~*~Alive~*~

Prologue:

I opened my eyes slowly, only to be met with a blinding light. I snapped them shut again before trying once more, this time only opening my eyelids so I could only see by looking down. The light seemed to dim just a little as my eyes grew accustomed to it’s glare.
I opened them fully then. The light was directly in front of me, inside a cone that reflected its beams.
“Can you hear me, Natalia?”
Natalia? Was that my name? That’s right, of course it was: Natalia James Waters. I looked around, trying to find who had spoken. There were quite a few people around me, each of them wearing a mask over their mouths and noses. It was as I was looking at them that I realized I was laying on a hard, smooth surface. A table?
“Where am I?”
My voice surprised me; it sounded hoarse and hurt my throat. Actually, now that I thought about it, my whole body was sore.
“You are at Arlington Base Hospital.”
I looked over at the man speaking. He had a strange set of headgear propped up on his forehead. Two lenses were sticking out from a metal band that wrapped around his head. Metal arms held the lenses suspended from the band. Hinges in the middle of the arms made it so that the lenses could come over his eyes, thus magnifying his sight.
He spoke again, saying:
“Can you wiggle your toes for me?”
A little confused, I did so, though it proved to be a little difficult. Why were they so stiff?
“Check!”
Someone at the end of the table held up their thumb in an “okay” gesture.
“Alright, very good.”
The man was speaking again as he wrote something down on a clipboard.
“Now, would you flex your hands?”
Again, I did as he asked and, like my toes, they seemed to try to resist my commands.
“Check!”
“Check!”
This time two others, one at each side of me, gave the thumbs up. The man wrote on his clipboard again.
“How are you feeling, Natalia?”
I looked at the man again, but this time at his eyes. They were deep green.
“A little sore,” I admitted, before adding, “and stiff.”
“That will go away eventually,” he assured me. His next words seemed strange though.
“Welcome back, and...I'm sorry...”

Chapter One (Part One)

A few days prior…

January 13, 2417
1:45 a.m.

I can’t sleep. Again. It’s on of those nights when you can’t sleep. I’m not the only one like this, right? Anyway, tonight my mind has decided to go back to Dan. Man I miss him, I can’t even describe how much. If only he was here now, well not now of course, but still… I wish I were with him. See his shining smile, hold him close… Why did he have to die so young? I can’t

I set down my pen, no longer able to write anymore without getting emotional. Stupid emotions… they take you over when you least expect it and at the most inopportune of times.
I closed my entry book with the pen still inside and dropped it on the floor. Some grunted in their sleep, disturbed by the sound it made.
“At least you can sleep,” I murmured. I threw my head down against my pillow and took a deep breath. I shut off the flashlight that was still in my hand before stuffing it under my mattress. Such old-fashioned things weren’t allowed a HQ, so I had to hide it regularly to keep it from being found by inspectors.
I stared up into the darkness over my bed. My eyes played tricks with my mind by creating colored blotches that would move every time I tried to focus on one. They even slid around my vision when I tried not to look at them.
I stayed like this until finally, my mind began to slow down. I closed my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep.
As I fell in between consciousness and REM I murmured one last thing:
“Goodnight, Danny…”

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