My fingers ran over the smooth frozen ice which surrounded my brother, until the coffin began pressing itself into the wall. I caught a final glimpse at my brother, wide-eyed and afraid, his mouth hanging open.
"Ok Hannah, you next," my father whispered, his eyes drawn to the nametags indicating my ma's and brother's icy bodies.
"But, daddy, what is it like? Will it hurt?" I became the little girl I used to be. The one which had been lost for years, hiding till now.
"I don't know, but I told your mother that I would watch you and Thomas be, you know, well, frozen. Don't worry, it'll be like sleeping for a very long time. You'll wake up before you know it!" His voice was quivering, but I trusted him. 100%.
"I love you." I stepped forward and hugged my dad's round tummy, his spiky, half-shaven skin prickled against my face. His brown eyes and tight grip reassured me that everything would be fine. But I was still uncertain. I mean, to leave Earth behind, the grass, the trees, the orange sunset that makes you dizzy if you look at it for too long.
Although, in Victopia there will be my family, my friends, and a whole new planet to study and marvel at. I was never one to like change.
I remember the time when we were moving house, to live closer to Grandpa when he got sick. Don't get me wrong, I loved my Grandpa, still do, but the idea of living in an unfamiliar place frightened me so much that I hid in the attic for three hours before I got hungry and went out. It all seems so tedious now, moving house. Well it is compared to moving planet!
"Ok, the next one's ready," Neil stated, inturrupting my train of intricate thoughts.
Even though, I was about to do a very serious and life-changing thing, I couldn't help feeling awkward when I stripped in front of my dad and stepped into the chamber. I could tell he was tryingg his best not to make this more awkward then it was, it's funny how something so small can change your emotion in something so huge.
My father kissed my forehead and breathed to me, "See you in 10 years, Han. Don't worry, ok?"
I nodded, but I might has well had shook my head as he knew I was lying.
Neil drew out to blue patches, and I could tell what was about to happen. The bit which scared me the most. Going blind. I tried to resist the squares covering my eyes but it was going to go on sooner or later, so I let him put then on me. In an instant everything went black, I heard the footsteps towards the computer and unexpectedly, a sucking noise penetrated my ears, as if my sight was being sucked out of me eyes. However it had a strangly relaxing feel, like that time when Harry pressurised me to take some weed. But suddenly the acid swept into my eyes, and the pain started. I banged against the sides of the box.
"PLEASE! PLEASE!" I screamed my pleading sentence at my father, at Neil, at anybody who would listen. Luckily, just as quickly as the pain started, it finished. I felt the scientists cold fingers take the damned patches of, but it made no difference, I was still blind. It was still dark. But peaceful, I found it extremely calming, unlike my mum, who had to see everything and everyone. Mummy.
"Hannah? Are you ready?" Dad asked.
I took several deep breaths then answered truthfully, "I don't think I ever will be, but now will have to do then."
"I love you Hannah."
"Love you too Dad."
Before I knew it, water began seeping through the gaps in the side of my coffin, soon, it raised above my head and I gulped it down. It was like sugary water, suprisingly pleasant, the water went up my nose and seemed to swim around my body, I felt the water crack througah into my veins and begin to freeze every cell, one by one, but fastly. Then suddenly, I experienced brain-freeze, except it was my whole body which became stiff and rigid. I couldn't move a muscle. I tried to twitch my finger but it felt like sellotape had been wrapped around it. Freezing cold sellotape. Patiently, I waited for my frozen box to begin falling into the gap which was to be my home for the next decade.
"Bye, bye, Hannah." A muffled voice which belonged to my father reached me through the ice. It's not goodbye I thought, it's goodnight, we're not leaving eachother, right?
"Chris, I can only help you because you're my friend," Neil's voice confused me in my ice capsule. "But, if you're found, then you will be forced to go, and if you resist, the military will kill you."
What was he talking about?
"Ever since the prime-minister's assasination, the military has been in charge, they make the law. It may be different elsewhere, but all British citizens are required to leave." Neil informed my father. But, why did it matter, my father knows that he's levaing and he knows the law, why was the scientist patronizing him?
"I know, I know, but Colonel Vinnel is a tyrant, an evil, merciless tyrant. All he wants is for England to be powerful again. After the downfall, our country has lagged behind the rest of the world. We are the only country in the whole world where it is compulsory to leave. But I can't." What was he talking about? Why wasn't he getting in his coffin? He was coming with us. Right? Yeah, he must be, daddy wouldn't leave me behind. He's just talking stupid. In a minute he will step into his coffin and come with us. I'm sure of it. I grasped onto any other sound of the outside world, but all I could hear was the the tapping of his broken fingernails on solid ice.
"Look, mate, I know I promised you but are you sure you want to leave everything behind. Your wife, your children, can you really do that." Neil's speech crashed through the frozen water and punctured my ears, whilst infiltrating my heart. I couldn't imagine a world without dad. We did everything together: football games, concerts, cinema. He was my favourite person in the whole wide world. He would never leave me. He promised me on my first day nursery, on that day, daddy told me, "It's ok Hanny, you don't worry now, will you? Look, I love you, ok? I can't promise that I'll never go away for a bit. But I can promise that I'll come back. Even at the darkest moments, I will come back." At that moment I had become enchanted by the rocking horses, but those words, even if I wasn't paying attention to my fullest back then, somehow implanted themselves in my memory and wouldn't let me forget.
I believed and trusted that he would never leave me. That's why the next few words barged into me.
"I love my family, but I can't leave this planet. Let them go to Victopia and leave them this letter from me, it explains everything. Thank you, Neil, for everything." I felt my coffin begin to close into the wall. I waited for the familiar click when light became darkness. The click which would seperate me and my father forever. But it didn't come. Surely it's taking a long time.
Footsteps echoed into my chamber. My father's probably. I may not have been crying on the outside, but I certainly was on the inside.
Unexpectedly, I felt a wet substance surround my leg. It wasn't ice surrounding it anymore, it was slowly becoming wetter and wetter. I was melting. This isn't normal, they didn't mention this before. Unless, I was still open, I was becoming less hopeful of the click to come. It wasn't closed. Oh god.
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