| | Fairly stood there. I stood there.
We stared at the ocean for a good bit, letting the shock, and thoughts,
go through our minds. I had yet to decide if the distance covered was
as bad as the things we had to go through in such a distance. I weighed
the options of having to go back through the ocean or walking around
the icy north to get all the way back to Texas. The hardest thing had
to have been the fact that I wanted to curse and scream at the top of
my lungs, and was too spiritually tired to let all of that flame burn
within me. It pissed me off.
Blinking lights blotted off above us, planes moving strangely in the
sky as I simply stared past them at the stars. Only the brightest were
even perceivable, and I tried to imagine shapes and figures in the sky,
only to come up with nothing I liked. Fairly was still motionless, to
my knowledge just reliving her moments with Brice or planning out a way
to get back home. More blinking lights moved overhead, and I smiled,
turning to nudge Fairly.
"A plane. We can take a plane back, that should be easy. No one will
notice us and we can even ride up in first class. All we have to do is
not fall through the bottom of the plane and land back in the ocean.
Simple enough, right?" she looked at me, staring up at the sky for a
second before turning her head with a nod. "I don't think it should be
a problem. Normal spirits with eyes not attached to their bodies aren't
just out and about trying to fly on planes out of the country. We
should definitely be in the clear." she ended, making her way up the
beach. "So now all we're worried about is finding an airport and the
right flight. Doesn't seem..."
But the running theme was to continue.
I'm not going to go into detail of how we found the airport. While I
was in a body I would have loved to have traveled all of Spain or
taken a tour of Italy or the surrounding countries, but instead I was
stuck with trying to match signs up in a language I didn't understand.
Their only commonality was the picture of a small airplane above the
city, and we could only follow them accordingly. It was awful, and I'd
rather you just heard about the plane ride.
The entire place had a strange mix of mystic and modern, and when we
had finally arrived it felt like we had just walked through an eclectic
movie that would star really well dressed gentlemen and court ladies of
the highest honor. The sky was just beginning to turn from its dark
blue to a lighter shade and we both figured that the morning would
yield the first flight out going to Bush Intercontinental.
Scanning the side of the board, we spotted the "IAH", remembering the
number as moved along to sit down on an empty bench next to a public
mobile computer which had been screwed into a desk. "How long do we
have?" Fairly asked while I had to look over at large electric boards
with signs for gate departure and arrival. "They all say that the next
plane out is in an hour, from what I can tell. I'm gonna' just sit here
until..."
Fairly turned quickly to me when the shrill cry was heard and we both
stood, alert and aware of an unknown presence. Turning to our sides, we
noticed a man, looking to be in his late twenties with a gruff beard
and a khaki jacket, and a young girl, probably fifteen, wearing a
cheerleader outfit. The two of them ran to a nearby kiosk, checking in
with tickets on their bags and smiles on their faces. Just before
turning to run, he took a quick look around the room, a frown pushing
his glasses away from his nose. His eyes turned to us and stopped,
running over with his daughter close behind. Fairly and I both started
to back away as the man came closer with every stride, the two of us
completely in shock that another human could see us.
"Can you tell me how to get to gate E20 please? I'm really in a
hurry." the man said, keeping his daughter close at his side. The two
of us stared at each other for a moment, then looked back at the two
strangers, trying to figure out what exactly was wrong. "Maybe he had a
near death experience." I said, staring now at the blue eyed teenager
who simply popped her gum and turned up her mp3 player to full blast.
"What are you two talking about??" the stranger said, completely throwing Fairly and I off. What? Who is this guy?
I moved Fairly behind me, tilting my head as I spoke slowly to the
obvious tourists. "Do you know what you're doing?" "If I knew what I
was doing, Id be heading to my damn terminal. Bah, you don't know where
the terminal is then." He concluded, trying to walk away before I fed
my arm with energy and turned him around to face me. "We're dead.
You're not supposed to be able to see, hear or talk to us."
"But I can. I need to catch this plane so if you two could help me at
all..." "Don't you think it's a bit odd that you can just up and speak
to two perfectly dead
strangers at the airport you just happened to be at?" I commented, all
of us at attention for the situation. The man stopped, looking back at
his daughter who stood behind him much like Fairly behind me.
"Look, we can talk about this on the plane, I just need to get to
Bush Intercontinental as fast as possible. I have to be there. Today. I
can explain it to you on the plane, if you'd like?" he said, looking
around frantically as we pondered for the response. Fairly nudged me,
and I turned around, eyes frowning. "Okay, okay already." I said
irritated, turning around with a half smile. "Lets get you on a plane."
I had taken a glance at the man's passports as the two went through the
line, catching a name with the faces. Mark Eldridge and Lacey
Eldridge-Smith, which struck me as odd when I said it out loud to
myself. "She was probably born before they married and decided to have
both her mom and her dad's last name. It's common, really." Fairly
added, nonchalantly shrugging as we followed the two to the terminal.
Instead of sitting, Fairly and I stood a few feet in front of Mark,
arms folded and anxious to be on a plane. "Ever been in a plane
before?" I asked Fairly, seeing her purse her lips in an odd amusement.
"I think once Brice and I had to go all the way to Wisconsin to see his
cousin Orin, but I'd taken some pills both times to knock me out before
I got on the plane. I was in a haze the entire way; couldn't tell you
how anything felt." "What a great day to find out." Mark said, looking
off to the side as his daughter leaned on her dad, music player blaring
in her ears.
"Now boarding all reserved members and special platinum credit card
holders, now boarding all reserved members and first class." an
attendant said, motioning for a group to start boarding the plane. Just
then I'd noticed a group of men sitting at a restaurant, laughing hard
as they all took a shot of some clear alcoholic liquid. "I wonder..." I
said, briskly moving myself over to the group, a grin growing on my
face.
Concentrating, I brought just enough power inside of my hand to make
it dangerous, slamming my hand down on the high rise table they all sat
against. The orange colored wood splintered, shot glasses, quesadillas
and chips alike smashing to the ground along with a few of the
gentlemen. In the massive confusion, I blew two of the holders away
like wind, keeping it low to the ground so as not to be suspicious.
Looking around frantically to see if anyone would notice a floating
ticket, I slid it over to hide behind the stand up pay phone, running
back over to the, now amazed group I'd come from.
"I promised Fairly that we'd fly in style, and we've got a lot to talk
about, so hurry up and get those first class seats behind the pay phone.
Please don't make me ask twice."
(Next, Chapter Seventeen: Enter Thus, The Third Wheel) |
| | Posted 1/21/2008 10:53 AM - 22 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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