For as long as I could remember I dreamed about earth. What it looked like, how it smelled, the kinds of animals that lived there, I wanted to know everything there is to know about earth and its beauty. Of course, this was only a dream. My reality was a small metal cell I have been confined to for the past year, arrested for a crime I didn't commit.

After earth was destroyed 97 years ago by hundreds of nuclear bombs, the only remaining humans were aboard 13 different space station that came together to form one large colony, the Ark. Due to the amount of oxygen that needs to be spared, each family is only allowed one child and any crime no matter how small is punishable by death unless you are under the age of 18. The youngest of the Arks criminals were kept here, in what we call the SkyBox, until their 18th birthday and their crimes get reviewed to determine if they should be allowed back into society or killed for their crimes, but sadly only very few get their happy endings.

I laid back on the hard bed in the small cell I had been confined to with a sigh as I looked out the window of the Skybox, watching as we slowly passed the planet earth. I closed my eyes and imagined myself looking up at the sky, feeling the heat of the sun on my face and soft grass between my toes as I stood barefoot in a field of high wildflowers. My father's favorite thing about earth, he would tell me, was the different kinds of flowers.

When I was little he would tell me stories about earth before the bomb and how beautiful it was. All he wanted before he died was to see it only once. He was the only one I knew who wanted to visit earth more than my best friend Jace and I did but he would never get the chance since he died four years ago when I was 8.

I choked back tears at the memory and tightly held my tiny brown bear that my best friend had given me when we were little, close to my chest. Jace and I had been close since we were four, our fathers were best friends growing up as well. We had always dreamed of going to earth together and having a picnic by a calm lake. We got the idea from a movie we once saw at one of the few movie nights when we were younger. I missed him just as much as I missed my father. Watching earth as we passed made me feel closer to them, it made me feel safe.

I was pulled out of my thought by screams coming from outside the cell I was alone in, due to my cellmate Kara being floated just a few days ago on her 18th birthday. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and I hid my tiny bear in my left boot to keep safe. My cell door cracked opened revealing two large men wearing guard uniforms. I recognized them as York and Harrison, two guards that would often take me to and from the cafeteria when it was time to eat. I had to be escorted because of how small I was, it was dangerous for me to be around some of these criminals.

York was Jace's father, so I knew him very well. He was the taller of the two by an inch or so. He had blond hair that was neatly cut around the ears and blue eyes that were actually considered rare on there Ark. Harrison was the complete opposite, with short black graying hair and big brown eyes that complimented his dark skin and he was shorter than York, despite being older.

"Prisoner 138, face the wall," York ordered harshly. This tone wasn't like him at all, he was usually calm and very kind to me, Harrison was the harsh one of the two. I stood up from my bed and did as told, turning my back to the men, staring at the metal wall of the cell.

"What's going on?" I asked, turning my head slightly to look over my shoulder. York grabbed my wrist and lightly twisted it around my back, tiny nettles pricked my skin causing a shock to run through my arm. I jumped back and held my wrist to my chest. "What the hell is this?" I asked looking at the mettle wristband that was now attached to me.

Harrison grabbed my upper arm and pulled me out of my cell much harder than he needed before pushing me ahead of them with so much force I tripped over my own feet only to catch myself, using the railing that was thankfully right outside my door to keep me up.

I froze as I looked around the Skybox, watching the scene unfold before me as prisoners were being pushed and shoved out of their cells and down the long halls, doing everything they could to fight back. I could feel my heart start to pound faster and faster the tighter I gripped onto the railing. "Come on Ariella," York said calmly, placing his hand gently on my back. His voice sounded distant and echoed.

My palms began to sweat and I couldn't control my breathing, I gripped onto the railing so hard that my knuckles turned white. I could feel my body shake while Harrison pried my hands from the railing.

"They're killing us," I thought to myself. "They are gathering us all up and mass killing us, why else would they do this?" I tried to calm myself down but it was no use, I was already so worked up. I pulled my arms away from Harrison's grip. "Get off me!" I yelled trying to control myself. This tends to happen when I get scared, I work myself up to the point where I can't breathe and I get so light-headed that I pass out.

York grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eyes. "Ari, you have to listen to me," he said calmly. "Where you are going is beautiful okay, you're going to be fine, I promise. But you're going to be challenged, okay? Every day will be harder than the last. Stay alive Ariella, I don't care how you do it but stay alive. Use your skills to your advantage. I'll be watching you." I continued to sob before Harrison grabbed me and pulled me away from York almost effortlessly.

"Let me go!" I yelled, using all my strength to try and get away from him. I continued to fight until I felt a slight sting in my neck and my vision slowly began to fade and my legs couldn't hold me up anymore. The last thing I remember is hitting the ground.

When I came to I had a killer headache and it didn't help that I slammed my head against the back of a hard chair. I squeezed my eyes shut and held the back of my head as a splitting pain rain through my skull.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked from beside me. I opened my eyes with a wince and looked around at my surroundings. I was in some kind of ship with the other underage prisoners. Worried, I moved my head in every direction looking for a way out before trying to rip off the straps that held me hostage in the seat.

"Hey, hey, it alright calm down," again I heard a soft voice from beside me as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I shot my head in the direction of the voice and came face to face with a boy with dark brown shaggy hair and goggles strapped to his head. "Are you okay? You hit your head pretty hard."

I held the back of my head remembering the pain and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Names Jasper," he introduced with a smile.

"Ariella," I replied, quietly.

The boy named Jasper lifted a brow as he shook his head. "Ariella is a mouthful, I'm just gonna call you Ari, that okay?" he asked and I nodded, calming down a bit.

"Wh-where am I am?" I asked.

A boy sitting next to Jasper leaned forward as much as he could to see me, being strapped in his seat and all. The boy had long black hair that swept over his forehead and dark brown eyes in the shape of almonds, he couldn't have been older than 15. "You don't know?" he asked and I shook my head.

"Rumor has it we're going to Earth." Jasper smiled.

I shook my head. "No, no earth isn't going to be ready for another 100 years," I stated more like a question.

"Apparently not," the boy with almond eyes mumbled.

Jasper looked me up and down, staring at my face the longest, with a confused expression. "How old are you kid?" Jasper asked.

"12," I answered, making both Jasper and the boy next to him look shocked.

"What the hell did a 12-year-old do to get locked up?" Jasper asked. I went to answer him but I was cut off by a loud crash and the ship shaking for the second time causing me to scream. Suddenly the TV screens all around us light up with the chancellor's face. Jasper grabbed my hand gently and gave me a weak smile as he saw how jumpy I was.

"Your dad's a dick Wells!" someone yelled as the chancellor began to speak on the screen.

Wells Jaha? I looked around the small space and sure enough there he was sitting next to a blonde. What the hell did he do to get locked up? I guess this shows just how much of a prick the chancellor is, I mean he sent his own son to be a test subject in an experiment that could most likely kill him.

I took a deep breath and watched as a guy with shaggy brown hair that stopped just above his shoulders cut himself out of his seat and started floating around the ship. People laughed and cheered him on. "Spacewalker strikes again!" someone yelled. I had heard rumors about a boy who was looked up for taking an illegal spacewalk and wasting a month of oxygen. I just didn't know if it was true or not.

As everyone laughed the blonde who was sitting next to Wells shouted at him to sit back down as two more kids cut out of their seats, beginning to float around as well, following the first boy.

There was another crash and the ship shook violently again, throwing the three kids against the wall and slamming onto the ground. Sparks flew around the small ship, the lights flickered on and off and my head slammed on the back of my seat for the second time when we stopped suddenly. I winced in pain and held my hand to the back of my head as I held back tears. "You okay?" Jasper asked, still holding my hand. I nodded slowly waiting for the pain to go away.

The guy next to Jasper spoke. "Listen...no machine hum."

"Woah that's a first," Jasper commented. The seatbelts automatically unbuckled and we all got up, finally escaping the hold that was put on us.

Jasper pulled on my arm to follow him. "The outer doors on the main level," someone yelled, causing everyone else to run to the ladder as the bossy blonde girl tried stopping them.

On the first floor, a tall man with dark hair, wearing a guard's uniform was telling everyone to back up, away from the door. The guard went to reach for the lever to open the door but the blonde stopped him. "Stop, the air could be toxic!" she said climbing down from the ladder.

"If the airs toxic we're all dead anyway," the guard sassed turning to pull the lever.

"Bellamy?" A girl with the same dark brown hair and brown eyes as the guard made her way through the crowd and to the man now known as Bellamy.

The guard smiled and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Wow, look how big you've gotten." He smirked.

As the two continued to talk a tall guy pushed in front of me so I couldn't see the two anymore. I stood on my toes trying to see over everyone, being rather short for my age it was really hard.

"Do you mind, I haven't seen my brother in a year," The girl snapped at the blonde who had made some comment I didn't quite hear.

"No one has a brother!" The kid in front of me yelled over the crowd.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor!" Someone else yelled. The girl, Octavia, lunged at the crowd but her brother held her back. I looked over at Jasper, who was still stood next to me, and his mouth was wide open in awe.

"Stop drooling," I teased, elbowing him lightly. He wiped his mouth and smiled down at me. The door to the dropship suddenly opened and a gust of wind blow at all of us.

My heart began to race as my eye adjusted to the bright light. This is it, we're either going to die or we're actually going to see earth. Earth... the place I have been dreaming of every night for the past 12 years. The place my father wanted so desperately to visit, I was going to see. The small ship filled with fresh, crisp air. I couldn't even think at this moment, I was too excited and overwhelmed that I froze for a moment taking in the smell of the air and the view of the forest around the ship.

The girl, with the chocolate brown hair known as Octavia, slowly walked out of the dropship, waiting at the end of the ramp for a moment, before she jumped to the ground. Everyone went quiet as we held our breath, waiting patiently until she threw her hands in the air. "We're back bitches!" she screamed before letting out a cheerful laugh. Everyone cheered, pushing past each other as they ran out of the dropship door in excitement.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and slowly made my way down the ramp, looking around at the beautiful scenery around me. The trees were just how I pictured, only much taller than I expected and the air, the air smelt so clean and crips unlike the heavy filtered air on the Ark, no this air was so light and I could breathe easily. The colors of the leaves and flowers around me were so mesmerizing that I could barely keep my eyes off them as I finally made it to the end of the ramp. I closed my eyes, looking up at the sky, feeling the heat from the sun warm my face as I took a deep breath, smiling.

I somehow managed to get the courage to put my left foot on the ground waiting a moment before jumping off onto the green grass, chuckling to myself.

I'm on earth... I'm actually on earth! I giggled with excitement as I took it all in. I had no idea what to do first, should I find a river and collect water? Should I make a shelter for myself? Maybe I should try and find some food.

I shook my head, deciding to explore a bit first. I slowly made my way around the area the dropship landed, making sure to take a mental picture of everything I see. Turning to the left of me I noticed a small patch of purple flowers growing on a rock, covered in vines and moss. They're violets I believe, I only read about these once in a book my father gave me when I was about 6.

I walked over and picked one from the vines, inhaling the fresh scent. I slowly knelt to the ground in front of the rock. The grass was soft and damp, almost exactly like I imagined. I had to pinch myself so I knew I wasn't dreaming.

The sound of yelling pulled me out of my thought. I turned to see everyone gathered by the dropship surrounding something. I got up from my spot and walked over, wanting to see what was going on. I tried to push through the crowd of teenage criminals but it was no use, everyone was so much stronger and bigger than me that I was just pushed to the side.

I let out a huff, looking around for a moment. Thinking if I could just get high enough I would be able to be my noisy self and see what was going on. That's when I got an idea, a tree that was a few yards away had low branches that looked easy to climb. I walked over and began to scale up the side of the tall tree to a steady branch.

On the Ark, I would sometimes crawl through vents and air shafts mainly to get in and out of my room without my mother seeing me, and it helped me become a good climber. I sat on a high branch and looked over the group of teenagers

Wells Jaha, the son of the Chancellor's and John Murphy, a guy I've known for a while, were fighting. I watched as Murphy kicked Wells' leg out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground. What was the council thinking sending a bunch of teenage boys to the ground, did they not realize they could kill each other before we let them know the ground is survivable?

As Wells got up from the ground, now with a limp ready to fight again, the 'Spacewalker kid' jumped down from the dropship, landing between the two, stopping the fight. The bossy blonde, whose name I found out later to be Clarke Griffin, helped lean Wells against a tree.

I looked around at the different tree branches, realizing that because of how close they were I could climb across them and use the branches to get around without walking on the ground. This is exactly what I did. I quickly made my way over to the tree that Wells was leaning on, using the tree's branches as a bridge.

I listened as Wells, Clarke, and Spacewalker talked about our food supply and someplace called Mount Weather.

"How are you two going to caring enough food for 100?" Wells asked.

Spacewalker looked over his shoulder, finding Jasper and his friend, he grabbed the two and pulled them over. "Can we go now?" he asked.

"Sounds like a party, make it 5," Octavia said walking over.

I quickly climbed down the tree, standing behind all of them. "Can I come too?" I asked, my voice sounding so small and weak.

The group looked at each other, not knowing how to answer. Spacewalker was the first to speak, "Look kid, it's probably best if you stayed here."

"I'm agreeing with Finn. We don't know what's out there and I don't want you to get hurt." Clarke said truthfully.

I rolled my eyes, "but there's nothing to do here."

"I'm sure you'll find something," Jasper shrugged. I frowned and crossed my arms.

"Let's go," Clarke ordered and they agreed, walking past me without a second look. I sighed, watching them as they walk into the distance until I couldn't see them anymore.

I just want to go back home.