Chapter Fifty-Seven

Bliss and joy.

The entire world was in awe and rejoiced.

It was like a spontaneous, global party—a celebration which required no after-party, as the wonderful news circumvented the world.

People found excitement and radiance in the faces of everyone.

Light hearts and happiness.

It was all her doing.

She had done all of it and placed a smile on their faces, even when they had not known one for a very long time.

The people of Earth rejoiced, dancing to music and cheering.

Everybody at the Halikkon facility cheerfully talked to each other, laughing and happy.

There were no long faces or sad, hopeless eyes. They had all but vanished.

Something that had become rare and lost amongst the world’s citizens. Hope had found its way back to all.

Even the crowds outside the facility had seen it. They had watched that young woman perform a miracle, and it meant the end of their plight. They would all escape the Frost.

Halikkon invited everyone inside, where one of the main conference halls served food and drink to celebrate Viktoriya’s success.

Everywhere she went, there was applause, a person trying to greet her, thank her, some reaching out to hug her.

She was their hero.

She was their Viktoriya, the one who had brought hope and happiness to the desperate, dying world.

She and her parents made their way through the crowd that encircled them to celebrate her achievement.

“Vik, hun, are you okay?” her mom asked over the noise of the shouts, thinking the interactions may be too much sensory overload for her to take in.

“Mom, I’m okay. Actually, I’m great! I thought when it all started; I would have some trouble, but—I’m fine!”

A bright smile fixed on her face. Someone new continuously took her hands as they continued toward the elevators to the infirmary so her mom could rest again. For the first time she could remember, she didn’t fear being handled.

The crowds lined the halls to cheer her on as they went toward her mom’s room, cheering and clapping, raising their fists in triumph for only one person—Viktoriya.

“You have quite the fan club now, Viktori-Ya,” CLEFF proclaimed as they progressed

. People followed them, the applause so loud for so long that it became background noise to her.

Her mom’s smile had taken up the atmosphere. Her proud smile was the music to her searching heart. The radiance from her eyes enfolded Viktoriya in her warm love.

Her mom and dad were proud.

Her parents believed in her.

They listened to what she had to say.

It was pin-drop quiet once they were closed inside her mom’s hospital room, unlike the hallways where the cheering echoed through the infirmary wing.

Her mom took her bed at the far end of the room. Her permanent smile was all that Viktoriya needed for the tears of joy to finally roll down her cheeks.

It was all that she needed for her heart to leap with joy.

She pressed into her mom’s arms, and Eva held her tightly, squeezing her girl in a motherly hug. And once again, that was all she could feel. The tears still ran down her cheeks.

Words could not describe the immense feeling of joy that had overtaken her mom’s heart, far lighter than a feather. She caressed her daughter tightly, holding onto the moment.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“How did you know it? Not even fifty years of study could have provided such an immersive understanding of space, quantum mechanics, or the magnetic fields, for that matter,” she said curiously.

Eva still could not get her head around the fact that her girl had actually been right all along.

“I told you before, Mom. Things are different for me, like the patterns in the carpet, the walls. The Spectrum. Trees and stars, horses, and every other thing. They are just different that way,” she replied, smiling.

“Not just different, dear. Special… Very, very special,” she said, pulling Viktoriya back, to stare into her daughter’s eyes. Then hugging her tightly again before whispering, “Perfect.”

Her mom pondered all the lives that could have been spared if only she and Rosa had listened to their daughter.

If she had taken time to consider all that her daughter had said instead of leaping to judgment, believing that she was caught in some fantasy vision that wasn’t relevant.

Viktoriya recognized the sadness growing in her mother’s eyes. The dull color that had suddenly replaced the sparkle, and the lost stare into nothing was settling in.

She didn’t need to recall the memory cards from her sessions with Dr. Maribelle.

She already knew the expression.

She knew that look.

She understood because she had blamed herself for her mother’s illness, and it was exactly the same way she, herself, had stared into nothing for hours.

“It’s not your fault, Mom. You couldn’t have known, and in fact, I did it for you and Dad because I wanted you to understand me.”

Eva smiled at her daughter, at the innocence in her eyes. “I know, kiddo. I know.”

They enjoyed a simple time together: no agendas, no meetings, nothing at all. Just the hours that they had together to chat about everything and nothing.

As the two remained in each other’s embrace in their still moment, enjoying the comfort of a mother-daughter bond, an evening announcement came through the audio for the entire facility.

“Please meet at the common hall. The president has a brief announcement to make in ten minutes,” Ti announced.

“Hello, everyone! Come to the common room, everyone. We have some great, glorious news!”

It was the president’s voice. A roar of cheers came from the floors again.

Viktoriya and her dad helped her mom from the bed and into a wheelchair, then they sauntered out of the infirmary.

Everyone who could move was doing the same, heading to the hall with the others. The people all crowded in one place, waiting to see what he had to say.

The president and his secret service guards walked onto the stage, stepping up to the podium.

“It’s a wonderful, beautiful day, wouldn’t you say so?”

The crowd roared in unison.

A soft chuckle escaped as he pointed through the room, straight at Viktoriya.

“We have experienced a miracle today, unlike any other, ever!”

And again, another roar of “Yay!” boomed through the crowd.

“I know when I woke up this morning, it was with the grim acknowledgment of my death on this frozen planet. I even have a list of all the things that I should take care of before I check out of here and those I was yet to make peace with. Or at least go down trying!”

They all laughed again.

“But someone, an exceptional someone today, has brought back a dazzling, bright lamp into a rather dark pit.”

There was a shout of affirmation and a round of applause.

A chant continued, with Viktoriya’s name and fists raised into the air like the beginning of an uprising. It was the cheer of hope—the voice of the redeemed. Earth was dying, and although they could do nothing about it, they would not go down with it, thanks to their Viktoriya.

He paused. “In this light, we will forever owe our gratitude to her.

“I recall when she had stormed into the meeting room a few weeks ago with so much confidence. Confidence only a child could muster, only a kid could do that, you know? I could not help but wonder what exactly this child had for dinner that could make her barge into a meeting that way… I mean, what the hell could she have eaten?”

“I ate lasagna!” she shouted across the room.

The crowd roared again in laughter as her mom and dad smiled, giggling like children, as her mom stroked her hair.

“Then, when I asked her what she was doing there, she pulled me closer. She took me by the head and whispered into my ear, ‘I know how to save the world.’” The president took a moment to chuckle then readdressed the gathering.

“Yeah, she grabbed me by the head; I’m only the president, after all!” he said, laughing even more, making hand gestures as if he was grabbing and shaking his head around.

“It was the most hilarious thing I have ever heard of. We were in the middle of an extinction-level crisis and here’s this girl telling me she knows how to save the world.

“But I thought of it and was like, hey; we are gonna die anyway, why not let the kid have some fun! And now, here we are.”

He stopped and looked across the great hall at her, continuing with, “Viktoriya has succeeded where everyone, every single person has come up short in their valiant efforts to deliver us from the end of humanity, perishing here as a frozen memory, fading from the universe forever. So many brilliant minds have given their all, they have given their best, their blood, sweat, and tears, doing their very finest work to save all of us, but alas, there was only one.” He stopped for a moment as he held his hand to his mouth, covering his quivering lip as tears formed in his eyes.

“There can be only one—”

The crowd began cheering and shouting again, “Viktoriya!”

She smiled and stared at her parents, with tears now freely flowing, overcome with joy, while her mom and dad caressed her shoulders and face.

The president regained his composure, and then loudly continued.

“And to this end, we now very, very proudly proclaim the name of our flagship ark—The Viktoriya! Whew, I didn’t know if I was gonna make it through that,” he finished with a chuckle.

The crowd continued cheering her name louder and louder, repeatedly.

He summarized his speech with, “So! Let’s get to work! She says we need more arks to save everyone, so we have a lot of work to do, a lotta work! More arks, she says!” he joked as he stepped away from the podium, clapping his gloved hands.