Avalin pries open the window-cover, peering out into the hazy pinkness of Orial-7. Spores float through the space between the glass and the sky, gyrating in some unseen wind.
"Pretty, hmm?" Avalin's mother says, causing her to jump.
"Pretty deadly." Avalin stands, letting out a sigh. "When does our citizenship transfer come into effect?"
Her mother gives her the side-eye, reminding her wordlessly how many times she's already asked this. "We don't know yet. A week, most likely. Perhaps longer. It depends."
Avalin doesn't want to wait anymore. She's tired of waiting. Tired of being confined to the claustrophobic halls of their family hab unit. Tired of the power going out at random when the filters get clogged with spores. She keeps finding videos of Yallas on her viewscreen, and she wants green fields, blue skies, a functioning city complex with other kids her age. She knows they're lucky to have been accepted as colony citizens, but she would be happy never to see the color pink again.
"Come on, it's suppertime. Quit moping, we're having rice tonight. Your favorite."
Avalin groans, wrinkling her nose. They always have rice. Yet another thing she wishes she never had to see.
A great crash, and the lights flicker out. Then on. Then off again in a final plunge into darkness. Mother and daughter both wait in silence for the backup generator to kick on.
One minute.
Two.
Five.
It doesn't.
"Can you get to the window, Lin?"
Avalin gropes towards it, finding the shade and pulling it back up. The generator is visible through the glooming light, coated in a thick layer of mushroom dust, practically a meter high. Avalin groans again.
Her father and little brother appear from the other room, Mela with a bowl of sticky rice in his hands, and a fair bit on his face as well.
"Power's out?" Her Dad says, rather superfluously. Avalin rolls her eyes as her mother nods. "We just got a message from Novasol, too." His lips tighten grimly. "Transfer's canceled. We'll have to apply again."
The air sinks, and so does Avalin's heart inside her chest. Her dreams of breathing the free air again and having friends and escaping Orial die in one long sigh, the air fleeing a popped inflatable. "But that will take months!"
"I don't mind." Mela says, spooning rice into his mouth. "I like it here."
"That's because you're insane." Avalin grumbles, making to storm off and then remembering that she wouldn't be able to see to get to her room. Having no desire to feel along the walls like a blind person, she stayed put for the time being.
Her mother doesn't look happy, but there's a tinge of resignation there too, as though she always figured this was how things would be. A surge of anger flared up in Avalin's chest. How could Novasol play with their lives like this? Didn't they understand how much this transfer meant?
Her mother sighs. "Well, we can reapply, I suppose. There's little else we can do. But first we should get the power fixed. Coren, are those haz-suits still up to specs?"
"Think so. They should be good for years, as long as they don't get ripped. Only the door's automatically sealed shut. Can't get out that way. We'll have to use the window."
"I don't think either of us are fitting through that window, honey." Her mother glances at the gap, which is only about a meter and a half high.
All eyes fall to Avalin, who shuffles backwards a step. "Me? I can't go out there, there's pollen that wants to kill me!"
"Don't be dramatic, dear. You'll be wearing a suit. It's entirely safe."
"Why can't Mela go? He's smaller."
"I'm still eating."
"What? That's not an excuse! Set the rice down, for goodness sakes!"
"Don't be cross, Avalin. It's not that big of a deal. Look, your Dad already fetched the suit for you."
Heaving a great sigh, Avalin shouldered out of her jacket and shoved herself into the airtight suit, shoving the faceplate over her visage and pulling up the hood up to cover it.
"Alright. We'll go out and seal the doors." Her Dad instructs. "Don't open the window until the doors seal."
"Of course. It's not like I want you guys to inhale toxict dust." She shoves the rebreather over her face and tightens the seals.
"If you get the spores off the generator should kick on."
"Got it." Her voice comes out muffled.
The sounds of the doors sealing, the fading notes of her mother's good luck, echoed through her head as she counted slowly to twenty seven and then lifted the window latch, squeezing herself out of the gap, booted feet landing on the ground with a puff of pink dust.
She closed the window and took a few steps, and then stopped.
Avalin had never been outside. Not on Orial nor the station they had lived on before.
And it was beautiful. Not the neat square of world she had seen from the hab windows, not the ariel view from the camera drones. Orial-7 was wonderous. Untamed. A swathe of cherry blossom sky, so incomprehensibly vast that she could not see its end. Mushrooms stretching above, fuchia with sworls of deep indigo, spores whorling in the air like dancing fairy nymphs.
Avalin was struck still, breath fogging her faceplate as she reached out a tentative hand. Pollen settled on her glove, and she brought it up to her face. How had she not noticed, what a beautiful color it was, before?
Remembering her task, she snapped out of her reverie, walking over to the generator to sweep the spores off of it, finger landing on the reset button.
A rumble, and then a throaty roar that drowned out the calm serenity. Behind her, the hab began to glow.
And Avalin smiled. Because a few more months didn't feel like so long to wait, truly
It's so beautiful, after all.

“Astrid! Time to get your shoes on. We’re leaving for school in five minutes.” I shout up the stairs in hopes of getting my strong-willed four-year-old out the door on time today.

"I can’t go out there, there’s pollen,” Astrid says from the top of the stairs. 

“It’s 30 degrees out in January. There’s no pollen.”

“Mommy. There is pollen outside. Can I stay home today?”

“Astrid, we’re not doing this again. You ask me this every day and the answer is always no. We only stay home if you’re sick or if there’s a snowstorm.”

“But Mom-meeee. I want to stay home! I don’t like pollen.”

“Do you even know what pollen is?”

Astrid stares at the ceiling while thinking it over, clearly adding to her stalling tactics. “No. But Damian said it’s really bad and causes you to sneeze all the time.”

“Pollen comes out in the spring, so you have nothing to worry about. Now get your shoes on so we can go to school. If you’re late, then Mommy will be late for work again. And Mommy will be sad if that happens because she’ll get in trouble.”

Astrid stands firm at the top of the stairs. “No,” she stubbornly says while crossing her arms.

“Come on, Astrid. This isn’t funny anymore. Yesterday it was bees, which don’t come out until spring either. The day before it was Christmas, which already happened a few weeks ago. We need to leave in two minutes.”

Astrid starts taking off the clothes that took her forever to pick out and put on in the first place. 

“Astrid! I am giving you to the count of three to put your clothes back on and get your shoes on. If you don’t listen to me, then no Bluey after school! One….two…”

“No fair! I want Bluey!” Astrid plunks herself down on the top step and stomps on the one below. 

I am about ready to pull out my hair. “Astrid,” I say as calmly as possible, “you can watch Bluey if you listen to me and get ready for school like I’ve asked you to five times already today.” 

“Hmmmph!” Astrid runs back into her room and slams the door shut.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with this kid. In the meantime, I need to have someone cover for me at work this morning because I know I won’t make it in on time again and I’m supposed to set up the morning meeting. I don’t know what I did to my mom when I was Astrid’s age, but clearly I’m experiencing some sort of karmic retribution. I groan when I hear Astrid scream-singing the Bluey theme song at the top of her lungs. I run upstairs and knock on her door.

“Astrid Leigh Mitchell, get out here right now! We have to leave.” The room goes silent. “Astrid?!? What are you doing?” The silence unnerves me and I turn the knob of the door, but it won’t open. Judging from past experience, she put her toy chest in front of it again. At this rate, I might as well call us both in sick today as we’re never getting out of the house. I think of everything I am not going to get done today and try to figure out who can cover even more for me. Then I hear “Mommy?”

“Yes, Astrid.”

“I had an accident again.” 

I take a deep breath before speaking again. “Okay, sweetie. Can you open the door so I can help you get cleaned up?” I hear some shuffling and then the door opens up a crack. 

“Mommy, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, but we really do need to hurry up. If you can help by picking out some new pants, it will make Mommy really happy. Can you do that?”

Astrid goes to her pants drawer and pulls out the first pair she sees. Gray sweatpants with ballet slippers. They totally don’t match her yellow Bluey shirt, but I’ll take what I can get.

After I help her clean up, I hand her the pants to put on. 

She throws them back at me, hitting me in the face. “I don’t like these pants. They’re ugly!” 

I count to ten in my head so I don’t scream. “But you picked them out, sweetie.” 

“Mom-meeeee! I don’t like these pants. I want new pants! Let’s go to Target.” 

“You have plenty of pants, Astrid. Tell you what. If you put these pants on and get your shoes on right now, we will go to Target after school and get you a treat.” 

“Really?!?” Astrid’s whole face lights up.

“Yes, but you need to do it in one minute. Starting….now!” 

I breathe a sigh of relief as Astrid puts her pants on, backwards no less, and races down the stairs to get her shoes on. Finally! Who cares if they’re on the wrong feet? 

“Mommy, did I win?” 

“Yes. Let’s get your bag and go to the car.” 

Astrid suddenly comes to a stop in the front hallway. “But Mommy, I didn’t have breakfast.”

I toss a banana and a small container of Cheerios into Astrid’s backpack. “You can eat in the car.”

“But you always say I can’t eat in the car.” Astrid smugly grins at me, thinking she’s won this round.

“I’ll get a mini-vacuum when we go to Target. Just get in the car.”

Astrid seems satisfied by that and we’re on our way, after I bundle her in her Bluey coat with her Bluey hat and Bluey scarf. Bluey mittens too, of course.  And then snow starts coming down and an alert comes onto my phone saying all schools and daycares are closing to prepare for a snow emergency. 

Great. Just great. As I check the phone for updates about work, I hear Astrid chanting “Snow day, snow day, time for everyone to play!” 

It’s going to be a long day.

Well. Here's my story 🙂

Write a story where someone says, “I can’t go out there, there’s pollen.”

Smoke billowed from the city behind me. Screams in the distance. I adjusted the medical mask on my face and started up the stone pathway to Anna's house.

The air was smothering me as I held the wilting flowers in my sweaty hand. They had cost me a fortune. But I'd do it again for Anna. We only had so long before the pollen took us over just like everyone else. The city had to be taken out with all the infected.

Natural death didn't exist anymore.

Not since the pollen was released. The man-made disease spread around the world over the years till it covered everything. The human race was going extinct. I was one of the last people who would walk along the earth.

I made it to Anna's door. Standing there for a second, I savored this moment. Reaching up, I rapped my hand against the door. 

Several seconds passed. The door stayed shut. 

She probably wasn't awake…

A high-pitched tapping came from the window to my left. I peeked through and found Anna staring at me with a frown. She eyed the flowers in my hand. Poppies. I wanted to let her down slowly…

Tears listened in her eyes. Her tangled brown hair hung limp. She hadn't been out of the house for days. She was free of the sickness. I couldn't come in to say goodbye.

I laid the poppies in front of her door and stared at those tragically beautiful blue eyes on the other side of the window. 

Anna twitched a small smile as to say “It'll be alright”. She pressed her hands and head against the window. Tears making trails as they traveled down her cocoa skin.

I placed my palms on hers and rested my forehead against the chilled glass. Even as the world faded around me, I smiled. I was going to be with Anna forever. 

-A.H. Bradbury 

Here's my story. Hope you all enjoy!

"Is she awake?" 

Head pounding, room swimming, eyes blinking, open, shut...

"Is she awake?"

It's like a drum's repeated echo in my head. Eyes open, grey, they shut, black. Grey, black, grey, black... Stay awake, Neule, I tell myself. Wake up... Grey comes. I force my eyes to open fully.

"She's awake!" 

Ow, my head... I'm in a dark room, a cell. It's grey. I'm tied to a chair. Blood drops crimson down my face. Reach my hand to wipe it away. I can't wipe it away, my hands are bound. 

"Neule Deadcrown?" a voice asks. 

Earlier I'd been talking to Duev. 

"They want to see you, Neule. I think they know." 

Her brow was furrowed in worry. I hate seeing her worried. She is more a mother to me than my own ever was. My eyes were on the flames, flickering in the fireplace. All it would take was some water to kill them. All it would take was some hate to kill me. All it would take was some hate to kill her. 

"Go," I'd said, knowing that if they found her here... "Go and start again." 

I was asking more than that. I was asking her to live the new beginning I'd thought I'd have, that was being stolen. They'd kill me, I knew then, and I know now. I am going to die. Because there's nowhere to run.

"No," Duev had told me, "We can make some excuse, it's not too late for the facade. We can..." 

"What? Say I can't go out there, there's pollen like last time?" 

For some reason I wanted to smile and cry at once. 

"It wouldn't work," I continued, "They'll come in and find me and kill us both. I have to go to them." 

Duev was fighting back tears.

"We can't lose you like we lost Luneu." 

"You'll see me again," I'd assured her, even as cold dark fear had set in. 

God, please...

Duev had hugged me, and for that moment I'd felt safe. She's hiding now. Like I pleaded with her to. They all think she's dead. And I'm going to die alone.

"Why must I die for what they did?" I ask now, as my executioner steps toward me. 

When my parents were assassinated, I thought I'd finally be free. I could get to know my brother, Duelen, I could live with Duev and Eveult to raise me... All we've done since then is run. And now I will perish.

"The Deadcrown legacy must come to an end." 

"The Deadcrown legacy is a legacy of death," I retort, "Why do you choose to continue it?" 

He just watches me, his expression calculating. 

"We don't have to be what they made us." 

My voice comes out barely a whisper, but he hears it. And then he thrusts the knife. I should hate him, for the future he's stealing. For choosing vengeance instead. But I don't. I can't. I only pity him. As pain sears through me, I see a shaft of sunlight, cutting through the stone grey from a crack in the wall, and I know I'm not alone. That no matter what happens, it'll be okay, because there's still light. Light that he clearly can't see. 

"For what it's worth, I forgive you," I whisper. 

And I bleed. Dying like a doused fire. But maybe, like a fire, I'm leaving embers of warmth, of hope, behind me. And the chance he might see them is worth the agony. 

Yes, I know out of the three prompts so far, I've killed off the main character in two. Let's just ignore that little fact, lol.