⸻ ( Bellamy Blake )
Jinny Shumway was the epitome of brilliance, the brightest star in their galaxy. But even stars can fall -- burning, crashing, incandescent.
( the 100 ) • 2020
( editing in progress )
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THE STARS SHONE LUMINOUSLY above her as she made her way back to camp. Jinny thought a walk would be cathartic, but she was wrong. It made her wistful and she didn't like that, she didn't want to feel anything resembling melancholia. But the dirt, the humidity, the darkness and the silence seemed to close in on her with every breath she took and she found herself resenting it all. She blamed the Chancellor, her father, everyone on the Ark who was privy to the knowledge that life support was failing.
Most of all, she blamed herself.
The Ark had been where she grew up, it was her home and she still thought of it that way. She missed being amongst the stars that twinkled dimly in the night sky. Up there, she could see all their brilliance as they floated in the eternal mystery of never ending space. Sometimes she imagined what it would be like to explore that boundless territory, seeking for new life and worlds beyond their wildest imaginations.
Instead, they returned to Earth—a planet they had almost destroyed and refused to give up on.
Jinny's thoughts wandered back in time, to another age when things were less convoluted and fragile. The memories felt like brittle bone that would crumble to dust at any second.
It was night, or their concept of night, when the temperature seemed to lower and calls for curfew ran throughout the ship. Some, like her, never obeyed those calls and she snuck out of the room she shared with her father to walk the empty corridors like a wandering ghost. The thin soles of her canvas shoes made no sound as her light footsteps crossed the metal floor. She rounded the corner and walked towards the observation window, leaning against the railing in front of it.
The steady hum of machinery surrounding her was calming, like how story books described the crash of ocean waves. She hugged herself, rubbing her arms through the thin fabric of her black turtle neck. Then there was a flicker in the faint reflection from the glass and she smiled when she felt his familiar presence standing behind her.
