Gone
Posted on Thu Sep 5th, 2019 @ 6:05pm by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sofia Cipriani
Edited on on Mon Sep 9th, 2019 @ 9:43pm
1,493 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Episode 8 - The Silence
Location: Quarters of Sofia Cipriani - Deck 6 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD002 2100 hrs
Sofia had the room to herself; her roommate was on shift and it made a nice change of pace to be able to clean as she was quoted as being ‘mess from hell’. This of course was that her mum used to look after her at home, she was coddled as an Italian mother always looked after their children whether they want it or not.
It was late, around 2100 hours so Sofia had been winding down and hoping to read a good book before falling asleep. She loved books, something her mother had insisted on when she and her siblings were younger. “There’s nothing better than feeling paper between your fingers and the smell when you open an old book. Starfleet and technology may reach for the stars, but they forget where they came from.” She always says.
Her mother, Rebeka, was an author. She had majored in political science as a youth and wrote books on Earth politics then later the Vulcan and Andorian angles. Her books were very well received and ironically were used by Starfleet in some academy courses. Later in life she became a chef, her love of cooking stemming from generations of Sosa women.
Cipriani’s was born. The family restaurant in which her elder brother Klaus also works as a chef. When she was younger, she used to buss tables but that was mainly a punishment if she stepped out of line, which was rare.
Her father, Gianni, was a loved man within the town. He was a carpenter and lived for nothing but making things with his bare hands. He was always in his element and nothing made him happier than when he was making an order for someone or spending time with his family that he doted on.
He held everyone when he spoke, his personality lit up every room and Sofia idolised him. A total daddy’s girl and she had him wrapped round her finger.
They would go on walks through the woods, camping, up late-night reading and spent a lot of time together. In hard times she would call him, he was her rock and he would set her mind at ease. Say the things that would relax her and make her feel safe in a galaxy of continuous peril.
So, when the call came through the communications network it was usually him. To her surprise, it was her mother.
“Mama?” She asked noticing the usual steely eye woman to look a little more tender than usual. “You don’t usually call me. Is everything ok?
“Piccola Sofia…” she began, her eyes shifting slightly from Sofia’s gaze, small pools of water forming in the corners.
“Mama, what is it?” Sofia pressed. She could feel the pit of anxiety in her stomach beginning to swirl. Fear beginning to form as her mind went in 100 directions as she didn’t know what was going on just yet, but her mother soon spoke.
“There has been an accident little one.” She began, a single tear rolling down her usual strong appearance. “You know your father likes to work late in the workshop. He did so last night, and I went to bed without him.”
“Mama no?!” Sofia exclaimed as she stood up abruptly, her chair falling back onto the floor, and walked backwards into the room in disbelief.
“Signore Materazzi found him this morning… he was working on a piece for the local museum. It was a large piece; it fell on him and.” Rebeka’s eyes closed in anguish. Her one love, her soul mate gone. Literally crushed under the weight of life and gone from their lives.
Sofia felt her heart quicken, she found it hard to breathe and her head became light feeling. She fell to the floor, her hands brought up to her chest as she felt each breath become a struggle. Her face tore up, streams of tears pouring from her eyes and even when she tried to speak nothing came out.
She could hear the muffled words of her mother in the background but her struggle to catch her breath became more pressing as she fell to the floor, her legs no longer able to support her. It felt like her body was shutting down, like her heart was being ripped from her chest.
Closing her eyes, she tried to calm herself, she’d seen people have panic attacks before and knew that trying to slow breathing, trying to calm down was a good idea, even if that’s all she had now.
“… loved you Sofia. You know he did. He was so proud of you for following your dream and it was all he ever talked about to our friends. You were his little star.” She heard her mother say she her hearing returned to her.
Sofia didn’t know where to look, she didn’t know what to say and a heavy weight now sat on her heart. Right in the place her father used to be, even though he was still there and would never leave.
“I spoke to him last night… he was fine.” Sofia finally said through tears and choked up attempts at speech.
“I know baby. It was an accident; no-one could have known this would happen.”? Rebeka replied attempting to remain composed for the sake of her daughter.
“No. This must be a mistake. He can’t be dead; I just spoke to him! He told me he’d see me when I was on leave in a couple of months. He said he had special plans. He wouldn’t lie to me mama!” she said in a raised tone, almost shouting at the computer her mother resided in.
Rebeka’s face was one of pain, she had just lost her husband and breaking the news to her youngest was tearing her apart. Deep down she knew that Sofia was being that young girl who’d just lost her father, that special relationship now just memories on walls and inside her head. Painful was too nice a word for what had just happened.
“Sofia…” Rebeka paused, trying to find the words to console her daughter lightyears apart from her. All she wanted to do was hold her, tell her everything would be ok, and they’d get through this but she couldn’t. Space truly was a divider between people no matter the meaning of the word. It’s meaning now was ever more relevant to how they felt.
“He didn’t lie. Accidents happen with even the most safety conscious of people. Your father would have done anything to see you again. You know that. You and he are alike in so many ways it’s like looking at a mirror when I see you. You have the best of him inside you, don’t forget that.”
“I don’t…” Sofia said losing her words. Almost as if a large vulture had come down a swooped them away. Maybe it took her heart too, she didn’t feel like it was there any longer either. She wanted a black hole to swallow her up, wishing it had happened to her instead so that she didn’t have to feel this way. She would give anything to feel nothing but at the same time feel the happiness she felt mere moments ago. Before her world collapsed in front of her.
Before her idol fell from grace.
Holding onto her bed she pulled herself up to sit on it. Slowly she slid to the end and picked up the fallen chair before moving back onto it so she was face to face with her mother again. She almost didn’t recognise her, she felt this was all a dream and none of it was real. Her head was like cotton candy, fuzzy and light. Her eyes were still flowing like Niagara Falls, that hadn’t stopped, and she didn’t expect it too any time soon. Averting her eyes once more from her mother as she began to speak to could see her hands shaking, hovering over the button to end the call. Sofia hadn’t even realised she’d moved them.
“Sofia, I love---” her face disappeared and was replaced by the Starfleet logo, underneath was ‘TRANSMISSON END’. Sofia had pressed the button. Whether or not she did it subconsciously the jury was out, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care much about anything at this point.
She rose from the seat slowly, her whole-body trembling, a state of shock that would remain for a while yet. Beginning to move she began to shuffle along the floor and fell on top of her bed. Legs began to recoil into her stomach, and she became foetal.
Rocking back and forward the world went dark.
World? Did she have one left?
Crewman Sofia Cipriani
Yeoman, USS Pioneer
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