro-Station; Kimi working in purification and her husband in aquaculture. And with the new baby, they were struggling. Kimi had a rough labour and had used much of their medical quota during the birth and now, still suffering after the birth, she wasn't allotted any more medical care.
That's where Isabella came in. Kimi had come to her, having heard through others what she does, and had explained what she was going through, practically begging Isabella to help her - as though she ever would have refused.
Isabella turned her cornflower blue eyes from the bundle in her arms to Kimi, still resting on the low bunk but so much more at peace than before.
"I'm here to help you, sometimes a helping hand is even better than medicine," Isabella said comfortingly.
"Well, I definitely still need those meds" Kimi laughed, trying and failing to run a hand through the cots in her hair. Isabella chucked as well and carefully placed the calm baby boy back in his bassinet.
There wasn't much space in the small room, especially with the tornado of baby things littered about, so, before Isabella began administering the medicine for Kimi, she started to clean up a little. She began moving all the baby bottles into the sink, and folding the clothes strewn about into a neat pile on the table. As Isabella pottered about cleaning things down, she realised just how exhausted Kimi must be, when she noticed her fast asleep on the bunk. Immediately more aware of the noise she was causing, Isabella gingerly placed down the freshly washed baby bottle and tip-toed over to Kimi, pulling a thin blanket over her lower body. The metal beds could be unforgiving at the best of times but being in Hydro-Station seemed to cool the metal even further. The freckles on Kimi's face stood out harshly against the grey hue her skin had taken - a combination of a rough birth and sleep deprivation no doubt.
It seemed cruel to wake her from her sleep, especially since she clearly wasn't getting much. Isabella doubted that once her husband came back from work he had much energy to clean the place up either. It was intense work, on Hydro-Station, and it tended to leave you damp and cold as well. She wasn't sure how Kimi would cope starting back work next week; it didn't seem fair to send the frazzled mother back out so soon - especially after being left in pain.
Isabella felt that familiar simmer of anger spark within her; the injustice of the medical system, and the council, for allowing their people to suffer when they desperately need help always made her blood boil to dwell on. With that thought, she began to lay out the medicine she brought for Kimi onto the table: one box of painkillers to last around a week and half a week's worth of extra rations - to stop them splitting what they have to last. It wasn't much but it was all Isabella could risk taking without getting caught.
She had other patients to consider after all. What good would it do for all those people if she got caught after being too generous to one new family?
Still, it brought a lump to her throat that she couldn't do more.
Taking a final sweep around the room, Isabella was sure to poke her head over the bassinet one more time to check on the beautiful little baby, finally fast asleep, and prepared to leave. She quickly patted her pockets to check she had her rations and medicine for the next two families, and repeated in her head 'I was just visiting a friend. I was just visiting a friend. I was just visiting a friend'. No matter how many times she's done this, it never got less nerve-racking. The fear of being caught on her way to or leaving a patient was all-consuming, both out of fear for herself and those she's helping. There was no doubting the penalty she'd receive, she was 20 after all.
Mid-day on the Ark meant the hallway was wonderfully empty. It would give Isabella enough time to get away from that corridor before any links could be made, should the worst occur. The next family to see too were on Mecha-Station. They had a young boy, Adam, who just kept getting sicker and sicker but they'd gone over their quota weeks ago. Isabella had been helping since then, as soon as she witnessed Dr. Griffins tell the family the news: they could no longer receive treatment.
Isabella respected Abby; she'd dedicated herself to teaching her all she knew. But Isabella also respected her strength, she often worried she'd always struggle to tell the patients harsh truths - Abby had become accustomed to it over the years. Abby was much more than just her mentor, she was basically a second mother to her since the age of 14, when she first began training Isabella.
Whenever there was a close call on her round or whenever Isabella thought to heavily about what she was doing, pangs of guilt would ripple through her.
To think how Anny would be impacted should Isabella be caught, would she be blamed? Would she be ashamed?
The idea sent a shiver through Isabella.
With every corridor a carbon copy of the last, it was a miracle anyone ever remembers their way around. Before she knew it, Isabella was crossing the join from Hydro-Station to Mecha-Station, only a few corridors away from Adam and his parents. Part of her was scared to get there; every time she'd seen Adam he'd been getting skinnier and skinnier, his illness taking a massive toll on him. She could only hope that she was 'borrowing' enough meds to pull him through and out the other side. His parents were nervous wrecks, neither sleeping properly having taken to shifts to watch him through the night. And they certainly weren't eating enough on account of them giving their rations to Adam to try and keep his strength up. That was why Isabella had a week's worth of rations and enough meds to see them through until her next visit in a weeks' time.
Isabella was at the end of the families' corridor when three guards rounded the corner. She jolts at the sight of them, the items in her pockets growing heavier as she averts her gaze to the floor. She moves to the edge of the corridor to accommodate their walk through and it's at this point, when they move to mirror her, that she realises they're aiming to block her way.
Desperate to avoid any kind of altercation, Isabella keeps her eyes downturned and nearly smushes herself into the wall, making herself as small as possible. Absently, she thinks maybe they just want a chat and will leave when she looks disinterested. Or, perhaps it's their usual habit of unnecessary intimidation and they'll walk away with little said.
Isabella knows two of the guards by name, the third seemed young and jittery, clearly new to the force. Kamern was leading the group, ironic really considering his small stature and quiet personality; Derix and the new kid towered over him in the back. Kamern's white-blonde hair was parted to the side and combed down as usual, and he was clearly attempting to look stern and give off an intimidating presence – not that that particularly worked with his baby face and light freckled skin.
Derix towered behind him, brown eyes betraying the cool disinterest permanently marring his face. They gleamed with excitement, like a kid being handed the biggest and most chocolate-covered sweetie to exist. He's always been difficult to talk too and had a tendency to take everything far too seriously - but they had enjoyed a brief flirtation, once upon a time. Perhaps that would make him go easy on her - if that was possibly in Derix's nature.
The new kid looked nervous, though a quiet determination stained his brow as he approached with the others. He'd clearly only just started - perhaps, Isabella though distantly, she was even his first bust. That ought to be a treat, first person you're set to float and its Dr. Griffins prodigy caught smuggling rations.
Adam's room was within touching distance by the time the two parties needed to stop before crashing into each other. Isabella schooled her face into a look of surprise and gazed at the three guards with a warm smile and questioning eyes, hoping beyond hope that the twitch in her lips wasn't noticeable.
"Well hi," she laughed "can I help you all?" she spoke with a laugh at the back of her throat, as though both confused and amused by the situation while her hand unconsciously fluttered towards her pockets.
"Miss. Johnson, if you'd like to come with us please."
Kamern, despite his less than guard-like physique, possessed an inherently authoritative voice that made you want to do anything he said. Isabella could tell by the quirk in Derix's smirk that the twitch of her warm smile was definitely noticeable that time.
"I'm just on my way back to medical; there's a new patient come in and they need my help, can this wait?" Isabella breathed out. She knew. She knew that if they were here, a group of three, to steer her off that they must already know everything or, at the very least, enough of everything to question her.
Her mind, shockingly, conjured forth images of the stars; stars hanging in the cold vacuum of inky space. She always thought them beautiful, twinkling like lights in the darkness. There are those aboard the Ark who believe that each star is a person who's been floated, it's what they leave behind to watch over us.
Is that what they'll think of her? Isabella wonders, will people believe her a twinkling light looking down on everyone after being floated?
Her weak questioning seemed to have failed, if Derix self-satisfied smirk and Kamern exasperated sigh were anything to go off.
"I'm afraid not." once again Kamern's authoritative tone left little room for argument. To make matters worse - they'd drawn attention. People had gathered at either end of the corridor, peering down at what three guards could possibly want with Dr. Griffin's prodigy. Their mutterings and murmurs created a dull thrum along the hall, drawing the attention of the young guard at the back as he glanced around nervously and drew up his height. Isabella stared at the people at the end of the hall through the gaps between the guards. They all looked confused, concerned even. And a half glance over her shoulder revealed the same at the other end of the corridor.
And then, in a quiet swish, a metal door within touching distance slid open and out it popped Adam's gaunt little face. A haggard woman's hand gripped onto his shoulder, dragging him back in but unable to stem her own curiosity from peeking out.
Isabella's blood ran cold, Adam looked worse. So much worse. She felt it unlikely he'd make it the week and now all she could do, after a month of helping them, was stare into his mother's eyes and try not to cry for them.
A shaky hand came up to cover Adam's mother's mouth as she realised what was happening outside her door. Isabella wanted nothing more than to throw the medicine and rations at them and run, taking the guards along with her. Adam looked about ready to call out to her but a minute shake of Isabella's head halted him.
The moment that Derix gripped her right forearm and the new boy her left, Adams mother pulled her son away from the door and shielded him behind her. Kamern turned swiftly on his heel and lead the way down the hall, as the other two guards near enough dragged Isabella on weak legs. She held her gaze with Adams mum as long as she could, trying desperately to convey her sorrow to her, apologising again and again in her head. His mother stood in the doorway, pale hands gripping her son tightly enough to bruise as her wrinkled face crumpled up and a dry sob shook her body.
It was the last image Isabella would have of the family and her tears burned hot behind her eyelids.
The people crowding the corridors parted like waves as they lead her through. More whispering and muttering passing between them that seemed to follow the group all the way to Go-Sci main hallway, where the suffocating crowds finally began to thin.
It wasn't until they threw her unceremoniously into a solitary box that they bothered to search her. Of course, finding the medicine and rations for Adam and then the rations for her final patients of the day; they were on Mecha-Station too and probably wouldn't last the month without the rations.
Before they left, Kamern briskly read of Isabella's rights, claiming the council will be reviewing her case as though she were under 18 and stood a chance. Derix was the last to leave the room, winking smugly at Isabella as he slammed the heavy door behind him.
The thundering slam of the door and ominous clicking of the locks echoed uncomfortably around the small room. Isabella stood, frozen in space, all her limbs locked up at once, feeling, for all intense and purpose, that she'd been floated already.
The only indication of her living being the hot tears rolling down her cheeks and the choking sobs which burst forth from her paled lips. She couldn't say how much time passed before her knees finally gave way, and she crumpled into a ball of wet sobs on the floor.
But she woke up there, hours later, when the door swung open once again.