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Chrissysue
Junior Member
since 2003-11-21
Posts 23
Nebraska

0 posted 2003-11-26 06:31 PM



The city lights flickered brightly outside her open window.  Below people shouted and hailed cabs, cars honked, children played.  Sounds that used to soothe her but today she just wished she could shut them all out.  Anna rolled over in her small twin bed, pressing her pillow down tight over her head.  Why? How could this be happening? Please let it all be a bad dream.  The endless stream of questions echoed in her head.  She rolled over again and stared up at the ceiling willing herself to get out of bed.  She had to catch the 2:15 to St. Louis if she wanted to make it home by nightfall.  Home.  The one word made her heart pound so hard she could barely catch her breath.  Home, was she really ready to face it yet? She rubbed her red, swollen eyes with the back of her hand and rolled her legs off the side of the bed.  
She sat up and looked around the bedroom.  She had decorated the room in a simple clean white with royal blue accents.  It was a small square room with two small windows directly above the headboard. Across the room sat a highboy dresser and a glider bordering either side of the bathroom door.  Clothes were littered carelessly across the floor. Flowing in a distinct stream from the closet to the bathroom.  An untouched bag of Chinese takeout sat on the dresser.  She glanced at it, but Mongolian beef no longer sounded appetizing.  Instead she stood up, still feeling a little weak in the knees, and headed for the bathroom.  
Anna splashed her face with cool water, reveling in the cold sting.  When she finally gazed up into the mirror she saw that her face was swollen, red, and distorted.  Disbelief was in her heart but you could see the agony clearly in her eyes.  
“She can’t be gone.” She whispered softly to herself, “She just can’t be.”
But she was.  Anna had gotten the message when she arrived home late last night.  Her best friend had died a few hours earlier.  Kylie and Anna had been friends since high school, when Kylie had started dating Anna’s friend Bryan.  They had been friends ever since.  Anna had even been her Maid of honor when she and Bry had married.  To think that she’d never see her again was too painful.
It had been Bryan’s voice on the answering machine, crying telling her to call as soon as she got home.  And it had been his weary, exhausted voice that had told her the news when she finally called.  Kylie was getting ready for a dinner party for work, and she passed out while getting dressed.  Bryan had found her a few minutes later and called 911.  They tried to revive her but it was too late.  She had died of an aneurysm.  Anna couldn’t believe it, she had wanted to cry, she had wanted to scream, but she had just stood there.
Now she stood in front of her bathroom mirror nearly twelve hours later in the same clothes, smeared makeup, and no desire whatsoever to get ready.  She stared at that face looking back at her.  Maybe I won’t go and it’ll be like it never happened.  My best friend isn’t dead. That’s ludicrous. She shook the thoughts from her head and started to wash her face hurriedly, so she could jump in the shower and pack before catching a cab in time to make the flight.  
Two hours later she was hurrying out the front door still trying to put on her right heel and manage not to drop her suitcase at the same time.  The cab was waiting outside the building.  It was rush hour and she had just under two hours to make her flight.   They arrived at La Guardia twenty minutes before boarding time.  She still had to pick up her ticket, check her bag and make it through the terminal.  Five minutes till take off she stepped onto the little jetliner that would take her home.  She settled into her seat and fastened the belt snuggly.  
She hated flying.  She’d only done it once before, when she was five.  Her family had flown to Oregon to attend a funeral for a grandmother she had never met.  Anna had panicked when the plane took off and spent the remainder of the flight in the bathroom getting sick.  Her parents had rented a car and driven home.

Now twenty-five years later she was back on a plane, to attend another funeral.  Her hands were getting sweaty already.  As the plane sped up to take off her stomach lurched and she reached for the paper bag conveniently stowed in front of her.  But as they gained altitude her nausea subsided and she fell back into her seat breathing heavily.  Her sweat soaked hands were still wrapped firmly around the paper bag just in case.  Luckily she had ended up being the only person in her row, so there was no audience to her spectacle.
As she slowly began to calm, systematically willing each muscle to relax.  Wow.. yoga did pay off.  A stewardess came by and she ordered a bloody mary and settled back for the long flight.  Outside her window she could see the white clouds that resembled mere puffs of smoke from this height.  Looking down she could see they were riding just above a layer of white.  Now that the fear had ceased, she could appreciate the childlike wonderment at riding above the clouds.  Kylie would absolutely love this.  The cloud of sadness returned to her eyes.  Yes, Ky would have loved this.  But.. but.. She won’t.. ever.  
Bryan had the same fear of flying as Anna, so whenever Ky and he had visited they took the train.  Kylie claimed that she loved the train anyway.  Anna had always smiled and agreed in a sarcastic tone.  Kylie had never been in a plane, to Anna’s knowledge.  But she had always been in awe of all things that could fly.  In high school they had actually attached a para sailing rig to the back of Ky’s convertible.  


August 87’

“Come ON!  We won’t get caught, honest.” Kylie held up two fingers side by side, “Scout’s honor”  
Anna was laughing uncontrollably, unable to take what she was hearing seriously, “You ordered what?”
“A para sailing rig.” Kylie grinned in her devious, plotting way.  

“And you want me to help you kill yourself?” Anna jested.

“Oh, COME ON!” Ky bounced up and down like a child begging for a toy, “If you loved me you’d do it.”

Anna giggled, “now are you asking me to help you get this thing off the ground, or to have sex?”

Kylie grabbed Anna’s arm and pulled her up off the ground and led her around to the trunk.  She started removing things and setting them up.  Anna was still laughing, but like always, she helped.  Once they had the thing assembled they secured it to the bumper and Anna begrudgingly got into the driver’s seat.  
“Now if you end up with no face when you hit the ground, just remember, I told you so!”  

“Anna, stop being such a bitch and drive the damn car!” she was laughing, but you could see the excitement in her eyes.

Anna slipped behind the wheel and started the car.  As she put it into drive she looked back and asked one last time before she took her foot off the gas, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Of course I am, now shut up and drive woman!”  

Kylie had had the sense to realize she was going to need someway to keep from getting dragged by the car until they were at a speed she could take off.  So she was riding on top of a skateboard.  As the car took off the board followed, bumpy and very unstable.  She could feel the wind in her face pushing her hair out behind her.  She closed her eyes and took in the feeling.  She opened her eyes just as her feet lifted up off the skateboard. It was working! It was really working!  She floated higher and higher till she was about fifteen feet off the ground.  Soaring, to Kylie, just like a bird.  It was a glorious two minutes.  Anna had been looking back at Kylie in disbelief that this stunt had actually worked.
When she turned back to look in front of her she could see that they were coming up on old farmer Chast’s woods.  Those branches would tear Ky apart.  Anna slowed down as fast as she could without slamming Ky into the car.  She ended up having to slam on the brakes right before the trees started, just as Ky was almost to the ground.  She fell in a heap in the middle of the road.  Anna leapt out of the car and ran to her, tears already welling up in her eyes.

“Ky, Ky, are you okay?  Ky, talk to me!  Damnit.  I knew we shouldn’t have done this!” tears were running down Anna’s dusty face.

Kylie rolled over slowly, covered in dust, but smiling.  She spoke softly, “That was fantastic.”

Anna slapped her in the arm, “Damn you, you scared the crap out of me.”

“Good, you need to get rid of some of it,” she struggled out a laugh, “Hey Anna?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I broke my ankle,” she laughed then winced when she tried to move it, “it won’t move.”

"I told you this was a stupid idea.” Anna lectured, but she smiled as she helped Ky up and into the car.

Anna took a sip from her bloody mary, and chuckled to herself.  They had gotten in so much trouble.  Kylie wasn’t allowed to drive her car for the rest of the summer, and Anna had been grounded for two weeks and had her phone taken away till Christmas.  But it was worth it.  There was always plenty of trouble to get into, even without a phone or a car.  

A toneless male voice came accross the intercom system, instructing the passengers to gaze out their right window for  glimpse of the famous St. Louis Arch.  Anna watched as people crawled over one another to get a better view.  She stared, silently absorbing the reality of seeing the landmark again.  It had been so very long, and yet, not long enough.  

"We'll be landing in about five minutes.  The local time is 3:45 PM, temperature is 71 degrees.  Thank you for flying United Airlines and have a pleasant trip."

[This message has been edited by Christopher (11-26-2003 09:25 PM).]

© Copyright 2003 Chrissysue - All Rights Reserved
Gentle Spirit
Member Patricius
since 2000-10-09
Posts 13989

1 posted 2003-12-01 10:00 AM


A good story line, I will be waiting to see where it leads.  Well done.
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