The Long Road Home || h.s. au

Chapter Three

In the following days, Jeff and Sia worked out the flight schedule and transportation to the recording studio in Jamaica. Sia's flight was to leave Sunday morning and there would be a car waiting for her to drive her to where everyone was to be staying for the two month duration of the project. Sia knew the whole album wouldn't be completed in two months—it sometimes took at least half a year to get an album done, start to finish—but the goal was to get all the vocals recorded as well as most of the instrumentation before the two months was up. Of course, there'd be tweaks and changes that would happen afterward, probably pretty much up until the release date of the album, but that was to be expected.

When Sia wasn't in the studio with Jeff and other artists, she was getting things squared away for her trip. She packed everything and made sure she had all her essentials. Since she was going to be gone for two whole months, she went to the unit across from her to ask her neighbor, Heidi, if she would be so kind as to collect her mail and make sure her plants were watered while she was away. Heidi was a woman in her early forties who lived in the flat with her husband and two cats. She was a special education middle school teacher, and she had been the first person to befriend Sia when she'd first moved to LA. Sia helped her out by watching her cats whenever Heidi and her husband were away for more than a day at a time. Back in June, the couple had gone on a three week long cruise around Europe, so Sia had their pets the entire time. Heidi had no problem returning the favour by picking up her post and watering her few plants every couple days.

In what seemed like no time at all, Sia was on her way to the airport, being driven by a service the studio had arranged for her. The drive to LAX was crazier than she remembered it being when she arrived in the states all those months ago, and she was glad she wasn't the one driving. She could legally drive in America, but she didn't think she'd be able to handle this level of chaos. Even London never got this bad, and she thought that traffic was a bit mental. She had no idea how Californians did this day in and day out.

By the time Sia got checked in, through security, and to her terminal, there were only a few minutes to when her flight was supposed to start boarding. She took a few minutes to sit down and get her carry-on and purse off her shoulders. She had two other bags that she was glad to have checked and out of her possession for a few hours, because they were a hassle getting through the airport, even though they took them off of her at check-in. She couldn't imagine lugging anything else around. She had no idea how she was going to do it when she landed in Jamaica.

Within fifteen minutes of arriving at her gate, Sia was already sat in her seat, carry-on stowed away, and laptop open on some last minute work she was to get to Jeff once she got connected back to wifi as soon as she got to the studio on the island. She was technically finished with it, she just felt like it was missing a certain something, though she couldn't put her finger on it. She just knew it was bugging her.

Sia spent the first hour of the flight working on the piece until she finally found the exact part that was bugging her. The sixteenth notes that were originally in the bridge didn't flow well, so she dropped it to eighths, and all was right in her music world. She was able to nap happily for the following hour knowing she'd be able to send the completed file to her boss once she landed.

Landing in Jamaica in the middle of the summer wasn't much different than leaving it in Southern California. The air was a touch muggier, but the overall weather was pretty much the same. She was glad she had opted to keep on her shorts and tank top when she got on her flight earlier. Usually she changed into a pair of sweats while she was on a plane, since the cabin was usually kept pretty chilly, but she knew it'd be hot when she landed. She plopped a baseball cap on her head and slid her sunnies on to keep the harsh sun out of her eyes. There was a driver waiting for her after she grabbed her luggage and made her way outside the airport. She greeted him kindly and thanked him for helping her with her bags.