The Queen's Sandcastles

The fall (edited)

Her tired self leaned her head against the jet window while her feet rested on her military handbag under the red-plushie seat.
The phone in her skinny jeans beeped letting her know that a message just arrived. Emerald- green eyes swept over the text her secretary just sent her. "Relax and DON'T break anybody' s legs. I expect a nice souvenir for having to deal with your paperwork for so long."

She grinned slightly and wrote "Thx" back. With another swipe, the chat on the phone changed to a photo depicting her and a bunch of bulky men. All, including herself smiling at the camera, dressed in brown-green camouflage clothes. The bunch of muscle-packed idiots who were like family to her magically conjured a little smile on her face.

She would miss her companions and subordinates, even the noisy ones. But nevertheless, she was still eager to get to and spend two months in a new base in Africa. As a CEO for a company that dealt with software developing and as a Major- General in the Military, her hands were already full with responsibilities. Paperwork was on a daily basis annoying. She had to sign papers, check reports about stocks or different reviews from colonels and majors and sometimes make surprise visits on the military grounds.

It wasn't so bad when you got used to it, so this wasn't the lone cause of her so-called vacation. She couldn't take it anymore when her family strutted in her workplace demanding to see her to only disappoint and frustrate her further again. Their rich-used-to-luxury asses made the perfect spoilt high-society family: a cold and bastard father who was only interested in his company's profit, a plastic surgery institute on two legs called mother and her younger copy, the second daughter.

As always, they made a drama out of it. In their opinion, she was just ungrateful and bratty and irresponsible. The first daughter had to study all her life and prepare to take over the CEO seat to provide for them all her life and even take all their tantrums without hesitation.

To escape that hell she dropped her heir-classes and rolled into the military right after she turned 18. A year later the claws her family had around her had already dispersed. She achieved more than her parents would have ever prepared for her: became a Captain and founded a successful company. With 21 she gained the title of Major General and became one of the wealthiest women on the continent.

A whole other continent than the one stretching under her feet right now. The blue sky decorated with white cotton candy- like clouds stood in contrast to the orange sand hills on the ground. The muffled buzzing of the jet woke her up from the trance she was in.

Seeing what John was doing seemed like a good idea. At the end of the short corridor in red and blue tapestry was a little opening serving as a door. The door led to the pilot cabin where John was.

The handsome man sat before the control panel. When he saw her take the seat of the co-pilot beside him, he gave her the best Colgate-smile he had. The dimples showing his playful- self.

"Morning, Major"

"Morning, Brigadier John....... Everything good in here?"

"Since you arrived, yes."

Her eyes rolled automatically. He was always like that around her: a sweet, but playful fool who teased her at every opportunity. If he wasn't one of the fools she cared for, she would have long ago rebuked him countless times as his superior, but she chose to say nothing.

"Are you excited about your vacation, Major? "

She nodded "Kind of. "

"The old geezer will throw a fit because of everything he has to deal with because of your vacation. "

"Ahpleeease, those were his duties before I was assigned the title of Major. He should be grateful I am not gone for a longer time..... I'd also love to still go into missions, but that's how life is." Her shoulders shook helplessly.