𝐃𝐔𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘 ── bellamy blake ¹ ✓

[ 03 ] shooting star

1.3. | SHOOTING STAR

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RAVEN CONTINUES TALKING to herself, making sure every mechanism is working to a T, but I am too preoccupied by my wandering thoughts to hear what exactly she is saying. Deciding that I have broken the limit of worry for the next couple of months in a single day, I try to stop thinking about my dad, who's willing to execute 300 people just to buy some more time for everyone else, most likely knowing by now that his daughter is on her way to her potential death in the form of a radioactive planet.

I turn my head to the left in the right moment, watching Raven offer an unsettling grin to a lever that, in a neat scribble, says ''RETRO FIRE. kiss your ass goodbye.'' Muttering something else that I probably wouldn't have understood even if I managed to catch it, she pulls the switch.

Not expecting the sudden change of speed it would cause despite its name, or, well, suggestion, I shriek out, ''Oh, sweet baby Jesus.''

It isn't until several moments later, when something blows up and sends sparks soaring everywhere, resounding beeping joining the unplanned party, that I start to panic.
Over my own internal monologue that consists mainly of swear words and insincere apologies to all the kids I unintentionally scared on the Ark in medical, I hear Raven frantically chant, ''No, no, no, no!''

The pod shakes violently until my limbs seem to lose their weight, dancing flames surrounding our one-way transport. With every second, I realize more and more that we are nearing not only our real home, but also our quite possible death.

''Raven, please tell me this is not the last time I see your annoyingly pretty face,'' I desperately yell over the shrill sound of beeping.

''Not over my dead body!'' She calls back, eyes fluttering shut in a moment of strength gathering, opening only mere seconds later. With a newfound drive of determination, Raven begins fumbling with different buttons and switches on the control panel.

''I don't know if that sentence was appropriate for this situation, Raven.'' I chuckle nervously in an offer of comic relief, hesitantly gazing out of the small window under a blanket of sheer flames, seeing the crescent moon up in the dark sky, accompanied by the shiny stars littered across the surface, like countless of miniscule paint drops across a black canvas.

Upon further inspection, I finally accept the fact that the pod doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, but by the time I do so, my eyes wrap around slim, lengthy silhouettes in the dark. Trees. We're so near the ground.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

The night welcomes us into its endless abyss of nothing.

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