June 1, 2081

The next day, I woke up feeling stiff. Though the chair was comfortable to sit on, it wasn't the best for sleeping. I stood up to shake my legs and stretched to remove the kinks in my body. A few other people were doing the same.

"Good morning," Wunmi said in a chirpy voice.

I turned to her and smiled. "Someone seems happy today."

"Of course. We are far from earth, away from the ink, and we are moving towards our new home."

I wasn't as excited as Wunmi. I loved the fact that we had gotten a chance to live but I was nervous about what the planet we were going to looked like. When I thought of it, one of the scenarios I imagined was wearing oxygen masks over my face. I hoped that wasn't going to be the case. When the ink had first started, people began to put nose guards but we soon realized it was futile. It had felt uncomfortable wearing a nose guard, I didn't want to imagine what an oxygen mask will look like.

"She's still sleeping."

"Who?" I turned in the direction she was looking at and my face fell as I saw Mrs. Abimbola still curled up in her chair. Dry tear marks were clear on her face.

"She's a strong woman, I don't know how she's coping with all these. Tobi might have been a jerk but it's hard to imagine that he is infected. He was just beginning to come to his senses, I mean he agreed to a truce with you, but now..."

She was talking about him as if he was dead and though I wanted to say he wasn't, I knew it was the same. Infection equalled to death. I just hoped he'll get a quick death. I wondered if there was any use hoping. His infection had started out slow, he would be lucky if his death was fast.

I shook my head to get rid of the gloomy thoughts. It was a new day and I didn't want to spend it sad.

"They wouldn't let us explore the spaceship," a voice said behind me.

I turned to find Yemilade and Chidinma standing with their arms folded around their chest.

"Why?" Wunmi asked.

"I don't know. They want us to stay in here until we get to our destination. That's not fair. What of those who are afraid of small spaces?"

"Claustrophobic," I provided. "The room isn't that small, Yemilade. And I think the officers are just being careful. If they let people out, someone might go missing or touch something they aren't supposed to touch."

"True."

I turned to see Caroline looking fresher that the day before. She had her hair up in a ponytail. "Good morning," she greeted in a cheerful voice.

"Good morning."

"If we can't go out, what are we expected to do then? Sit and be bored." Yemilade seemed more bothered about that than the exchange of pleasantries.

"No. There's a panel behind the room that would soon be lifted. It will reveal a relaxation room with several games and the people from the next room will also be sharing it with us."

Yemilade's eyes brightened at that. "Sweet. When are they lifting the panel?"

Caroline chuckled at the excitement in her voice. "Soon. In the meantime, there's a door over there." She pointed to a small door that I hadn't noticed earlier. "It leads to a small restroom where you can wash your face, teeth and other body parts. Water is rationed though so you'll have to make do with what is there. The good news is that the water is cleaner than most you've seen."

"Nice. What are we waiting for?" Wunmi asked rhetorically.

"Since it's a small place, two rooms for each gender, you'll have to wait your turn. People are picking up tags from the table in front. It shows what number you are on the list."

I turned to look at the table she was talking about. There were only a few tags left. It seemed I had woken up late.

"After that, breakfast will be served."

"Thank God. I'm starving," Chidinma said, rubbing her belly.

"Me too," we all chorused.

The watch on Caroline's wrist ticked and she looked at it. "Sorry girls, I have to go but I'll be back soon. Remember to get your tags."

We rushed to the table to pick our tags. I picked one for Mrs. Abimbola so she could have her bath when it was her turn. I was number 31 on the list and I had picked 32 for her.

About an hour later, it was my turn. The water was cleaner than usual like Caroline had said. It was like a glimpse of what the water had looked like in the past. I quickly washed up, careful not to waste the bucket of water I had gotten. When I got out of the restroom, I was surprised to see Mrs. Abimbola waiting for me outside.

"Good morning, ma."

"How are you, Ivy?" she asked, a small smile spreading on her face.

"I'm fine. How..." I trailed off. There was no use asking how she was. I knew she wasn't fine.

She placed a hand on my cheek, her eyes looking more sad. "I'll be fine."

Outside, a plate of toast bread and a cup of tea were waiting for me. I ate the three slices hungrily but that didn't seem to satisfy me. Luckily, there was a basket of apple on the table in front so I picked one.

When the panel to the relaxation room opened, everyone turned to look at it. Just like Caroline said, there were a lot of games. There was a tennis table, a small bowling point, a basketball loop and those were just a few I recognized. People trooped into the room from the other side and that gingered people from our side to stand up and do the same.

"Let's go meet new people," Wunmi said, pulling me with her as she made her way to the room.

We had only taken a few steps into the room when Wunmi got distracted by some people playing with the bowling ball. I rolled my eyes and moved further into the room. There were a lot of games that I didn't know what to focus on. I watched someone throw a basketball but it missed the loop and knocked over the bowling pins instead. I chuckled and moved to another game.

I was walking over to the snooker table when I noticed a girl carrying a child. The child was crying and the girl looked like she had run out of ways to comfort her. I noticed her eyes also flickering to the tennis table as if she wanted to join them.

"Hi, I'm Ivy."

She looked at me for a while before she finally answered. "Don't you have a native name that I'll find hard to pronounce? Most of the Nigerians I've met here do."

I raised a brow at her hostile tone but decided to reply cheerfully. "I do but I'll save you the stress. Plus everyone calls me Ivy."

She sighed. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I'm Patricia but please, just call me Trisha."

"Okay, Trish," I said, shortening the name further. She raised a brow but smiled. "What's her name?"

She followed my eyes to the child she was carrying. "London."

"She's beautiful. Is she your daughter?"

She shrieked. "What? No! I'm just 16. Why would you think that?"

I wanted to tell her it didn't matter. In these times when everyone wanted to enjoy what they could before they became infected, teenage pregnancy was not a surprise.

She seemed to realise that though. She sighed. "She's my step... She's my sister."

I raised a brow.

She fell silent for a while before she suddenly started talking. "After my mum died, my dad decided to get married again. I thought it was because he wanted me to have a mother, but it wasn't that. He was in love again and I felt he had betrayed my mother. I was determined to make the life of my step mother difficult and I did. I'm not proud of the things I did."

"I understand the feeling of not being proud of things you've done in the past. I was a spoilt brat when I was little." I remembered treating Mrs. Abimbola horribly.

She chuckled. "I bet it was no match for what I did."

"I'll advise you not to bet on that."

We glanced at each other and broke into giggles. It seemed weird fighting over who had been the baddest.

"So what happened?" I asked after some time.

Her face fell. "Lana—my step mother—was a nice woman and that made it more annoying. She was pregnant when my dad got infected and died. I expected her to leave me but she didn't. She stayed. No matter what I did, she stayed. I didn't see it as a good thing though, it just made me more annoyed. Until she got infected." She paused and I waited while she gathered herself.

I looked around for Wunmi and the girls. They were gathered around a table and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Trish's voice pulled my attention back to her.

"It was shortly after she had given birth to London. No matter how much I tried to ignore London, she grew on me. When Lana got infected, it felt like scales had fallen off my eyes. No matter how stubborn I had been, the truth was I never really wanted Lana to get out of my life. If I did, I would have left after my father's death. I stayed but I refused to acknowledge that I needed her. I felt acknowledging it would be a betrayal to my mum.

"It took me seeing her laying on her death bed for me to realize how much I needed her. The infection was slow and the few days she had left, I spent being the daughter I should always have been." She paused and wiped a few tears that had escaped her eyes. "She arranged with a friend to take me and London away before she died. She didn't want me to see her die, but I should have been there with her. I should have held her hand until she...until she melted. I should have been there."

It felt odd sitting while she cried. I fidgeted, wondering what to do. Was it right to put an arm around her? I wasn't sure of what to say to her but I knew that sometimes silence was stronger than we thought so I remained silent.

My eyes went to the baby she was carrying—London. She had stopped crying and was now staring curiously at Trish. A tear rolled down Trish's cheeks and fell on her face and she burst into another round of tears. Trish rocked her, trying to shush her.

"Let me try," a voice said from behind me.

I turned to see Mrs. Abimbola staring at the child. Trish was frowning at her, her arms clutched tightly around London.

"You can trust her, she has a way with babies," I said.

She stared at me for a few seconds before handing over the baby to Mrs. Abimbola. A few minutes of rocking and humming a lullaby and London quietened. Trish looked surprised.

"She used to sing that lullaby to me when I was a child."

"Your mum?"

I smiled sadly. "She's like a mum to me. She took me in after the ink took my parents."

Her eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry."

I gave her a reassuring smile. "It's okay."

We watched Mrs. Abimbola as she settled into a chair close by and held London close to her. There was a look of calmness in her eyes and I was happy about that.

"She looks like she's been crying," Trish observed.

I sighed. "We left her son back on earth, he's infected."

"Oh."

I knew Trish didn't know what else to say. No matter how common death had become, it didn't make it easier to respond to it. We sat in silence for a few minutes watching the games being played.

"Ivy Ad—Adekuoya?"

I turned to see an officer reading from a note in his hand. "Adekoya," I corrected. "That's me."

"Mrs. Angela would like to see you."

I turned to Mrs. Abimbola to inform her but she was already nodding her head. "I have to go now. Hopefully, I'll see you around sometime," I said to Trish.

"I hope so."

I followed the officer out and through the corridor I had gone through the last time. This officer was younger than the one that had called me the day before. He kept glancing at me and I had a feeling he had something to say to me.

"What?" I finally asked.

"I heard about you and how you kept calling Angela for months. No wonder she likes you, your persistence is just like hers. It's not everyone that gets to spend time gisting with her."

We had reached our destination so I couldn't respond and even if I could, I didn't know what to say. The officer sounded like he admired Angela and was a little jealous that I was spending time with her. He opened the door for me and I smiled at him as I walked into the room.

"Ivy!" Angela called, a huge smile on her face as she noticed me. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, ma."

She chuckled. "No need for the ma. Come and have a seat."

Caleb, her son, was standing at a corner, looking at a screen. He smiled at me and I smiled back, waving shyly.
I sat beside Angela but my mind went back to what the officer had said.

"What are you thinking about? You can tell me."

"It's nothing. It's just that I'm sure you have a lot to do rather than spending time talking to me."

Angela chuckled. "All work and no rest makes me cranky. Besides, I like talking to you."

"Because I remind you of yourself?" I asked, remembering what she had said the last time.

"Yes, but also because... "She leaned towards me. "I can be myself around you. Everyone here, except Caleb, acts like they are strong and not afraid, I'm expected to be like that too. A robot without emotions. Showing emotions with them would make it weird. But I've seen you, you aren't afraid to show your excitement about Inkwell or your fear. I want to be able to share that with you."

I smiled, feeling my heart flutter happily in my chest. We spent the next few hours talking and watching the screens.

Several hours later, we arrived at our new home. From the air, it looked like a bowl. It was big and wide and I couldn't even see the end from where we hovered. A part of it was lighted while the other was dark. I briefly wondered about the dark part but my attention quickly moved on to the lighted part, where I could see how our new planet looked like.

It was the beginning of a new month which also marked the beginning of something new for us all. From my post beside Angela, I could see tiny dots moving around in the lighted area. I guessed it was people covered in ink. This far, they looked like blotches of ink.

"What are we going to call it?" Caleb asked. He had come to stand beside me.

Angela looked around, her eyes twinkling in excitement. "Inkwell."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Ooh...Inkwell. What a strange name. Why do you think Angela called it that?

What do you think will happen now?

If you liked this chapter, remember to
•vote, 🌟
•comment and 💬
•share. ⏩

©Jesutofunmi Fekoya2019