A day just like any other. She had just gotten out of school, and was exiting the room she had been in for the entire day. She didn’t mind school. Though, she wouldn’t say she was necessarily ecstatic about it either. She had always done ‘just fine’ at school. More importantly to her was that this was time that she would get to spend with others her age. Time she would get to spend with those with similar pressures and expectations as her. It made her feel safer, in a sense.

  So, as she walked out of the school, it was almost as if she could feel the weight on her shoulders growing. Even by just a smidge. “April! Over here!” A man’s voice called out. –No, not just any man. She whipped her head to the left, her ponytail flinging along and hitting her on the right cheek, and she saw him. Her Dad had come to pick her up from school, a somewhat infrequent occurrence.

  Grabbing her backpack straps, she broke into a light jog to meet up with him even a moment faster. “Dad? I thought you’d be at work! What are you doing here?” Stopping in place right in front of him, she looked right up at her Dad. At this age, the height disparity was quite intense. Being only 11 years old, and her Dad even being quite tall, it made the difference between parent and child even more pronounced from the outside looking in, as if she was even younger than she already was.

  “Ahh well, all I do is work. I figured I could head out early to pick you up. Was that so wrong?” Leaning down a little bit to be more level with her, he informed her that he had requested to leave early for this very encounter. The way he phrased it, and the way he said it, was so gentle and kind. Even April, who had a tendency to blame herself for things, couldn’t bring herself to feel bad that he came all this way to see her.

  With a smile, she grabbed onto her Dad’s hand, and the two turned around to head back to their living quarters. April had always had a habit of staying close to her parents. Some people even considered it a form of separation anxiety given how much her mood would clear up when one of them entered her field of view. It was a bit of a cause for concern for her parents, however, they weren’t exactly sure how to help break that anxiety and push her into independence.

  Her Dad would often recall a story from her early childhood, much to her chagrin. When she was very young, both of her parents were out of the house for one reason or another. When neither of them returned at the time they stated they would be, she immediately called the Enforcer’s out of fear. It was a story that made her face turn red with embarrassment every time she heard it. Even now, she feared what a future without her parents would look like.

  She wasn’t completely ignorant. She knew that she was actively watching them age, and that she would slowly watch them get weaker and weaker. So, what she had wanted to do was enjoy every last moment with them that she could. After all, they were her favorite people in the entire world.

  “April… Aren’t you a little old to be holding hands?” Stopping in front of her, while holding up both of their hands in the air to display what he was referring to, he looked at her with a small smile on his face. It wasn’t necessarily because he was happy about what he was doing, but perhaps to soften the blow.

  “O-Oh. Okay…” She timidly let go of his hand, and as she put her hands together, looking towards the floor, her Dad could no longer hold his smile.

  “I’m sorry, honey. It’s not that it bothers me. But, you’re growing up. I want you to be able to do things on your own, you know?” He leaned over once more to be closer to equal to her, and planted his right hand atop her head.

  “...What if I don’t want to grow up?” Without being able to look her Dad in the eyes, her voice sizzled, as if something was caught in her throat as she said those words.

  Letting out a small laugh out of his nose, her Dad stood straight up, and put his hands on his hips. “Well, I can’t say it’s the most exciting. Everyone takes you way too seriously as an adult! And it’s really easy to hurt my back now. And sometimes my knees hurt. And did I mention that everyone takes you too seriously already?”

  Puffing out his chest, he listed all of his current issues with being a grown man. Or at least, all the ones a small kid could internalize. “But you know what’s great about it?” Adding onto his prior statement, he straightens back out to drop his puffed out posture, and looks right down at April. Upon being asked that question, she finally gathered the courage to look up at him.

  “What?”

  “You get to do whatever it is you want. You get to make an impact.” She looked at him in wonder. Getting to do whatever you want? Inside of her young mind, there were so many things she conceptualized, but the more she thought, the more bleak her outcomes looked.

  “Mom is always telling me about how I’ll be a good mom, like her. The teachers at school tell me how I should go to university to support my family… How do I know if I want to do that?”

  Listening to her inquiry, he dropped his smile, and looked off as if he was thinking of the answer for himself. “Hmm… Well, do you want to do it?” Finally looking back at her, that’s what he offered her unguided heart. If she were to be honest, the answer was a little frustrating.

  “I don’t know… If I knew I wouldn’t have asked.” Letting her disappointment shine, she informed him of the purpose of asking that question to begin with. She had no idea what she wanted to do with this life she had been given, and she wasn’t sure how to pinpoint in which direction to go while people from the sidelines regularly asked her what she wanted to do. How was she supposed to know with what little time she had spent in this world?

  “Well, whatever it is you decide to do… I’ll support you, April. And you know what?” Leaning down again, and pressing his hand onto her head again, as if to end this conversation the same way it had begun, he gave his final attempt to reassure her. “I’m sure that you will do great things in this world.” Flashing a toothy grin, he imparted his honest belief to her, that her existence would do something vague but purposeful.

  Why?

  △▼△▼△▼△

  It had been a couple of days since the riots had broken out on board the U.S.S. Starlight Hope. Cleanup efforts were underway, and the Enforcers were hard at work establishing and imposing the will of the current Administration. There was just one piece of the ongoing puzzle aboard this ship that could not quite fit into what the Enforcers had been doing, one that they were not entirely sure how to handle at this critical juncture.

  Opening the thin door into the maintenance hallway, Merle made his way down the dark corridor. Faintly illuminated by the red maintenance lights, he couldn’t quite make out things very far in front of him. He could only see even more small, dim lights just ahead. The hallway was tight, so much so that it made it a struggle to pass through in his Enforcer uniform. He angled himself so that his right shoulder was forward, and he shifted through the corridor.

  As he neared the half way mark, a flashlight turned and struck him directly in the face. Grunting, he covered his face at that comparatively blinding light, having only just gotten used to the faint lighting of the passageway. “Oh, sorry Merle, sir.” The cadet quickly aimed his flashlight away, to which Merle peeked past his hand. Continuing to shuffle down, he made it to a medium sized pocket that sat half way in the maintenance shaft.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  As he rounded the corner, a putrid smell hit his nose. He placed the hand that had just been covering his eyes over his nose to block out the smell, and looked down at the sight before him. Blood, bits of intestines and flesh that had been gouged out. A lifeless body of a young woman sat motionless in a chair that had presumably been placed to rest during one's work in the corridor.

  A place to catch one's breath, to let the world spin around you, had now been the place one would meet their end. Or, so he thought. Merle looked at the floor. Of course, there was a substantial pool of blood underneath the chair where her body had been found, but what he noticed had been a trail of blood. A trail from the chair, a bit of a way into the hall. Following it with his eyes, he found yet another substantial pool of blood.

  He craned his head around the corner to get a better look. There was a very clear blood splatter on the wall where the pool had gathered. Based on the wounds on her body, it was an easy inference. Someone pinned her to this wall and stabbed her, before dragging her to the cubby and placing her on the chair. Another simple inference to make was that this followed the same M.O as prior murders around the ship.

  The Justice department had been easy on the details when speaking to journalists about what had been happening, but Merle knew it was clear as day. A serial killer had been killing young women aboard the U.S.S. Starlight Hope. This would not be the first serial killer in the station's history, but it would be the first that Merle had personally investigated.

  It was the same song and dance every time. A dead woman, and thirty-nine stab wounds. Frankly, Merle was not particularly concerned about what the unknown murderer had been doing. Uncouth vixens served not but to be at the behest of those who they belonged to. In their final moments, they certainly belonged to the person who killed them.

  A likely inference was that it was a man who had been killing these women. That was generally what was historically true. Thus, a man had only been enacting his birthright. Therefore, Merle did not harbor any social or political dispositions towards a man murdering women in particular. It was not something he would do himself, primarily due to the legal backlash that he might face.

  However, this was still a problem he had to solve. Merely because the U.S.S. Starlight Hope was not this man's stomping grounds. It belonged to Merle. It was what was right, after all. Having been born and raised here, and having been promised this sacred ground long before the idea of the ship had even existed, it was not for someone else to toil on.

  As mentioned earlier, many things had changed from the status quo of the Liberal Administration prior. The biggest one and of most concern to Merle was that the person he had to report to would now be different. Among many of the executive orders, it was detailed that the Justice department would now report to the executive branch.

  So, rather than his standard commanding officer, Merle would have to bring news of a grizzly murder of a young woman to some limp-dicked, feckless politician who would wax poetic about the loss of a young woman, dedicating resources to the investigation of the serial killer. Likely, including Merle as a Chief Detective.

  While he didn’t mind the elevation of position, it was not substantial enough to be considered great. Additionally, it would be something he would be stuck with for a long period of time. He believed that his best chance at quickly elevating to power would not be to be a desk jockey for a federal investigation, but to directly work with the Administration to implement the new order.

  If possible, it would be best to avoid spreading word about yet another murder taking place. At that moment, as that thought crossed his mind, something caught his eye. Nestled in the pocket of the woman dead atop the chair, was something white. It was just barely noticeable, perhaps a quarter of an inch of paper sticking out. It would have turned up during the autopsy or on further investigation.

  Merle considered himself lucky that it had not been spotted yet. Turning around and approaching the deceased woman, the cadet stepped back to let his superior work. “What is it, sir?” He inquired. Ignoring that statement, Merle reached into her pocket, and pulled out the thin piece of paper. As it unfolded, it was about the size of a ripped corner of a sheet of paper.

  Reading the brief message that had been stuffed into her pocket, he considered this his lucky break. An immediate idea flashed into his mind. This was outside the usual trail left by the killer. He however would not complain. This would be his first step towards achieving a higher calling.

  “Cadet. Let’s hold off on reporting this for now. There’s something I want you to look into.”

  △▼△▼△▼△

  Exiting that dark room for the first time in days, she squinted her eyes at the bright lights out in the hall. Ordinarily, at this point in her life, stepping out into the wide ‘world’ was something frightening for her. A killer, a weakling, a coward, and worst of all, someone who dared to dream, was inherently rejected by the world.

  Touching the face mask she had been wearing to ensure that at least half of her face was obfuscated, she stepped forward. Feeling that oppressive air overtake her, she felt herself get swallowed up by malice. Not from any individual, not from the cold, almost barren walls of the container. It was as if the universe itself had sent a signal. –You are not welcome.

  To April, nothing had changed. Hers was an existence that had been rejected by the time her Father had died. The universe had seen straight through her. She was nothing. So this suffocating atmosphere was something that she had grown accustomed to. A mouse living among cats would not continue to wander around in fear of being hunted. It was already aware that its end was near.

  She flipped up her hood as she stepped out of the doorway, concealing the rest of her head. She knew that this appearance was also suspicious, but frankly, being known as April Wanless was more risky than looking like a vagrant. Looking to her side for a brief moment, that was when she spotted it. A poster donning her face and name. –Or, it should have.

  A wanted poster that was hung up by the Enforcers, saying that April was suspected of murder. Upon the paper hung to the wall however, were multiple scribbles. Her face was drawn over to add a hoodie and to obfuscate her features. Her name was completely blacked out, drawn over and filled in with marker. Laid overtop, in a color different from the black backdrop so it could stand out;

  “We have a world to win.”

  It became clear to her at that moment. She had inherited the hopes of who knows how many people. It was a feeling that sincerely made her sick to her stomach. If they knew the kind of person she was, they would surely never think for even a moment that a person like her was deserving of becoming a beacon of hope.

  “I feel sick.” Blurting that out, she covered her already covered mouth and put her head up against the window right beside the poster. It was a small opening, one that looked out to the dark beyond. She quickly closed her eyes, before the sight of the stars made her sick. --No.

  Slowly opening them, she looked out into the expanse. She was the one arrogant enough to question if someone like her could change the world. How could she hope to carry her parents' memories, and the hopes of the downtrodden, if she couldn’t even face something she hated?

  Her heart began racing. Sweat began dripping down her body. Her eyes would quake as if attempting to reject what she was looking at. But, she would bear it. As someone completely undeserving of this position, as someone deemed unsuitable by the universe itself, she would face them. April Wanless absolutely hated the stars.

  This… is what my Mother meant. When she said those words to me. It’s mine, and mine alone. She meant… This was my burden to carry. This was my destiny.

  Pressed up against the window, April faced the innumerable pinpricks of light, far outnumbering the amount of people she had come to know on this ship. Far outnumbering the people she would ever come to know. Far outnumbering the amount of people that had been born, lived, and died, on both Earth and this container.

  As if in cruel mockery, the stars did not budge per her declaration of war. They sat there, their brilliant radiance completely unaffected by the movement of ants. She had heard stories of the stars dancing back on Earth. It made her wonder, had they stopped dancing, as one final act of judgement?

  Had the universe stopped the show so that they could look inwards, and watch humanity shred itself to pieces? She didn’t understand, but, she understood. Looking out into absolute nothingness, with what meager starlight was present within, she understood.

  “...April?” That voice made her jolt in shock. Clutching the strings of her hoodie, she slowly turned her head to face who it was. Steven stood behind her, a look of far-reaching concern painted across his face.