Nova (Female P.O.V)

Date: September 15, 2238

I was trying to run, but the thick snow swallowed one of my purple boots. There was no time to jerk the boot free before I was swept up into strong arms. Burying my face against the solid chest only momentarily protected me from the biting wind. I didn't see the danger, but I felt it stalking our every movement. Fear caused my small lungs to seize, making it difficult to breathe. A glance over the shoulder only revealed blurred figures, gaining on us. The hurried footsteps came to a complete stop at the sound of the piercing scream.

My eyes sprang open as my body jolted forward, sitting upright in my bed. My abrupt awakening disrupted the images playing in my brain, but the rest of my body was still experiencing the effects of the dream. I placed one of my hands over my chest, lightly patting and trying to soothe my racing heartbeat. While my other hand lay beside me, balled into a fist and ready to defend myself from an unexpected threat.

After a few seconds had passed, I slowly uncurled each finger and reached up to wipe away the beads of sweat along my hairline.

My eyes darted around the room, straining in the darkness to make out the familiar figures. After I gave up on waiting for my eyes to adjust, I looked at the window as the shimmering moonlight peeked through the holes in the flaps of the blinds. It cast small beams of moonlight on top of the two desks in the middle of the room. I briefly contemplated reaching over to open the blinds to let the moonlight fill the room and help calm my nerves.

But the sound of Stacy's, my roommate, sheets rustling as she rolled onto her side drew my attention. She sighed as she nestled deeper in her sheets, blissfully unaware of my sudden consciousness. I scoffed, rubbing my hands over my eyes, not worrying about waking her since I knew Stacy was a heavy sleeper.

At least one of us would get some sleep tonight. I untangled my sheets that had wrapped around my legs, trapping me. After scooting to the edge of the bed I placed my feet in my fuzzy slippers, finding them easily since I always put them in the same place.

Shit! I couldn't believe after two years of peaceful sleep that my nightmares had returned, reminding me of the last time I had seen my parents. I hated that I was too young to remember what had exactly happened that night, and now I was just being tortured with these brief nightmares. I reached my hand up my fingertips grazing the silver heart-shaped locket around my neck that held the only pictures I had of my parents.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and hoping a shower would wash them away. After my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I stood up and moved towards my dresser. I slid open the bottom drawer where I kept my pajamas, picked out the clothes on top, and closed the drawer. With my clothes in hand, I headed towards the open dark doorway of the bathroom.

Sometimes it was just easier to forget than to face your problems.

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The elevator dinged as the doors slid open. I stepped off onto the basement floor, dragging a full hamper behind me. After my shower, I had snuggled back into my sheets and tried to fall asleep. With each second that passed, I became envious of my roommate's peaceful slumbering. Eventually, I gave up and just decided to do my laundry.

Hopefully, the tedious task would drain some of my restless energy and allow me to sleep.

Sighing, I followed the red arrow signs on the white brick walls to the laundry room. The smacking of my flip-flops against the linoleum floor echoed throughout the hall with each step until I reached the open doorway.

No one was inside, but a few of the machines were going. I quickly find two of the nearest free washers and separate my clothes into each.

Once I finished, I grabbed one of the detergent bottles off the shelf above it only to discover it was empty, and so was every other one I tried after it.

"There's gotta be some detergent in at least one of these," I muttered, still checking each bottle.

"Here. You can use this one." A light feminine voice said from behind me.

"Oh, thank you." I took the bottle before returning to the machine with my clothes inside and poured some in. After starting the washers, I set aside the bottle and turned to face her.

"I'm sorry for accidentally-" She waved her arm, cutting me off as she leaned against the machine across from me.

"No, I'm the one that's sorry. This," she gestured to the red bruise underneath her eye. "Wouldn't have happened if I had been paying attention. Instead of... you know."

"Checking out, Troy?" I giggled as the blush on her cheeks deepened.

"Yeah." She laughed, but it was cut short by a wince as she grabbed her face. "Don't make me laugh. It hurts." She pouted, gently massaging beneath her eye.

"Sorry." I flashed an apologetic smile and quickly changed the topic to try and distract her from the pain. "Did Sergeant Carter punish you?"

"No, I think he thought this was punishment enough."

I hummed and nodded.

"What about you?"

"Yeah, I had to do thirty laps around the practice field."

"That's it?! Look at my face!" She smacked her lips before muttering, "He should have given you more."

What?! I thought that she had forgiven me. Just as I was about to respond, a smile spread across her face making me laugh. And I laughed even harder when I saw her trying to suppress her own laughter.

Once I stopped, she said, "I'm Sky Bishop, and you're Nova. Right?"

I nodded again while she got her clothes out of the dryer.

"Next time, just tell me you like Troy instead of hitting me in my face."

"I don't. W-we're just friends."

"With benefits?"

"No, no, no." Heat spread across my cheeks, deepening underneath her stare as I shook my head. "Just friends."

"Oh, I thought you hit me because you wanted me to stay away from your man."

"No, it was an accident. I swear."

"Okay. I believe you. But let me just tell you, words would've been more than enough to get me to stop. Troy's fine and all, but he's not worth-"

"The trouble?"

"No. Well, that too." She grabbed the last of her clothes from the dryer and turned to me with the utmost serious expression on her face. "But I was going to say, ruining my face over."

"Righttt." I chuckled, but Troy's voice made me immediately fall silent.

"What's so funny?" He asked, entering the room with a small metal container in one hand and the jacket of his jogging suit in the other.

"Speak of the devil," Sky whispered, passing me with her basket tucked underneath one arm.

"Um...Nothing."

Troy opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Sky spoke up. "I'm gonna head on out. Good night you two."

"Goodnight." Troy and I simultaneously said as she left the room.

"Have you eaten yet?" Troy asked as I hopped onto the nearest washer.

My stomach grumbled ferociously in answer to his question.

"I'll take that as a no." Smiling, he unfastened the metal latches securing the container lid and held it out to me. "Here."

My mouth watered at the robust garlicky scent wafting from the container as I took it. "Thank you. And you're right. I didn't. I wasn't going out in that rain for anything. Not even food."

"I'm surprised you didn't fall asleep and forget about it."

"I did." I removed the lid and set it on the washer beside me, revealing the veggie lasagna, garlic bread, and candied yams inside. "But still... I wasn't moving."

He laughed and passed me a fork.

I flashed a grateful smile before scooping up some of the pasta and shoving it into my mouth. My eyes immediately flitted to the door expecting my mom and Ms. Grace to burst through and berate me about proper eating etiquette. At the thought of my mother, a sharp pang began in my chest because she wouldn't appear.

Only Ms. Grace, my adoptive mother, would. And she would give me enough hell as if my birth mother was still alive. A smile tugged at my lips as I continued to eat at a less frantic pace.

"You're an angel. Thank you." I said through a mouthful of pasta.

Somehow Troy understood my garbled words and nodded once.

My brows knitted in confusion when he slowly moved his hand toward my face. "Wh..." My voice trailed off as his callous-covered thumb swiped a bit of sauce off my cheek. Before I could thank him again, he sucked it into his mouth.

Don't overthink it, Nova! Don't. Over. Think. It. I averted my gaze to my food and slowly breathed in and out to calm my racing heart.

"H-h-how did you know I was down here?" I stammered, stabbing a yam and ignoring the heat radiating from his body as he leaned on the washer beside me.

"I didn't. I was washing my laundry before I stopped to get something to eat." He pointed to an empty black clothing basket in the corner behind the door.

"Wait, am I eating your food?!"

"No, I just grabbed a second plate. You know I eat a lot."

I nodded as I moved a forkful of pasta toward his mouth, feeding him.

Immediately the memory of how we met sprung forward in my mind. On one mid-March afternoon, Ms. Grace volunteered to babysit us as a favor to our parents. I had no idea a four-year-old Troy would waddle into my life, making himself a permanent fixture. Yes, waddle.

His legs had been plump and stout as he followed behind Ms. Grace with his equally meaty palm clutched onto her pale yellow dress. Eagerly I sat at the table, waiting for them to arrive with my fork in my hand. On the two small plates in front of me were slices of red velvet cake that I was supposed to share with the boy.

However, after spotting Troy's chubby tear-stained cheeks, the fork slipped from my fingers, clattering against the plate. As Ms. Grace plopped him down in the chair beside me, I noticed the tiny scrape on his elbow. Curious about the injury, I inquired about how he had received it. And through his sniffles, he told me he had fallen while coming up the stairs.

"Next time, I'll be there to stop you from falling," I promised, sticking out my pinkie finger.

A wide smile stretched across his face as he wrapped his pinkie around mine. Afterward, Ms. Grace disinfected and bandaged the wound while I fed him the cake and wiped his tears.

Fifteen years later, that promise hadn't been broken but amended to us protecting each other.

Troy's soothing baritone timbre infiltrated my thoughts. "I see you and Sky made up."

"Yep, but I wish there wasn't anything to make up for."

He nodded. "Did you finish your punishment?"

"Nope. Did you?"

"You heard about that, huh?"

"Yep."

"I was going to go after we finished talking with Kayden about Sergeant Carter."

"Okay. Let's go." I hopped off the washer and covered my half-eaten food. "We can come back for our laundry."

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