It Comes Crashing Down

Posted on Sun Nov 17th, 2024 @ 1:40pm by Commander Jayla Rollands

608 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Personal Logs
Location: USS Potemkin - Quarters

It’d been a long..however long it had been..since Jayla had seen any of the crew, any of her family. The only information she’d been receiving was from TJ, and that was short bursts on a weekly basis, if they could talk. She knew it would take time to get caught up on everything that had been going on.

Obviously, what she would hear while in hiding was from one point-of-view: the point-of-view of those who thought her family and friends were the enemy. She’d lost track of how many lies they were spreading to try to get their point across.

She’d done her best to keep Darwin as safe as she could while not raising suspicions. Watching him deteriorate as much as he did was painful, but she’d known she had to do everything she could. Seeing him start to become himself again when he realized had warmed her heart in knowing he didn’t give up before they were rescued.

Unfortunately, even with all of that, there was more she’d missed than she ever wanted to miss in her family’s life.

Jayla had missed Li’or turning eight, how much Li’or had grown, the new friends she had. Her daughter was the most important person in her life, and there was now over a year of time that she’d missed out on that needed to be made up for.

But while talking with Ceja while returning to her normal face, she finally heard what had happened only a few months prior. There was now one person she was never going to be able to speak to again, hear their voice, see their: Soori.

It took everything she had to keep it even semi-together as they spoke about what happened. Of all the things she never thought would happen while she was away, that was one of them. Her mind went back to everything the two of them had been through in an instant.

They’d met each other over nine years prior, he’d proposed to her in front of much of the crew unexpectedly, they had a daughter who was eight, survived everything together including remembering the time while the majority of the crew was on Chrome, and they’d left with many of the Tserrans. She only had that life, that extended period that no longer existed, to show what a long life together would have been like.

However, she’d been shaken from her thoughts when Li’or had been brought in, and she found her daughter back in her arms once more. The hug that felt like it lasted a lifetime had been something she’d been waiting for.

Now: she was watching her daughter sleep, unable to sleep herself. Jayla was herself again, she had her daughter back, the crew was back, but there was a spot in her heart that felt empty, and it was digging away at her as she fought back tears. Her view out the window of stars streaking by was familiar yet different.

Pulling her legs up to her chest, her emotions finally overwhelmed her as tears began to streak down her cheeks. How was she supposed to get through this? How was she supposed to be strong for Li’or when she didn’t feel strong herself? All this time alone, pretending to be someone she wasn’t, keeping it together each and every day. The moment the full weight hit her; she did all she could to remain quiet for her daughter to remain asleep as she could only sob silently into the darkness.

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