Into the Unknown (A Shortney Story) (Discontinued)

To the Stars

"I'll never let you go

If you promise not to fade away

Never fade away"

Shayne:

"You should check on her."

Olivia had caught up to me while cleaning the trough. All of us were assigned daily chores, it made life easier around here. Olivia had finished hers early, and had been irritating me since.

"Why do I need to check on her?" I asked. She didn't really bother me;  however, what did get on my nerves was Olivia insisting that she needed something that I could provide.

It had been some weeks since the girl from outer space crash landed back to Earth. In that time, we sort of adopted her into our ranks. She took up some of the chores, with myself and Olivia showing her the ropes. I was hoping that in that time she would warm up to us, but she seems distant. Friendly, sure, but she wasn't going to hang out with us any time soon. We had even invited her to our weekly game night, which we jokingly refer to as SMOSH Games.

After initially refusing once or twice, she did end up joining us one night. And you know what? We had some fun. I even saw her smile once or twice.  She really gelled with the group once she started to relax.

I started to like her as a person. And I could tell Olivia did too. Keith would take some time to warm up, but I'm sure he would.

"Because I'm still washing our clothes, dude."

"Well, I'm cleaning the latrine, dude."

"Well," she shrugged. "You'll be done before me. And she likes you more than she likes me."

"I doubt that. Don't girls stick together no matter what?"

She gave a curt little smile. "You'd be surprised. Just do me a favor and check on her?"

"Uh, sure." I stood while wiping my hands off on my slacks. "I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"Ditto." 

We nodded at each other, and understanding seemingly passing between us. She walked off back from where she came, and I sauntered my way back to my quarters. I figured that Courtney was back there, borrowing another book of mine.

She had been reading a lot recently. I seem to always be catching her with multiple books by her side. I always wondered just what she was reading about, but I never asked. Primarily because I wasn't sure if I would get a straight answer.

She's remained distant, which I could respect. She had lost everyone, including her family and, apparently, her boyfriend. I couldn't blame her for not trusting any of us. Even if we're all she has.

A quick scan of my quarters showed me that she wasn't here. But I was missing a handful of books, all of them about space travel, and a history book about the planets.

I had a feeling where she was. I made my way outside and headed west. I made my way past our water latrine and past Olivia's tent. A few paces later I could see the newest member of our family in the distance. She was wearing her usual attire, but she had cut off the midriff of her top to expose her slim belly. Her long blonde hair waved behind her in the dry wind, reflecting the sunlight back to me. As I approached her, I could see that she was sitting on the sand. A long cylindrical object laid beside her and a notebook was in her hands. Up close, I could see that she was seemingly sketching something.

"Hey," I called. The wind was really slashing at my hair. The lack of trees could make any decently fast wind feel extremely powerful. Powerful enough that it seems that Courtney didn't hear me. Or she chose to ignore me.