48. our hope

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Sleep had always been difficult for me. Especially after the death of my brother, a single night did not seem to go by that I didn't toss and turn in discomfort.

But cryo offered a whole other experience. It offered the kind of sleep that left you a bit dazed when you awoke, the one that seemed dreamless, as quick as the blink of an eye.

So when my eyes slowly opened, I was almost confused as to where I was at first. It took a couple of moments for me to register where I was, what was going on.

As my pod slowly opened, I felt a sense of anxiety constrict my chest. Had it been 10 years already? What had happened in the decade as we all slept?

Hesitantly, I sat up and let out a small groan as my muscles stretched for the first time in years. Slowly, I looked to the right of me, my heart plummeting slightly as I came to the realization that no other pods were opened.

My head quickly whipped around to the left of me, and relief flooded my chest at the scene of Bellamy slowly pulling himself out of his pod.

His eyes instantly landed on me, and a small smile came to his face as he took a few large strides so he was next to me.

All but lifting me from my pod, Bellamy gripped onto me tightly. "You okay?" he questioned, pulling back slightly to analyze my face.

I did the same to him, and noted that Raven was right when she said we wouldn't age. I had seen it with the Eligius prisoners, but it was still a bit mind boggling to me.

"Why are we the only ones awake?" I wondered, turning from Bellamy slightly to look down the lines of still secured pods.

"That's the way mom and dad wanted it."

The voice was one I didn't recognize, and it came from the entryway to the cryobay. Bellamy and I pulled all the way apart, both of us turning to see a boy, probably around my age.

He watched us with an almost excited look, like he had been waiting for this moment for a longtime.

Bellamy and I shared a confused look as the boy continued to watch us with a smile. "Uh...can I just say, wow. I can't tell you how good it is to finally meet you. Weird but good. Great, actually."

Slowly, Bellamy and I made our way toward the unidentified boy. My eyes slowly roamed the room as we went, ensuring there were no other strangers hiding in the shadows.

The boy typed a few buttons as I spoke for the first time since he had arrived. "With the risk of sounding rude..." I began, giving the boy a skeptical look. "Who are you?"

He let out a nervous laugh as his eyes flickered toward me. "Right, I didn't tell you my name. I'm sorry." he chuckled. "I've never met anyone before, so, I clearly suck at it."

Another string of nervous laughs fell from his lips as he looked between the two of us. His smile seemed genuine, and something in me told me to trust him.

The words that left his mouth next provided that reasoning for my trust- why I felt so inclined to believe in this boy.

"I'm Jordan." he introduced. "Monty and Harper's son."

Confusion washed over me as my heart skipped a beat. If they had a son who was already this old then-

"They didn't go to sleep." Bellamy whispered, coming to the same realization that I just had.

Sadness washed over me at the thought of them living in solitude while the rest of us slept.

"They talked about your time on the Ring a lot. Too much actually." Jordan explained, noting our awe-stricken faces. "How happy they were there. I guess they wanted to get back to that."

𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞²Where stories live. Discover now