Isolation

Chapter 16

Sara knew that space was an endless void with things that can only fill an insignificant portion of said void. With the universe constantly expanding, the possibilities were limitless. Any species could have found humans other than the Drax.

She wouldn't have to be gathering food if it wasn't for them. She had too many close calls with so much scrap floating around, and they didn't have much to show for it. They were risking their lives for just a few scraps. She was getting sick of just floating around for hours searching. It was nearly dinnertime when they were allowed to disperse. She showed her ration card to the officer and had a pick between peaches and apples, beans or greens, and canned beef or pork. She said to heck with choosing. She was just hungry.

She sat her tray down and was about to start eating when she heard some commotion coming from the line. Two guys' voices were raising among everyone else's, prompting the crew to hush and listen to what they were saying.

"You cut me in line!" One said.

"I was here first!" the other said.

Then they started brawling, which had officers coming in to split them apart. She could only shake her head and keep eating. Tim and Maria took a seat with her at her table. She put her fork down. They weren't annoying by any means, but she just wanted to eat alone.

"You know there's a lot of other tables, right?" She said.

"What's wrong with us sitting here?" Maria asked. "Do you not like me because I have autism?"

"No, that's not—"

"Did you not like your sister because she had autism?"

When she heard that, she almost popped off with a snide comeback, but she bit her tongue. She picked up her tray and tried to walk away.

"Maria!" Tim said. "Apologize to her right now!"

"Did I say something that offended you? I'm sorry. I do that a lot."

Sara forced herself to stop and took a deep breath. She sat her tray back down and took her seat.

"It's okay. It threw me off guard. I was kind of asking for it..."

"So... did you not like your sister?"

"Maria!"

"I loved her!" Sara shouted at Maria.

She realized she had just become the new center of attention. Everyone stared at them. The guards looked like they were ready to step in.

"I loved her," she said again, calmer. "Growing up, it was hard dealing with her autism. I learned to hate it. I hated it more than anything I ever knew, and somehow... it made me love her more. She was the sweetest person I ever knew. She couldn't say the right things, but she tried to make up for it. She fought it. She encouraged me to fight."

"Is that why you like me?" Maria asked. "Because I'm like your sister?"

"Well... not exactly. I mean, we just met."

"So you don't not like me. That's good. I want people to like me."

Sara immediately felt guilty for her outburst, but she felt justified at the same time. Her emotions were all over the place.

"I think I need to spend some time alone, if that's okay."

"Of course. We'll stay out of your hair," Tim said.

They got up and left. She sat at her table alone. When they had moved away, she felt a wave of sadness. She thought she wanted to be left alone, but them leaving hurt as much as her heart ached last night, remembering being in her own bed in her own home not even twenty-four hours ago.