Time bends in and out of normativity. Silence coats the room like a deafening blanket. My mind is void of all concentration and I simply stare at the wall in front of me.

I lay with my body curled on my side, hard cot holding me up by the metal frame and rock for a bed. I face a blank wall that can't be more than half a meter away. The air in the room is cold, but not too cold. It's cold enough to notice, but not cold enough to actually get up to grab a blanket. I wonder if they want it that way. Are they trying to keep us uncomfortable, just enough to pick at our restraint and see how we each react? What if—

My Link pings behind me again. For the past, I'm not sure how long, my Link has been alerting me to messages and calls nonstop. I've contemplated turning it off completely to avoid speaking to people.

I settle back into blankly staring at the wall when my Link chimes for the umpteenth time. My irritation spikes and with a groan, I roll over and snatch my Link. A quick wave over the display and it projects the notification hub. I have twenty-three unread messages, nineteen of which are from Shawn. The rest are from Astrid. Then, of course, there's seven missed calls, all but one from Shawn.

Briefly scanning over the messages, I decide that I can talk to Astrid later, but I should contact Shawn. His messages didn't seem very happy...

I sit up, dial Shawn, and set my Link on the dock in front of me. The "connecting" message floats in the air for a few moments before the picture blinks and all of a sudden there is a person in front of me. However, the person there isn't the one I was anticipating.

"Hello, Beautiful!" A man, most likely a year or two younger than Shawn stands in front of me. His dark hair is pulled back into a bun and he has a thin layer of stubble lining his jaw. "What a nice surprise, I wasn't expecting a celestial to grace me with her presence."

I roll my eyes as he bows, hearing a few laughs from his side of the feed. "God, little over the top, don't you think?"

"Who cares? My boys hooked me up!"

I shake my head and stand up. "Sorry to disappoint, but they didn't. I'm not calling for you."

"What do you mean? This is my—"

"I don't really care. I'm calling for my brother."

"Why you little bitch, listen here. We all get specific times to—"

"I don't think you want to call me that."

The man shifts, the once sly, seducing look he gave me is gone. He now stands with both hands curled in fists and his brow is creased with frustration. The tight living arrangement must make people irritable. "And why is that?"

"Because of who my brother is."

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "Continue."

"My brother is one, Dr. Shawn Barringer, lead geologist of the shitty hole you're living in." Now it's my turn to cross my arms. I raise a brow and watch his whole act change. He stands up straight and his arms drop, almost as much as his face does. Fear layers his eyes and he looks around, seeming to look to see if anyone had heard our conversation.

"Of—of course, give me just a moment, Ms. Barringer."

He bolts out of the projection area and I can't hold back the snort of laughter, poor guy didn't stand a chance when he started talking poorly. My eyes wander about the silent room, briefly scanning what I can see in the feed before focusing on my current area again.

"Spongy?" I shift my weight to my other foot and look back to the projection. Shawn stands on the other end, his posture reserved, and expression confused.

My shoulders curl in slightly at the name and I twirl a piece of hair around my finger. "I told you that I grew out of that nickname years ago." I peak a glance at him with my head bowed as my harsh words from earlier play through my mind. "Though, I thought it would be a while until I heard you call me it considering how shitty I treated you earlier."

Shawn gives me a sad smile, his eyes wet and shining. As he steps closer to the monitor, more of his body slowly disappears and what remains gets larger. "Serina," His arms rise, and the projection moves his hands right next to my cheeks. "You're my baby sister, I could never stay mad at you for long."

I choke on a sob, a hand moving to cover my mouth. "Rina? What's wrong?" Shawn steps closer still and seems to stand right in front of me.

"My—my transfer request," I drop my head and my body shakes as I cry for the first time in a really long time. I clench my teeth and move my hands to my sides, forming fists. "My request was denied." I bite out the words and look up through tear-soaked lashes.

"Spongy..." My legs become weak when he reaches out, almost as if to hug me, and it takes all the strength I have to keep standing. "I'm so sorry."

"All I wanted," Hot tears spill down my cheeks and heat them unbearably. "Was to see you in person again." My hands shoot out and gesture at his projection. "To be able to hug you when I'm sad! And now I can't do that!"

"Rina, breathe."

My face crumples and I have to turn around to keep from crying again, seeing his disappointed face too much to bear. Once I can breathe again, I face him. "I'm sorry, I wasn't good enough."

"What do you mean? Serina, you are the smartest person I know."

"When you left, I went off the deep end. I might as well have jumped into Boyer's Trench with weights tied to my ankles." My hands move in opposite directions, one setting itself on my hip, the other digs into my hair. "I lost all sense of direction! I disrespected Areolars. I slept with a ton of guys—"

"I didn't need to know that."

"—and I shut everyone out. I avoided talking to people so I wouldn't have to explain for the millionth time that it was okay that you left, even though I hated it!"

I start to breathe quickly, trying to catch my breath after saying everything I've been holding back. "You never told me that."

"Huh?" I look up at Shawn and I can see a tear slide down his cheek. "What part? I haven't told you any of it, for good reason too."

"You never told me that leaving bothered you." Shawn swipes at his eyes, preventing more tears from slipping down his cheeks.

"Well, it didn't exactly seem necessary. You left your kid sister all alone without saying anything." I spit the word out and recoil from his hurt look. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that you thought it would be okay to leave me like that? Not even a simple 'I can't do this anymore, I'm moving.' I mean, come on Shawn!"

"What are you talking about? I sent you countless messages once my two week buffer period was over and I knew where I was going. I just assumed you were too upset with me to respond."

"I—I..." I don't know what say. For the past four years of my life, I thought Shawn has simply up and left.

"Here, let me show you." Shawn reaches to his side then holds his Link in front of the camera on his end. I must have called a stationary communication hub.

After a few silent minutes, Shawn holds his Link display for me to see, the projection of a projection sending an odd chill through my body. Note to self, never look at another.

My eyes scan his display as he shows me chat thread after chat thread, each dated back four years, each without a single response from me. My brow furrows and I shake my head. "But I never got any of those..."

Shawn frowns, but soon his brows rise quickly with an idea and he glances around the room on his end, looking for anyone who can overhear us. "Rina, I think I might have an answer for that..." I tilt my head slightly to the side and wait for him to continue. "Listen, I think the Elders might have been filtering out those first few months of communication, so you didn't get anything."

"I—but that makes no sense. Why would they do that? Hell, how would you even think of that?" That's by far one of the wildest ideas I've heard, and Astrid is quite the conspiracy theorist.

"I have my connections, ones that happen to be to the elders of this planet. I hear things. I can't tell you much more than that until I know that we're on a secure line."

"But—

"No, Serina. You need to listen to me."

I gulp and stay silent for a moment. "Okay..."

"Barringer! You need to—"

"I don't need to do jack shit!" Shawn yells to his left and I'm stunned back a step. "I'm on call with my sister and for once, I'm not leaving early!"

There's a short pause. "Uh, yes Sir."

Shawn shakes his head then looks back at me with a smile. I raise my eyebrows, blink and stare at him. "What?"

I snort at his confusion and shake my head. "You just surprised me, you've never said no." My fingers start to twist my ring around, gently pulling the skin in the direction it rotates. "And you looked just like dad when you shook your head and smiled."

His mouth drops then we share a sad smile, both remembering the beautiful memories of our parents.

It's nearly twenty-one-hundred when my call with Shawn ends. The time is projected from my Link after he hangs up and I sit down on my bed, simply sitting in silence for a few moments.

The silence is interrupted by the grumbling of my stomach. I set a hand on my abdomen and frown. I had ignored the dinner announcement when it told us to head to the mess in our designated housing sector for food. When the PA system lectured through the halls, Shawn said that he'd let me go, but I refused and said that I wanted to talk to him as long as I could. Now I'm regretting my hasty decision a little...

I huff and fall back, laying fully on the rough material underneath me with a thread count that probably matches how many digits I have. My hands pat my stomach and boredom claws at me. I can't talk to Shawn anymore, he had to go because he had already spent so much time away. I can't talk to Astrid, one of the messages that she had sent me said that she was going to shut her Link off early and try to rest as much as she could before her test. Knowing her, she's probably going to spend most of the night tossing and turning. Maybe she'll be able to get into the right headspace at some point. I hope she does well, the last thing we need is for both of us to be screwed over by the GTA.

"God, I'm going to die of boredom before anything else can get—"

Knuckles rap on my door and I turn my head in its direction. Quickly, I pull my elbows underneath me and I'm soon propped up off the bed by my forearms. "The hell?"

Silent feet carry me to the door and a simple wave over the sensor opens the door to show a not-so-wanted face with a small smile. "Hey..." I quickly scan down the length of him and in his hands is a white plastic bag filled with containers.

"What, Micah?"

His smile disappears and he clears his throat. "I didn't see you in the mess, so I thought to bring you something in case you weren't able to make it."

I scowl. "Yeah, well—" My stomach yells at me, surprising us both into looking down at it. With pursed lips, I look back at the boy in front of me. As much as I want to turn him away, I'm too hungry to refuse the food. "Fine, come on in."

I move to the side to allow him in, then wave the door closed. Micah sits on the floor and spreads out the containers of food in front of him. "You know, we haven't been gone for long, but there are a few things about Aoria that I already miss."

I take a seat across from him and snatch a plate. "Other than your parents? Like what?"

We both dish up; I can only assume that he didn't eat or simply ate a little before going to convince someone to let him bring food to me. "Like our kotatsu tables. Remember when the four of us sat at the table eating kutain with kelp smoothies?"

A smile lines my lips as I remember one of my last memories when it was the four of us. Shawn and I had spent the day with Micah and Kieran, seeing who could catch the most fish. After a very unproductive trip, the older boys all but dragged Micah and I back to their house to warm up. Mrs. Dawson had kutain patties and kelp smoothies ready for us when we got there. She ushered us to the kotatsu table and turned it on, saying that we would freeze if we didn't listen to her.

"Shawn made a joke about you and I being terrible fishers and Kieran laughed so hard smoothie came out of his nose." Micah looks up, almost surprised I remember, but we both smile at the other, sadly happy.

Is that a feeling? Sadly happy or maybe happy sad? This weird feeling is a bittersweet aura around us. We're both happy at the memory, but sad that we won't have more like it.

"Do you remember how mortified your mom was when she walked in to see green smoothie all over the table, floor, and dripping off Kieran?"

"Not to mention all over me!" He yells around the fish in his mouth and we both laugh. Poor Micah had been sitting across from his brother when it happened, smoothie and snot coating him.

We laugh at the memory, sharing a moment of nostalgia. When I control myself again, I pop a small rice ball into my mouth, sighing as we look down memory lane. I swallow my food and set my plate down to my side. "I'm really sorry, you know?"

"For what?"

I laugh and shake my head. "Oh, I don't know, being a grade-A bitch? Judging you for doing what you think is right?" I drop my head, shoulders feeling heavy with the weight of the words I'm about to say. "Being the reason your brother is dead?"

"Serina—"

"We all know it's my fault." I pick dirt from under my nails, unable to look him in the eye. "If I hadn't overreacted, I wouldn't have gotten caught in the undertow and Kieran wouldn't have gone after me."

I often have nightmares about that day. It was about two months after Mom and Dad died. Shawn and I were over spending time with Micah and Kieran to take our minds off things. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson were inside the bungalow making dinner while the four of us were outside. The three boys ganged up on me in a game of Blind Man's Bluff. I was the blind man for the first round and whenever I got close to one of them, someone else would make a lot of noise to distract me while the one I was close to moved, blatantly ignoring the "no moving" rule of the game.

When I caught them, I was furious. So, with as much conviction as my small twelve-year-old body could muster, I walked out to the shore. I ignored the boys as they yelled that they were sorry and promised not to cheat anymore, simply walking farther out until I was almost to the water. I remember saying that I missed Mom and Dad and that wanted to be with them, so I stepped out into the cold water.

That was when the boys started running after me. Kieran was the closest to me, Micah and Shawn trailing behind. I was already treading water and making my way out when Kieran made it to the edge of the water. Shawn had grabbed Micah, struggling to keep him on shore so nobody else could be taken out to sea. Then the currents picked up. The area had been known to have a strong undertow at night when the clouds became thicker.

I was quickly sucked under the surface of the water and was under long enough for my lungs to start burning. I had opened myself and my mouth, ready to see my parents again, but rough hands pulled my head out of the water. I choked and gagged on sea water as those hands handed me off to another set of hands that hauled me onto the Skimmer. Mr. Dawson had driven out to Kieran and I as soon as he saw us in the water. Mr. Dawson then went to grab his son after he set me in the seat next to him, but Kieran was already gone, drug back into the undertow without a single sound. His body was found a week later, washed up on the shore by another family.

"Serina, even if you hadn't, he would've found someone else to save and die for." I look up at him and struggle for words. Micah leans over and takes my hand, looking deep into my eyes. "I'm sure he didn't give it a second thought. He saw you in danger and went after you. Besides, you were always the little sister he never had."

I chuckle and shake my head. Kieran was the one to include me the most in whatever they were doing. "I miss him. I miss both of them."

"I know. I do too."