Ascension

Elijah

When we all get our tents put together we hang out in Lorelei's because hers is the biggest. I can tell she is struggling with letting us in her space. That's what I've noticed with Lorelei lately. She can't handle people in her space.

She shivers any time someone brushes slightly up against her. I try not to invade a lot of her area. Both Indiana and I have this unspoken agreement that we will give Lorelei her space.

I'm sure they do the same for me because we are all a little broken. Lorelei wears out quickly and scoots over and falls asleep on Indiana's lap. You can tell Lorelei is having a nightmare by the way her eyes dance frantically underneath her eyelids. Perhaps looking for everything she lost.

I do believe that is what she dreams of when she refuses to talk about her nightmares. We both have that nightmare we can't talk about with anyone.

I've been having mine since the first night in the arena. Just me staring at the blood covering my hands and the bodies of my dead friends. I always wake up covered in sweat and I have to run to the restroom to make sure I wasn't covered in blood.

However Lorelei has been having her nightmare that she can't bear talking about since she first woke up after the explosion. I can tell she is searching for the reassurance that comes from seeing her family again when she wakes up from these kinds of nightmares. Her eyes just look absolutely haunted when she does wake up from the dreams.

"Should we leave?" I whisper to Indiana.

"I'm going to stay and make sure she is okay when she wakes up." Indiana tells me.

"Okay."

My heart falls a little. Indiana is going to play superhero to Lorelei.

I walk to the tent next door and collapse. I'm completely worn out by today. When I fall asleep I don't dream. It feels refreshing for once not to wake up in cold sweat. It's still early when I get up. Lorelei, however is out and about. When I go up and join her where she is standing see seems to be hopping from foot to foot.

"You have a lot of energy this morning." I say acknowledging her inability to stay still.

"Do you want to go for a run?" She asks me.

"Sure."

We go towards the edge of camp where we will start our run. Our camp looks kind of strange. We are in the only dry spot in the swamp. It looks like it shouldn't belong here but I guess here we are. Lorelei starts taking off and leaves me in the dust for a few minutes. I just stand there until I come to my senses and start forward sprinting to catch up to her.

Lorelei and I run side to side. Even though I can run much faster than Lorelei I run by her side. She smiles sweetly at me as if acknowledging that I want to stay by her side. She slows to a jog so she can talk to me.

"It's so pretty out here." She tells me almost mezmorized.

"Tell me about it." I breath.

I'm glad we went running. Running clears my mind and helps me to think. Lorelei just needed to do something.

"Why don't we do this more often?" Lorelei asks me.

"I have no idea but if it's alright with you I think we should do this more often." I tell her.

Lorelei seems to nod at me. Before our run she tied up her hair into a ponytail. I don't think I have ever seen her hair tied back. It's a good look on her.

After we had run around our camp five times we stop and lay on the ground for a few minutes. Lorelei gazes up at the stars.

"You know for how long I lived up there I have only been in 0G once." She ponders.

"Seriously?" I ask amazed.

"Yeah. They didn't allow us to just go outside. In fact they weren't to happy about me even going outside for repairs." Lorelei sighs.

"Who? You were the one in charge of the whole thing weren't you?" I ask.

"Mainly the elder generations. They didn't approve of the whole teenager in charge of the ship thing, but they especially didn't approve of me putting The Commander in danger." Lorelei sighed.

I was confused for a second but then I remembered the whole thing with the AI called the Commander that controlled Lorelei's life for a while.

Looking at Lorelei with her hair pulled back I can still see the jagged scar that snakes its way down the back of her neck.

"I can understand that." I tell her.

Lorelei sighed.

"I'm kind of tired of people misjudging me. I'm not weak am I?" Lorelei asks me.

"No. Lorelei you are one of the strongest people I've ever known." I assure her.

"What about when you first met me?"

I quickly flashback to the first time I met Lorelei. She was looking so powerful when I saw her. You could practically see the authority around her like a solid thing.

I remembered how pretty she had looked.

"Lorelei you were powerful. I could feel it. I could feel it like I could feel the breeze."

"Really?" She asks me.

"Of course Lorelei."

She wraps her arms around me and hugs me tight to her. I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight as well. When we break free from each other's arms she looks up into my eyes.

"Friends?" She asks.

"Friends." I agree.

Lorelei hugs me again and I take it in.