Chapter 1: 1

Year 2019

Day 1

6:00 AM

*tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*

I was tapping on my phone, eyeing every person that walks by, checking each one, careful not to miss my friend I was waiting for. I’m at an airport, rows of large white tiles adorned the floor, a long glass wall separates me from the people coming and going. A few stores at my right side is selling clothes, souvenirs, food, toys and even a few items for comfort on the flight. On my left side, walking on a few steps, seems to be the area where authorized personnel can only come in and it’s guarded by two security guards with one carrying a rifle while the other one has a shotgun slung on his back. The person with the shotgun also has a leash on his hand and a German Shepherd lies down on his feet, seemingly relaxed but it’s eyes just darts around, looking at people passing by.

*vibrate* *vibrate*

I felt a buzz on my hand that was holding my phone, as I face the screen, a call from my aunt pops up and as I was about to answer it, it stops and a missed call notification pops up followed by a text that says:

“Heyo! I know u don’ lyk to ans cals so I txt u pz plz buy me tjos sweet peenut thins u used to buy wit de nips on it! O! Ths is Aya!”

Investigating the sender’s text, it was probably my little cousin. Considering all the spelling errors, I replied:

“You’re talking about ‘Trailmix’, right? I’ll buy a bag and those are not ‘Nips’ they’re ‘M&Ms’ by the way.”

I stood up and I started walking towards the store and I noticed someone familiar. She’s wearing a flight attendant uniform and she’s carrying on her lap a small red bag with a cross sign on it. On her table, a large cup of coffee sits with an eaten cake while the fork with pink bits on it is placed on the side of it.

I remember her from my high school.

I could say that we’re good friends back then, we used to compete for our grades a while back and some other things. She’s very beautiful I’d admit, even now. Most of my classmates, even from other sections used to try to ask her out, but she seems disinterested at the time and was more focused on studying.

I walked past her since the candy store is the one further from the coffee shop. I contemplated on greeting her, but I think she won’t remember me because It’s been years since we last met.

“She might not remember me. It’s good seeing her though.” I said to myself.

However, as I begin to push the glass door, I saw her reflection behind me then I felt a couple taps in my back and then I heard her voice, “Hey! Sky, right? Remember me?” she said.

As I turned around to face her, she removed her cap and her black hair flows through her shoulders and she pointed to herself, “It’s me, Kaley!” she said while smiling brightly.

“Oh, Hi! Ahaha… I thou-” before I even got to finish my sentence, she leans close to me and she squints.

“Stop doing that! I know what you’re doing; you have the best memory out of all the people I know.” she said.

I scratched my nose as she continued, “I saw you look at me earlier, I’m pretty sure you thought that I wouldn’t remember or recognize you earlier, am I right?”

I pursed my lips to a smile, “She read me like a book.” I said to myself.

After a chuckle, she continued, “I got that right huh? What are you buying here? Is it those dried cranberries you used to munch on back then?”

I replied, “Sort of, I’m getting a bag of ‘Trailmix’ for my cousin at home, and yeah, now that you mention it, I’m also getting a bag of those cranberries. It has been a while since I have eaten those.”

“That reminds me, still eating those strawberry shortcakes huh?” I added then I noticed she bit her lower lip into a smile, sort of embarrassed or maybe happy that I also remembered what she liked from back then. She linked her arm with mine then she pushed the door in front us towards the store.

“Let me join you then, I’m gonna grab some things too before I head back.” She said.

We began to walk towards where the baskets are located and I grabbed a basket. We began walking to the aisles looking for the stuff I’d like to buy.

Then she said, “So, I’m pretty sure you won’t talk unless I start, so, how’s life been treating you? I remember you said that you wanted to be a programmer?”

I nodded and said, “Yeah, I’ve become one but in the end, I’ve only worked for a few years then I decided to continue the family business. How about you though? I remembered you were studying to be a nurse, what happened? The uniform suits you though.”

“Hah! Well, you know, life happened, I shifted for a few times too. I really can’t decide at the time on what I want to be. My mom said to take it easy and relax for a bit so we traveled to Indonesia, Spain and Paris and something clicked. I said to myself that I want to travel all over the world, but I want to get paid too, so here is the best solution!” she said as she grabs a few candies and placed it on my basket. I just smiled at her while I carefully rearranged the candies in the basket.

“But why did you quit being a programmer? It pays well right?” She asked.

“Yeah. Well, like you said. Life happened… to be exact- I hated my boss and might have done something irreversible. Hahaha!” I laughed as I replied.

She chuckled and she gave me a pensive look. Then she said, “Haven’t changed I see, I remember you always doing things your way.” she squinted while she smiled at me.

She walked beside me, just sliding her fingers through some of the packs of candies in the aisles.

I continued, “Yeah, well I really hate working at that place and I can finish what they have given me for half the time. I told them about my performance and I asked for a raise, but they just decided to pile more work on me without proper compensation while the other guys just slacked off. I might have said something that ticked them off…oh! Here it is.”

“Hahaha! Like that one time you snapped at our teacher for teaching the flowcharts wrong.” she said.

“Yeah! I remember that! He was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Biology teacher, why the f.u.c.k did they let them teach a Computer subject?! That’s nuts! I really couldn’t help myself that time.” I looked back at the old times.

I finally found the bag and I grabbed two. She then found the bag of cranberries that I was looking for and she handed it to me. After one more look around at the aisles to see if she would pick anything else, we went to the cashier to pay. I paid for everything as I slid my card on the cashier’s device.

“Thank you for shopping! Please come again!” the cashier said.

I just nodded at her and we head back.

As we’re leaving the store, I said, “So having a break now?”

She nodded, “Yeah, we were supposed to fly to Japan, but our pilot had an accident earlier. He was sent to the hospital and I was supposed to wait for his replacement, but the flight was delayed at first but then it was cancelled afterwards so they told me to go home. I saw the cake in the shop and I stopped by to eat, then I saw you walking past me.”

She sat next to me on the bench I was sitting on earlier. We’re casually chatting and I mentioned my friend I was waiting on.

“Oh? So, what was your friend like?” she said.

“He’s an old veteran from the US, we met at a convention in San Diego and we became friends when we figured out that we watch the same TV series, ‘The Pacing Unliving’.” I said.

She places her hand on her forehead as she began to laugh, “Yeah, I can totally see that happening, that is so like you, and what’s up with that title? Is that a parody? Your friend, is he like, scary-looking or something?”

“No, actually, he looks like an old guy you’d see feeding pigeons on the street, you can’t see in his face that he served in the military though he’s still strong as an ox.” I said.

She smiles and said, “Well it’s nice you get to have new friends, I remembered the first time talking to you back then, you’d always sit alone, always minding your own business, I even thought that you were mute that time!”

I gave a laugh and remembered back. it’s just like she said, I was almost invisible until she was the first one to talk to me. After she introduced me to some of her friends, I started to open myself up bit by bit although I usually started speaking my mind without filter. I could be a blunt asshole sometimes but most of her friends preferred that instead of being an untruthful prick. I was really thankful to her at that time and what she did for me when she first transferred.

*vibrate* *vibrate*

A few minutes pass, my phone buzzed two times. My cousin and my friend, Oscar, finally contacted me. I checked my cousin’s email first.

“Yo! By me 2 bags 4got 2 tellyou I’ll pay u bac”

I just chuckled, ‘as if she would pay me back’, after that I checked the other email.

“Hey kid. Emergency. Code Zulu Alpha?” at the bottom of the email there’s a link that shows a news article about a drug induced person attacking their hospital staff. It shows a video of a man dressed in a pilot’s uniform with bandages in his arm getting held down by a few security guards. As the video continues, I felt her lean in to watch as well. As I look at her, the bright face she was showing earlier is slowly replaced by a look of discomfort.

“Th-That’s our pilot that got sent to the hospital earlier…” she said.

A cold wave of air washed over me as I feel something very bad in my gut as she said that.

“What do you mean?” I said as I try to get more information.