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Chapter 2 - I Am Free

Melora doesn't usually dream, but when she does, they're often different versions of the same memory. One thing they all have in common though, is that they always start out as a good dream.

I had just finished harvesting the last nysillin crop for the day. I gently put it in my basket that was almost filled to the brim, and picked the whole thing up with my short arms. I had yet to grow that much, I was still one of the shortest ones. But I managed, I always did.

I looked around for my friend, my best friend, Kejodo.

"Kej!" I yell out for him. I'm smiling.

"Mel!" He responds from behind me. I turn around, and he is also smiling. His Twi'lek fangs had just started showing, I always thought they were so cool.

He was taller than me, so he carried his basket much easier.

We walked next to each other, laughing and talking about things I can never hear. But It had to have been really funny, with the way Kej is almost falling over in laughter and joy.

But the thing is, her dreams also always end in the same way.

In the same bad way.

There's this low rumbling sound, like a vibration. It starts off slow, but all too quickly, it grows louder, and faster.

Kej's face stays the same though, full of joy and innocence.

But something grows in the pit of my stomach, this awful feeling of dread, creeping up on me.

And I don't say anything, or do anything. The noise grows louder and louder until it's almost deafening, and then, it feels as if the whole ground has shifted. I turn around to the source of the noise, and I see a huge ship towering over me.

Im paralyzed, I no longer hear Kejs laughter.
It's quiet, dead silent.
I don't know for how long.
But the next thing I hear are screams, blood curdling screams and all I see are reptilian-like eyes running towards me and the next thing I feel, cold, sharp, harsh hands are grabbing me, pushing me and taking me away.

I can't break free.

I can't do anything but turn my head, and the last thing I see is an empty, cold and lifeless Kej laying on the ground before I'm thrusted into darkness.

I can't see.

I can't move.

I'm suffocating.

And suddenly, she's thrust into consciousness, gulping for air as if she's just learned how to breathe. She threw off her blanket and rushed outside as the sun was beginning to rise. She sat herself down on a piece of random scrap metal and dug my feet into the hard desert ground, trying to calm down.

"I am free, I am free, I am free" Small whispers made their way past her mouth over and over again, as she rested her head in her hands. She dug her fingers in between the hairs on her scalp, trying to remind herself that she was awake and that the haunted memories were all behind her.

After a while, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She tensed for a moment, before relaxing as she glanced over to Kuiil, who had his gaze fixed on the horizon. He was avoiding looking at her because he knew that she didn't like to cry, or be vulnerable, in front of people.

Soon, she started to feel calm again, going back to normal. Melora had gotten pretty good at calming herself down as time had gone, and her trauma started to disappear further into her past.

When Kuiil noticed she was returning to herself again, he patted her shoulder and went inside to give her some space and begin breakfast. Melora didn't get up for a few minutes, still collecting herself and trying to work through her dream, now that she was calm again. It was her way of processing after a breakdown. She found that continuously pushing her trauma away, only made things worse. So instead, she tried her best assessing her emotions and recognizing their existence, no matter how much she wanted to forget.

As the duo was eating breakfast, they didn't speak much, only general stuff about the day's work and such. Kuiil didn't feel the need to bring up what had happened, knowing that Melora would if she wanted to talk about it.

The plan for today was that Kuiil would go out searching for more blurrgs, while Melora would continue to work on the vaporator that she didn't fix yesterday. She wasn't particularly looking forward to her battle with the bult again.

She let out a sigh at the memory of her beat up hands.

Maybe I should find some gloves or something... She thought before she got distracted when she saw Kuiil walking out the front door.

She followed him out and watched as he mounted his blurrg and rode away. She always did that when Kuiil was leaving. She didn't like separating from people she cares about, no matter the reason for it or how safe they would be, it left anxiety bubbling in her stomach until she saw them again.

As the day went on she worked on the vaporator, trying to get her mind off of her separation anxiety and focus on her job. And it's quite an important job, due to the vaporators being their only source of water and primary source of income.

Usually when Kuiil goes out blurrg hunting, he's gone for most of the day, only returning a bit before dinner. But as the sun was reaching its highest point, Melora was busy tinkering on some parts at the crafting station when she began hearing footsteps approaching. She looked up as she hoverd her right hand over her blaster that was strapped to her side. Hesitantly, she crouched over to one of the closest vaporators, hiding behind it while listening to whoever was walking towards the farm.

As the sound was becoming louder, she could hear the distinct thumping sound of blurrgs footsteps, which caused all of her anxieties to be washed away. She knew it could only be Kuiil, returning in record time, since no mercenarie would have the skill or brain required to tame a nervous blurrg. So she made her way back to the crafting station, assuming Kuiil had been lucky and found another blurrg faster than ever before.

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Another chapter read, thank you!

If you want, you can press the star, it makes me feel like I've got the comforting hand of Kuiil on my shoulder :)