The Thin Line

Chapter 1: Arrival

Chapter 1: Arrival

"On behalf on the captain and the flight attendants, we would like to thank you for flying with us today, and we hope you have a wonderful day in the beautiful city of Miami, Florida!" The perky flight attendant's voice crackled over the intercom. I rolled my eyes. No one should sound this happy this late at night, especially after a tiring five hour flight.

As soon as the "Fasten Your Seat Belt" sign turned off, the metallic clicking sound of unbuckling seatbelts filled the plane. Metal clanking against metal, seats grunting as passengers used them to pull themselves up. Suddenly, everyone was out of their seats and quickly clustering the already squishy plane, squeezing themselves into the tiny aisles, attempting to get their suitcases so they could get off to the terminal as fast as they could.

I was one of the few who stayed put in my seat, immobile, looking out the window at the dark, night sky. Though it was so late at night, the airport was as busy as ever. All around, planes were landing, taking off, and taxiing. While the rest of the passengers were jostling around, I was in my own world, thinking back to the conversation that Mom and I those two weeks ago.

"We're moving," she had just announced.

I didn't know what to say. There were so many things on my mind; so many thoughts, so many emotions. I could not process them all. I could only inquire, "When are we leaving?"

My mom hesitated before saying, "Well, they want me settled in and working by the time school starts but I want to settle down and get to know the place for at least a week before I start working. And I know it's really soon but I plan on leaving in about two weeks so we'll have enough time to pack up our things and say our goodbyes. I'm really sorry about our moving in such a short notice, I really am honey. But I haven't seen my brother in so long and the pay raise was a lot."

I wiped away the tears that had started trickling quietly down my cheek. "Yeah, I understand Mom. It's fine. I'm just really going to miss everyone." I sniffled. I knew I had no choice and I didn't want to give Mom a hard time. She had made so many sacrifices for me, raising me as a single mom after my biological dad decided that he wanted nothing to do with me or my mother. This was my one sacrifice for her. I gave her a small smile.

"Thank you so much for understanding, Kat. You are such a good child." She cupped my cheeks in her hand and planted a soft kiss on my forehead. "I have to go to work now okay? I'll be home by six. I love you!" She briskly walked to the front door, her heels clicking loudly on the hardwood floor.

"Bye Mom. I love you too." I returned, before the door slammed shut.

Two weeks hadn't been enough. I said my goodbyes to my friends and my team. Miles and Brooke and I went out every single day. They even sent me off at the airport. That was the first time I'd seen Brooke cry. She didn't even cry when we watched The Fault in Our Stars, which was when I started doubting if she was actually human. But seeing her cry into Miles' chest as walked away from them, seeing him wrap a comforting arm around her shoulder was when the reality finally hit me. I wouldn't be seeing them for a very long time. Even though I had promised to video chat every day, I knew it wouldn't be the same. I had turned around before they could see the tears collecting in my eyes.

Thinking back already made me tear up. I squeezed my eyes shut. Though it had only been several hours, I already missed them so much. I missed home so much.

"Katherine? Honey? It's time to go. Rob is already here."

I snapped back out of my daze and looked around. The plane was now empty, save the few old people who were slowly gathering their belongings and the flight attendants bustling around and cleaning up the trash, already getting ready for the next flight.