As Charlotte and I sit down, Richard starts his presentation once again.
"Okay so what we know about the crash is that there was another cruiser like ours that crashed onto this planet but we are unsure why. This was many years ago so we don't know if there are any survivors from that crash. We have lost connection with all of the other lifepods and as of this moment none of the other lifepods have reached out to our broadcast. We have some predicted lifepod crash sites."
The screen turns on behind him and displays some roughly estimated spots that the other lifepods went down at. It shows 5 lifepods with 3 of them with X's through them.
"Lifepods two,three, and six's radios reported those three pods destroyed. The other two are our life pod and the new kids one" I look at the screen and see a red X through lifepod 6. Mom...Dad.. I feel the burning in my neck from holding back tears.
"Please excuse me" I interrupted Richard then ran out of the room. I had no idea where I was going but I knew I needed to get away. I kept running down the endless halls. I turn left and run into a deadend. It had a huge hatch on the wall and the floor sloped down like a ramp that ended at the hatch. There was railing around the outsides of the slope. I ran to the bottom of the slope and started to let it all out. I couldn't hold it back any longer. I cried, yelled, punched the metal which only earned me a new cut and bruise on my hand. I was out of breath leaning against the wall of the slope letting the tears stream down my face.
"James…" I heard a familiar voice say my name which made me tense up. I quickly wiped my face with my arm but it was no use. The tears wouldn't stop. Charlotte walks on the end of the slope and sits down next to where I was standing letting her legs hang down off the edge. "Caleb told us about your parents. I'm sorry for your loss. I know there isn't anything I can say to make it better but i'm here if you need me" I feel her hand on top of my head in a comforting way.
I looked up at her then hugged around her waist and rested my head on her. She hugged me back rubbing my back comforting me. I let my tears flow until I didn't have anymore and Charlotte just sat there comforting me by rubbing my back, holding me tight, and whispering soothing words the whole time. I stopped crying and let go of Charlotte still standing in front of her wiping my face with my arms trying to wipe away the past tears without much luck. Charlotte grabbed my face forcing me to look at her and pulled her sleeve over her hand and started to wipe my eyes and cheeks dry.
Once she wiped my face dry she held my face looking at her and she wore such a sad smile on her face. "I can show you to your room and then we can get you some food. I'm sure the meeting is over by now" Charlotte explained, letting go of my face and standing up. She walked down the slope and grabbed my hand.
"C'mon" she started to walk back up the slope holding my hand tight and pulling me behind her. Charlotte walked down hallways making so many turns i didn't know the way back to the hatch we were just at, I kept my head down just allowing myself to be pulled behind her until we finally stopped at a hallway that was away from everything else and had a single door and aquariums along all of the walls next to the door.
Opening the door she pulls me inside and shuts the door behind her. The room has white walls and a queen sized bed with black covers, a dresser with the top half being a mirror, a closet , a bathroom, and a bookcase that was pretty empty minus some books that looked waterproof. I get pulled toward the bed being pushed to sit down on the edge of the bed facing Charlotte.
Letting go of my hand she opens the closet and grabs a first aid kit that was in a cabinet that seemed to be built into the wall of the inside of the closet. Taking my hand she wipes down the blood and cut I gained from punching the hatch and then puts a bandage across it that looks like the rest of mine but smaller just going around my fingers that were bleeding. She lets go of my hand leaving me with an uncomfortable coolness from the absence of her touch. I just sit there staring at my lap.
"You know when I was back on the Arora I had a really bad haircut" she says sitting next to me on the bed. I look up at the her statement. "And when I say bad I mean the barber absolutely butchered it, it was cut to about here" pointing to a spot a little lower than her jaw. "She added some "layers" which looked like she took a saw blade to the bottom of it" she made air quotes with her fingers.
I start laughing turning into a long deep laugh where it made my lungs hurt and my eyes water. She just stares down at me smiling. She rubs the back of my head comforting me then stands up and walks to the door.
"Try to get some sleep" opening the door giving me one last smile then closing the door behind her. I lay down in my bed covering my eyes with my hands and drift off to sleep.