ONE OF THE 100

1. "Juvenile Inmate"

Four months is a long time, ask anybody. Four months of your life spent in prison is a lifetime. Locked up in a small cell with barely a toilet, a small cot, and a room that becomes even smaller when you have a roommate is the ninth circle of hell itself. This is my agonizing life now. And all I ever do is reminisce on the time I was free on the ark-- or at least as free as you could get on a spaceship orbiting Earth.

Four Months Ago

I rounded the Arcadian corner on my way to the vents that I used to crawl through to get to Phoenix station.

Only Ally, my one friend knows about the system I use. One day she came along with me after seeing the stunning things on Phoenix and that was also the last day she was free. When we got out of the vents she snuck into a Phoenix storage room against my differing request. She took a silver locket, telling me she would use it to pay for her mom's medicine, but that was when the guards started storming in. I quickly hid behind a dummy, trying to move her along with me, but before I knew it the Guards had already gotten ahold of her. Being from Arcadia she didn't even get a trial, at least not a fair one. I was the only witness and when I visited her at her holding cell she told me not to say anything. It's the only thing in my life I've cared enough to regret. The guards apparently had been tracking movement in the vents and just so happened to start being interested when we ended up in the Phoenician storage room. They must not be tracking it anymore because they think they caught the perpetrator but what they don't know is it has been me all along.

That was 6 months ago. Every two weeks I've come through the vents to get to Phoenix, sneak into the storage room, and get what I could. Then it was always easy to get back to Arcadia and sell whatever I could carry. Ally turns 18 before me, so that means her second trial is coming up. I'm holding onto hope that she'll be found innocent of trespassing on Phoenix grounds, a Phoenician trespassing on Arcadia would already be out and gossiping to her friends about how scary and cold the Arcadian floors get. When Ally gets out she'll have a criminal record. As an Arcadian, it's already hard enough getting to be employed on Arcadia but no one takes anyone in with a record, regardless of how minor it is. As her best friend, and to free me from my self-incarcerated prison of guilt, I'll use all my rations to help her get settled after her sentence. That's... all I want for her.

I squeeze out of the cramped vent and drop onto the floor of the storage room. I scan the familiar room. I grabbed a close-by yellow wool scarf. Great condition for withstanding 97 years onboard the ark. I slip it through the belts of my pants as if it's use is a belt. I pray it won't mess up the condition but move around the room some more. There's a glint of something and all I think it could be is a gun. I go over to the object causing flashes in my eyes. It's green and running with wires. Technology-based, I understand. I grab it up quickly, afraid it'll disappear.

Suddenly, the doors are busted open! I try to hide like I did so many days ago but I'm snatched up before I know it. I feel the cold metal cuffs on my wrists first, next I feel nothing but a submerged needle going into my neck. My legs fail me as I slump to the ground, vision blurred and deaf.

Which brings me to now. Sitting with my legs pulled up to my chest and trying to block out the noises coming from my roommate. She's having a seizure, and there's nothing I can do to help her. I find myself falling asleep after she comes to and her ragged breath fills the air.

When I wake up, I'm still on my cot. My hair is still taken up into the ponytail I'd put it in. The air is still cold. But Deidre isn't here. I check again, actually getting up from the cot, and look behind the closet in the room. No, she's not here. How could she not be here? Did they float her? She's only 15! I pound on the door.