After I fed Aurora the nutrition packets, I soothed her with back pats and lullabies, hoping that she would spare me the usual exhausting playtime and just go to sleep early for once.

“Big Brother, where is my bunny?” She asked slyly while pretending to look around the counter.

Her innocent expression made me hesitate but ultimately, I couldn’t say no.

I sighed tiredly, but there was no way I could resist her, not when she looked at me with those big, beautiful expectant eyes.

To her, I was still just an awesome Big Brother, and I didn’t want to anything else.

I ducked beneath the table, and when I rose my head, it had two white bunny ears at the top. The ears were a little worse-for-wear, but I knew they would get the job done.

Aurora giggled, shakily standing up and gesturing for me to carry her. I bent down low enough for her to wrap her legs around my head.

An action she did with practiced ease.

Soon, I was hopping around the kitchen like a bunny with giggles galore for the next couple of minutes.

Aurora would pull on the ears as I changed directions, much to her amusement.

Without anyone to accompany her, I did what I could to make sure that Aurora had enough social skills to interact, should I someday not make it back.

Of course, I had contingencies in place for such a scenario.

So far, I think she hasn’t even noticed that there were supposed to be other children her age in the world. I never told her about other kids, and she never asked.

The bunker was like our own little world, but I knew it could not remain that way forever. Still, I had the will to keep it that way for as long as I possibly could.

After jumping around for a while, Aurora exhausted herself from all the giggles her body could contain for a single day.

“Any more giggles and you’ll be using up tomorrow's giggles,” I urged her, hoping she would be scared of giggling anymore for tonight.

Luckily, it worked as she placed both hands over her mouth with a slightly panicking expression on her face. I guess she really was scared that tomorrow’s giggles would be used up.

Soon, her eyes were getting heavy.

I could tell she was sleepy, but the little bundle of joy fought to keep her eyes open. This was an everyday occurrence, but somehow I knew the reason why she fought to stay awake every day…

She was scared that I would be lonely if she didn’t play with me. She had the kindest heart in the world, and that both made me happy and terrified me.

I was scared that she would no longer love me when she realized the things I do for food. I was scared that she would be stupid enough to give her food away and starve due to her kind nature.

I was scared of what our future would look like.

“Brother, you were crying again,” Aurora said in an uneasy voice as I placed her back on the counter.

She was probably thinking that she didn’t play with me enough for today.

I turned my face around, and when I turned back, the tear stains had all but disappeared.

I grabbed her face as I squished her fluffy cheeks to create different shapes.

“I always cry because your cuteness blinds my eyes,” I said in a playful tone while also squinting my eyes and rubbing my cheek.

‘He he he he… Because I am the cutest in the realms!” Aurora exclaimed, puffing out her chest to akimbo like she saw on the holo-projector we keep in the room.

I made a silent note to stop her from watching too much ‘Magic Girls Galore’.

“Woah!” I said throwing my body backward like she radiated an energy field that forced me back.

I watched the show with her sometimes, so I knew the correct reaction to give. After, my little theatrics, she had a pleased look on her face.

“Do you know what cute girls get?” I asked smiling mischievously.

I could see unease appear on her face at my words, but it didn’t stop me from crawling slowly to her position like a lion ready to pounce.

Seeing my actions, Aurora climbed down the counter and quickly made a b-line for the stairs to our room, but I caught her before she could even make it halfway.

What followed were tickles that exhausted her remaining strength, but she still fought to stay awake a little longer.

When everything was settled, it was close to Aurora’s bedtime.

“Brother, I want to see the stars,” She said while sighing in exhaustion every so often.

Clearly, she was as sleepy as one could be.

I climbed up the stairs with Aurora in my arms, and after laying her on the bed, I rummaged through cartridges in the nearby cabinet.

There were several cartridges, but I took the transparent one that had stars flickering on the inside. Our holo-projector was an old model that used still cartridges, but it was more than enough for Aurora’s education.

I laid on the bed next to her as she snuggled into my arms.

I inputted the cartridge into one of the empty slots above us, and we both watched as the entire ceiling change from bland-white to a pitch-black canvas with twinkling stars.

The beauty of our galaxy was in full display before me, but I didn’t feel anything. Aurora loved to watch the stars but I always thought that worrying about such things was a luxury.

‘I can’t worry about what’s above if I can’t even survive what’s below’ I thought internally.

I guess that was the difference between someone who aspires – Aurora, and someone who expires – me.

Seeing that Aurora had drifted into a comfortable sleep, I carefully maneuvered my body out of her embrace and made my way downstairs.

The night time was the most convenient time to do things I didn’t want Aurora to see. ‘Genius’ ran in the family, so I was always careful about what I exposed her to.

Maybe, in a couple of years when she was more aware of the world, she would realize some of the things I did were illegal.

I made my way into the kitchen, always keeping my eyes on the room door to make sure that Aurora had truly fallen asleep.

I walked towards the sink.

I picked the dish she previously used out of the sink, rinsed it with water, and drank the lingering taste of nutritional bars left inside.

I felt ashamed of having to eat my sister’s scraps, but filling my stomach with water could only take me so far.

I pushed my fingers inside the dish and scraped the left-over brown remnants of Nutritional Bars that remained stuck at the bottom.

I hated doing this, but I needed enough energy to scavenge tomorrow. I don’t know why I felt ashamed of surviving, I think it was just the feeling that I presented a false-front to my sister that ate away at my heart.

I feared the day she would find out that all I ever ate was what she left behind. I could handle the lie, but someone as kind as Aurora would break down psychologically.

Still, eating scraps would not be enough to satiate my hunger. I removed a small packet of pills hidden beneath the counter in the kitchen.

I carefully took one pill, smashed it into a fine powder, and scraped it into a cup. Then I added water and drank the contents with a grimace on my face.

The pills were just simple diet pills. They basically told your body you were satiated even if you were extremely hungry. I used these pills often, and somehow, each time the pills managed to taste even worse.

Finished with my secretive work, I made sure to stash the pills again and washed the dishes I used until they were spotless.

Then, I made my way into the living room.

*Tap*

*Tap*

I tapped twice on the floor as a table filled with numerous Quartz components rose up from below. This was my workstation where I used all the junk the Adults didn’t want to create something remotely useful for scavenging.

I placed the Quartz-Crystal on the table and picked up the laser-cutter to my right. I slowly and carefully made small incisions on the Quartz-Crystal until a fragment was freed from the chunk.

Luckily, I was the smart one between Rocky and me, he wouldn’t be smart enough to notice if the Quartz-Crystal had a small chip missing.

“I am so stupid!” I murmured angrily at my actions.

As much as I wanted to survive, I somehow still couldn’t betray my morals. I made a promise to Rodge… a promise I never intended to keep, but somehow I was still here doing the exact same thing I vowed never to do.

“There are all these moments you think you won’t survive. And then you survive,” I said, quoting my favorite phrase from David Leviathan.