Page 5 of Forever Fallen

On my way,brother…

Reaper

CHAPTER3

SOPHIE

Welcome to Dulles International Airport…please check your luggage and ensure that your bags remain with you at all times. We will begin boarding flight 1134 to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport shortly at Gate 10.

Premium passengers, active-duty military, and those with children may board Priority seating…

* * *

Sophie listenedto the overhead announcement and got up to quickly head towards the small shop nearby. She purchased a package of ibuprofen, a bottle of water, and a Reese’s Cup, tucking them all into her purse, before disappearing into the restroom one last time before her flight.

Hearing the announcements begin again, she sighed.

She was taking this flight home, then getting her car out of the parking garage, before tackling the drive to Yonder tonight. There was no sense in fooling around. If she was about to lose her grandmother’s house – she wanted to get as many mementos from there as possible before it was secured.

Gosh, this trip would hurt her soul…

It was as if a dark hand was reaching right into her chest, grabbing her heart, and ripping it out. Thinking about it made her ache and feel empty, knowing how hard the next few days would be.

Her life as she knew it would be dissolving before her very eyes and while she felt trapped in Yonder, running to Dallas, she still couldn’t let go…

Sniffing back tears, she yanked several paper towels from the dispenser and returned to her gate to see it boarding. She obediently got in line and complied, following carefully to the gate to scan her ticket, before walking down the ramp. Her high heels made hollow sounds on the floor below her and she felt a small gust of wind from the opening at the end of the ramp.

“Good morning and thank you for flying the skies with us…” the flight attendant greeted her immediately.

“Hi,” Sophie uttered quietly, her head pounding from lack of sleep and the repeated bouts of tears she’d had. It hurt to try to remember what memories she wanted to save and had started a list on her phone, so she didn’t forget anything.

If she was unlucky, she had until five on Friday… if she was extremely lucky? She might have until Monday to finish going through the house. She hoped that was the case.

There were boxes or totes to get, things to go through, and she would need to arrange for an estate sale – because there was no one who would voluntarily marry a stranger before Friday.

Walking to the row on the plane, she sighed heavily. It figured someone had mistakenly taken her seat. Her streak of bad luck was apparently only beginning!

Sophie hated dealing with airlines and if there had been any other seats? She would have taken it. She preferred the window seat simply to keep people from bumping into her during the trip, but because of the last-minute booking and the full flight?

This time, she was stuck on an aisle seat.

Looking at the man who was ignoring everyone slowly working their way down the crowded aisles of the airplane, she hesitated in saying something.

What did it really matter? A seat was a seat, right? This wasn’t a vacation and sure wasn’t planned. She was just grateful to be on the flight, because there hadn’t been any other one’s available any sooner.

Except it grated her nerves.

Why couldn’t people do the right thing? Integrity was big in her book, doing the right thing regardless… but maybe it was a mistake on his part? A simple mistake – hopefully.

It was kind of the principle of the thing, and she’d always heard that if there was a problem or accident, your seats were how they identified you in the wreckage.

Truly morbid, Sophie… geez…she thought coldly, sighing heavily. Everything in her mind circled around death and dealing with what happened next. It was like she couldn’t get away from the subject and every moment brought another thing she needed to handle to the forefront of her mind.

“Sir, I believe you’re in my seat.”

“Nope,” he said, without looking up from the magazine before him. The coolness with which he answered left her stunned. He flicked the magazine, barely moved, and ignored her again.

Maybe she said something wrong?

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