"How can you lose when you never stop fighting?"
Cassiopeia Walker-Simmons looked at her star from a tiny window in space her whole life. She never imagined that it'd be even more beautiful from the ground. Yet every time she gazed upon the dazzlin...
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IN A SNAKE PIT
Rustling filled the room as Cassiopeia Walker-Simmons turned another page, the words being devoured. The flow and mysterious beauty of poetry kept her mind distracted from the fact that she was going to die in less than twenty four hours, the cryptic phrases putting her into a trance. It wasn't that she enjoyed how the letters slotted together to create a masterpiece - it was the meaning behind each syllable. They could make a lovers poem violent or a vicious tale peaceful. She liked to believe that about people too. That a single moment could warp someone into blossoming or decaying from the inside.
She liked to think that's what happened to her.
Cassiopeia continued dragging her eyes along the page, analysing each sentence until there was nothing left. 'Time is nothing but a curse.' 'Curse' could imply that there was someone up above in control of your life, or perhaps it could suggest that living is painful. She bit her lip. Gnawing at the soft skin of her mouth instantly soothed the butterflies rising within her.
She had twenty four hours to live.
Careless, she tossed the book to the ground, not even taking note of the soft thud it made when it connected with the ground. She no longer cared about the puzzles inside it begging to be solved. There was no point. There wasn't a point to anything. All she could do was stare at the constellation she poorly drew on the wall, the one connection she had left with her birth parents.
The hiss of the door opening caught her attention. Before she could even question it guards stormed into her room, raising their guns at her. "Prisoner 241, face the wall."
Instantly Cassie's scarred hands clenched, her posture rigid. "You're going to have to make me," she took a step closer, preparing herself for what was about to happen. Almost seductively, she whispered, "officer."
Her fist met his gut, cutting off any reply he would've had. In a flash, she had managed to wriggle the gun out of his hands, not wasting a second in hitting the second officer with it. They both stumbled backwards. Cassie embraced the adrenaline pumping through her veins, powering her leg to kick the guard in his midriff. He tumbled backwards into the body of the guard behind him, falling like dominoes. She swallowed her laugh, jumping over the two collapsed bodies. Freedom was so close - she only needed to get a little closer.
Her joy was short lived. A hand shot out, grabbing onto her ankle with a vice like grip. Her heart began thundering in her chest as she tripped, plummeting closer to the ground. "Get off of me, jack ass!"
She began kicking out to no avail. She screamed at the top of her lungs, struggling to get to the freedom that was taunting her. Cassie scrambled backwards, dragging the guard with her, her body shuddering with the effort. Sweat dripped down her back. Her breaths stumbled as they passed her lips.
"I need assistance with Prisoner 241!" The guard yelled down his radio, still holding onto Cassie's leg as though it was his life line.
Fury boiled within her, fuelling her next words. "We have names! We are human!"
