Emerald Flight: Homecoming: Return to Grace (continued)

There was a wide, open stairway that led to the upper levels of the housing complex. A few other officers and cadets passed her, but did not spare her more than a momentary glance. Two of the officers were older men, dressed in heavily decorated uniforms, engaged in serious conversation on some topic that Elizabeth did not catch. A few of the cadets moved aside to give her addition room and, despite herself, Elizabeth tried to hide a faint smile.

Elizabeth glanced along the marked room numbers and found her assigned one quickly. She was pleased to find that it was near enough to the stairs that she would not have to go far whenever she returned to it, but far enough away that she should be spared most of the noise from its traffic. She swiped her badge at the security panel, waiting for the indicator light to glow green, and opened the door.

It was slightly smaller than she expected, but it was hers alone and had a separate bathroom. It held that faintly stale odor that told her that it had probably not been occupied recently—or else by someone with extremely efficient hygiene habits. She turned up the lighting and that helped, casting most of the lingering gloom from the space.

She lifted her bags onto the bed and dropped down next to them. The bed barely flexed beneath her, telling her something about the comfort of the mattress underneath. She removed the phone from her jacket pocket and checked its display. It showed a few general messages from some friends, but nothing, unsurprisingly, from anyone in her family. She tossed it on the bed beside her and stood up, opening the first of her two bags.

At first, she was a little surprised by the condition of its contents. Her clothing was not neatly folded and stacked, and her personal items were not tucked securely into any of the small pouches inside. She knew that the bags had been in her possession the entire time since she had left the house, so it could only have been her own haste to leave her parents’ house that contributed to the untidy mess. With a quiet sigh, she began sorting through the items.