Slumber | ONC 2018

07

Silence. It ruled over the passengers of the plane, including the pilot. All that was heard was the wind rushing over the wings of the plane. Haileè sat at the front of the plane, hand on the yoke and eyes out to the stars, the door to the cabin open. Robin sat with his feet pushing against the chair in front of him, listening to music as loudly as possible.

But eventually, like always, the silence broke.

"Well then, what do you think has put this whole entire world to sleep!!" Rosanna yelled, throwing her hand at Louis's face.

"Well maybes it's a dream and we're all gonna wake up soon!" He screamed back. "And the one thing I'll be happy about is that I never met you!"

"Well if it's a dream! Why don't you wake up!?" Rosi swung her hand in the air and slapped Louis as hard as she could —which was pretty hard, considering he was thrown up the isle and knocked unconscious against a chair. Rosi snarled and spat on his breathing body. "Dick."

"Woah woah woah, Rosi," Haileè stood at the door looking very very alert. "Calm down!"

"Stay out of it, sister. Sometimes you have to push hard to put them in their place," she hissed, flicking her red locks off her shoulder and stomping to the back of the plane.

Haileè sighed and noticed Robin sitting to her side with his eyes tightly shut. She could see he was in pain, and now it was her turn to comfort him, now it was her turn to return the favour. Haileè sat in the chair beside him and took hold of his hand. His eyes opened and stared into Haileè's large icy blue eyes which were caged behind frames of glass.

"Listen, I know you're hurt --hurting. I don't know how to make you feel better because I don't know what it feels like, but please, don't shut us out. Don't shut me out, I'm here to comfort you," Haileè rubbed her thumb over the top of his hand and he smiled at her.

"You should help Louis," Robin responded, pushing her away. Haileè stood up sighing and began to pry Louis from the plane floor.

The group had been travelling through the air for eight hours, on their way to Borneo. All of them had been in and out of conversations ever since the little 'get to know each other' chit-chat. Haileè had managed to drag Louis one inch from his previous position. He weighed more than her twenty-one-year-old brother.

"Haileè," Rosi stood behind her, watching her struggle. "Let me do it."

"But-" Haileè protested, digging her heels into the ground and pulling hard.

"No buts. I'm stronger. But I also need to control my anger," Rosanna sighed and lifted Louis off the floor with ease. Haileè gasped. "What do you expect? I've worked on a farm all nineteen years of my life doing all the heavy lifting and crop restoring during droughts. My older brother had autism and the others don't have my same interests. So I trained and became the strongest in my family."

"Well then, can I paint you green and call you She-Hulk?" Haileè joked.

"Yeah, no thanks. I prefer DC anyways. I'd rather be Miss Martin or Artemis from Young Justice," Rosanna put Louis down hard on a chair.

Haileè laughed. "Yes! I love DC Wonder Woman and Batman, including all of the Young Justice characters. Dick Grayson as Nightwing is the best," Haileè agreed, a large smile plastered on her face.

"Kidflash is my favourite," Rosanna stated, fingering with her red hair.

"I can see why," Haileè chuckled. "We should wake him up," Haileè motioned towards Louis.

"I've got it," Rosi said, dashing to the back of the plane again. She came back holding a cup of water, and with no hesitation, poured it all over him.