The Dragoness

Chapter 2 - Away We Go

What is that noise?

I turn over onto my right side before slowly opening my eyes. As I open my eyes I notice my alarm clock flashing.

I don't remember turning my alarm on. Even if I did set it, why would I set it for 4:00 am on a Sunday?

I reach my right arm over to the alarm clock sitting on my bedside table. With my pointer finger I turn off my alarm. As I turn back over onto my left side I hear someone coming down the stairs. As soon as I feel myself starting to fall asleep my door slowly creaks open.

How can someone be coming into my room at four in the morning?

"Etheral, it's time to get up," I hear Mum whisper

I turn onto my back to face the door so I can see Mum

"What do you mean it's time to get up? It's 4:00am Mum,"

"I know honey, but we have to catch our flight at 7,"

"What flight? I didn't know we were going anywhere," I croak still barely awake

"We're going to Scotland honey, that was my birthday present to you. Do you not remember?"

"Oh my god! How could I have forgotten? I guess I was just so tired it escaped me for a minute," I reply starting to come to life

"Ok, well start packing and be ready to leave at 5am," squeals Mum

As Mum makes her way back upstairs I start to make my way towards my bathroom. Once in the bathroom I turn on the sink and splash my face with cold water to jolt me awake. After brushing my teeth and hair I make my way back to my room. I scour my closet and drawers trying to choose what to pack for our trip. As I pack I realize that the ticket Mum gave me didn't have a return flight on it.

Don't worry about it Etheral, Mum has it under control

Once all my clothes, shoes and toiletries are packed I have to grab the jewelry Priscilla and Daniel gave me. Once I've got everything I'm going to need for this trip I zip-up my bag and make my way up the stairs. By the time I make it up stairs Daniel is already sitting at the table eating breakfast.

"Morning Etheral,"

"Morning Daniel, How'd you sleep?"

"Good, just wish I could've gotten more,"

"Same, but I guess we can sleep in the car and on the plane,"

"True, although I can't sleep while driving or we'll wind up in an accident," Daniel grins

"Well you can sleep on the plane only then,"

I make my way into the kitchen and grab a bagel. I take the bread knife and cut the bagel in half so I can fit it in the toaster. While my bagel is toasting I open the fridge and grab the cream cheese as well as some strawberry rhubarb jam. I make my way back to the toaster just in time for the toaster to jump. I grab a plate from the cupboard and pull my toast out of the toaster and put it on my plate. Once I've placed my toast on my plate I grab a knife from the cutlery drawer and start smearing a thick layer of cream cheese on the bottom half of the bagel. Once I've put just the right amount of cream cheese on my toast I put the jam on the top half and put both halves back together before joining Daniel at the breakfast bar.

"Let me guess a cream cheese and jam bagel?" inquires Daniel

"How'd you guess?" I reply sarcastically

Once installed at the breakfast bar I start to devour my bagel.

Geez slow down, it's only 4:30am how am I so hungry?

As Daniel and I finish up our breakfasts we hear Mums suitcase rolling across the hardwood floor. After she puts her suitcase by the front door she joins us in the kitchen. As Mum makes herself something to eat, I go and lay across the couch waiting for five to come so we can start out journey. The longer I stay on the couch the heavier my eye-lids seem to get until blackness surrounds me.

"Etheral, we're at the airport. It's time to get up," says Daniel with his hand on my shoulder

"What? When did we even get into the car?"

"You fell asleep on the couch at home so Mum and I decided not to wake you,"

"Thanks, I really needed that extra sleep,"

Once I'm awake enough to get out the car I go and grab my suitcase. While Daniel and I wait by the car Mum goes to the office of the car park so we can keep our car at the airport while we're away.

"Okay, the car is going to be taken care of while we're away. Now lets take the bus to the airport and head to Scotland,"

Daniel and I nod our heads in agreement as we all grab our bags and head for the bus. The bus trip only took about a minute before we made it to our terminal. The three of us unloaded from the bus and headed for our designated check-in desk so we could put our bags through to the flight and truly start our adventure. Once all our bags are checked in and our boarding passes are printed off we head for security. Surprisingly when we make it to security there are only three other families there and we get sent through right away. Once through security Mum looks at her watch.

"Well it's only 6:15am and we don't have to be at our gate till 6:45am. Do you guys want to stop at Tim Horton's on our way to the gate?"

"Sounds good to me, I could use a peppermint hot-chocolate" I reply

"I agree with Etheral, but a coffee for me,"

On our way to our gate we make our Tim Horton's pit stop and grab our greatly needed coffee and hot chocolate. Once we have our drinks in hand we walk to our gate. We make it to our gate just in time for us to board our plane. All three of us walk to the gate and hand our passports and boarding passes to the hostess at the gate. Once we've all been checked by the hostess we make our way down the tunnel leading towards the plane door. Once on the plane the flight attendants welcome us on the flight and show us to our seats. We manage to make it to our seats without any difficulties. All three of us are seated in the same row, Daniel in the middle and Mum and I on either side because of our small bladders. As we get comfortable we feel the plane moving towards the take off strip. Now that I'm seated again I feel my tiredness wash over me again and rest my head on Daniels shoulder before falling asleep.