Chapter 1
The worst of my fears that I was having for the last few days becomes true today. Out of all the damnations I have been cursed in my life, none would compare to this one, if I arrive late for my sister's funeral or worse, fail to attend it.
12:49 am, my wristwatch reads.
The continuous torrential rain in Alcott has finally brought the worst of flight condition for us and caused my flight to get delayed by near five hours. All the pain that I had gone through in the early morning or rather midnight, surely was for complete nothing.
"Great, suits me. If I get late I would be walking to my own funeral rather than my sister's," I mumble under my breath. As if my family's scorn towards me hadn't been worst enough this unexpected delay would surely hike the magnitude of their disposition to an entire different level. My phone had died long ago and if I am am all okay here then there is no need to call them, right? Honestly, the dead phone had just been a planned excuse to avoid the berating that I would have received in that device or the house, nonetheless for the flight delay that was *purely* not my fault.
I give a large breath suddenly wishing that if I had just booked the ticket a day earlier then I wouldn't be in this situation right now. But my college exams were going on and leaving them halfway through was out of the question since college was the only thing that my parents had ever liked about me and, failing it would have certainly never allowed me to grow in the eyes of my family.
Whatever tension I have been feeling about my exams has been increased after hearing about Cara. Though we had never shared a normal sisterhood bond with each other, as her only sister, I have grieved much deeper than I thought I would. My puffy eyes are a story for another time but, I am sure that my dishevelled hair and tired face has been clear evidence for that. I stayed up the entire night going through some of our childhood pictures and had downed two mugs of coffee just to reach here on time and not drift off while at the back of the taxi. Right now, I am not even angry at how things have turned out to be. I am just exhausted.
Between the hectic of exams and grieving endlessly, my emotional and mental conditions have just jammed to a point that I didn't bother wearing proper outwear and now I am shivering because the chilly wind that would get through my thin check shirt and the ripped jeans would allow them to nip at every exposed part of my skin.
I wrap my arms around myself and cross my legs. The undone shoelaces hang limply from either side of my grey Nike. Another blast of cold wind blows just as the sky grumbles loudly threatening to hit another blast of rain. I just roll my eyes at that. Being stuck at this place for the past five hours had been the longest and most agitating time of my life ever. Even the task of tying and untying my shoelaces looks rather interesting at the moment going. I bend down to knot my shoelaces. At least it would prevent me from creating an embarrassing scene by falling face-first on the ground. Just as I am about to finish my task I feel a tug at the nape of my neck. I look down and see the locket around my neck has fallen out.
I rise and clutch the wooden carve of daffodil in my hand. Its old faded paint looks hideous but the memories attached to that are the only remains of Cara. It was my tenth gift from her. I take a long look at it before tucking it back inside. I feel a headache coming from the pain behind my eyes and swear mildly at the cold that's not helping to subdue it. My mind is constantly going towards my sister and about the causes that could have pushed her to do suicide. Looking back, she was the golden daughter of the family, an epitome of perfection and class who had never done a single thing wrong in her twenty-four years of life. Not until now. Sure there could have been things that were bothering her but, ending one's own life isn't the only choice. In fact, it's not a choice at all.
I close my eyes at the increasing headache and try not to twist my mind into unnecessary thinking. Feeling my eyelids heavy I decide to take a nap here and serve my only travel bag as a headrest. At least I would like to land in my hometown as a functional human and not a half-dead body. Reaching out to the bag, I lift it easily as having only packed few clothes for intentions to not stay there for long and place it beside me. It had just touched the surface of the bench when an announcement cuts through the air and calls out my flight to be available in the next ten minutes.
"Goddamn perfect timing", I grumble. Relief? Frustration? I can't even tell the difference between them as I clasp my bags and saunter towards the checking area.
Having everything done as draggingly as any usual day, I finally realise that I had zoomed out of the entire transaction and am now sitting in my designated seat beside the window. *At least the view is of my kind*, I huff to myself watching the plain grey runway track.
People are filling up the seats and still, the two seats beside me are vacant. I shudder at the cosiness I feel hereafter the entire day's cold and I think of sleeping all the way back. That however could never become anything more than my thoughts only. A whoosh of air pushes my alertness back to my senses and I see a man in his late forties has occupied the seat beside me. I just watch him as he adjusts his side bag over his lap and takes off his cap to reveal a bush of white sprinkled brown hair.
In a quick glance, he is wearing a crinkled jacket and black shades covering his eyes while his stubble sure looks rough and untended. He has a peculiar aura around himself and it is notably magnetic. I avert my eyes before he can notice my stare. *I just hope his look isn't a deception and he isn't an arrogant co-passenger that I need to deal with.*
My eyes land on a stack of magazines in front of me and I snatch one to appear busy than to engage with a stranger beside me or deal with demons of an empty mind. Even my sleep seems to have ditched me. Pages after pages of the glossy magazine, I don't find even find a topic worth my interest so, when I reach to get another one, I hear a short laugh from my side. My head snaps sharply at the man as to why he is laughing to himself but unsurprisingly, I see an older lady seated at his side smilingly brightly herself with her entire attention on what they are talking about.
I didn't even notice her before and, I have left to either blame myself for being so ignorant or be impressed at this lady's stealth. *Probably the former* But, why does it even matter? *Because you are always too lost in your own world and don't pay attention to your surrounding* self-loathing part of myself chimes in.
I turn towards the man again and, upon the proper look, I see a scar trailing down from his left brow near his eyes. It's pink line expresses itself when he laughs or smiles causing the skin in that area to scrunch up. Feeling my eyes, the man just turns at me and I am met with dark orbs looking right through me. His irises are dark brown, almost black under the light. He smiles politely, " Amanda here is keeping me a great company. She sure has a great sense of humour. Don't you, lovely lady?," the last question was addressed to the woman beside me, who I suppose is Amanda.
"Dear, you're just inflating my jibe remarks and besides, I love to make friends when I travel to new places," her soft tone is flattering but, not annoying. Her grey hair is pinned tightly behind her head and her gleaming grey eyes pin closely at me. Even the man looks expectantly at me.
" I am Amanda Rose and you dear?", she asks with a friendly look on her face.
"Oh, I am um Libby. Nice to meet you both," I try to muster a smile. I am talkative most of the time but, today the exhaustion and mental hiatus have robbed me of my personality and, I don't feel to go beyond that.
"So Libby dear, where are you heading to? Alcott's nasty monsoon chasing you away?" Amanda asks with some attempted humour which for me, gets processed like a subtle request to join the conversation in which I am currently not interested. But, I hear the man scoff beside me.
"Oh no. It's just that my exams are over so, I am heading back to my home," I state to her the half-truth. She nods.
Before she could speak again, a voice echoes from the front. We tuck back properly in our seats and put the seat belts on after the announcement of taking off. The hostesses come around to check up on us and I get occupied by the scene outside when we start to move. I watch the building get more minute by the passing second.
"Far, aren't we?" the man speaks. His eyes are past my face, looking down the window. I turn towards him and, giving him a tight smile I nod.
"But, the farther we are from here, the more near we are towards our destination," he adds. Just then we are asked to loosen the belts and, I sigh in relief.
For some reason, the gravity of his tone pulls me down into a realisation that the trip I am making actually makes an endpoint for some things in my life. Even if it is entirely up to me to move on or stay behind that still is the mark of something important that has happened.
"Where are you headed to?", I ask, particularly because I wanted to know the real answer and also, for a genuine reason to at least honour his effort to talk with me.
"Water bridge. Heard that place is famous for hiking," his eyes snap to mine, "Have you been there?"
"Yeah, quite a few times during my vacation. It's a good place," I reply.
His look swiftly penetrates mine that twinkled with interest. "You live there?"
"Oh no, I actually live in a town next to it," I smile away. He nods and, we conceive silence for the rest of the trip except for making trifle chats with him and, Amanda.
Each passing minute, I felt drowsy and just before I surrendered to an unconscious state, I hear the man whisper something to Amanda and, he glances at me wearing a bizarre expression. He says nothing though and, I fall back into a dreamless sleep.
