Witness Protection ✔

The journey

The ride to the airport was silent. Nathalia didn't know what to say and Darius didn't seem to be interested in having a conversation. To say the atmosphere in the car was awkward was an understatement. But she survived the short trip and almost sighed in relief when the airport came into sight. She realized she still had no idea where they were going. Did she zone out again during the explanation, or was it just not discussed?

She was about to ask Darius but when she turned to face him she chickened out. He intimidated her far too much and she was scared he'd think of her as some stupid child. But then she remembered the plane ticket in the envelope the caseworker had given her so she pulled it out to inspect it.

'Destination: SEA'

Sea? As in the ocean?

She had never been on an airplane before and couldn't seem to find any additional information to help her. She had no choice but to ask the slightly annoyed-looking man next to her.

"So um... Can I ask you something?" she started timidly, waiting for his answer.

He didn't give her one. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes he gestured for her to continue, so she did.

"I was wondering where we're going, this ticket just says 'sea' but that can't be right, right? I mean, where would the plane land? on a boat? That seems kind of impossible doesn't it?"

Nathalia was a sufferer of nervous ramblings, it was hard to make her talk but once she did she went off. A characteristic she had always hated about herself.

"SEA stands for the Seattle Tacoma Airport. So no, we're not landing on a boat."

She felt like a complete idiot. His sentences were short and to the point which made everything perhaps even worse. She looked at him as he drove, his eyes on the road and one hand on the steering wheel. His other hand rested in his lap and any other person would've looked relaxed sitting like that. But she knew he was tense and alert.

"A- uh, I'm sorry."

She hadn't expected him to turn to her fully, his dark grey eyes looking straight at her.

He's so handsome, I wonder if he has a girlfriend?

"What are you apologizing for?" he seemed genuinely confused, his thick eyebrows furrowing together. This was the first sign of emotion he'd shown all day.

"Well, it was a stupid question," she replied.

His eyes were on her for a second longer before turning his eyes back on the road, taking the next exit.

"Questions are only stupid if you already know the answer," he said after a while.

She turned to look at him again but he made a sharp right turn and stopped the car. They had arrived at a small guardhouse surrounded by fences. She looked at Darius for answers but found him talking to the guard inside and showing him some documents. Moments later the fence opened and Darius started the car again.

Up ahead, a smaller plane came into sight and the car stopped next to it. She had expected to take a commercial airliner but this seemed to be too small to be a commercial one, so it was probably government-owned. She reasoned that the commercial plane perhaps was too unsafe for her to take, and now very few people knew where she was going.

After getting out of the car they were greeted by the pilot, a man in his mid-forties, and another man who didn't say anything. Darius walked around the car and pulled one duffel bag out of the trunk before slamming it shut again. And at that moment she realized she didn't have any personal items with her.

Since the day of the incident, when she'd called the police and they had taken her statement, they hadn't allowed her to go home. Instead, she stayed at a hotel and was to leave her room only for essential appointments like those at the police station.

Darius walked up to the plane and gestured for her to go first. She didn't know if he was being a gentleman or if it was a bodyguard thing but she appreciated it.

The inside of the small plane was simple enough, down the middle was the aisle and on either side of that aisle was one seat each, for five rows. That meant the plane could hold up to ten passengers but it was just the two of them plus the pilot. This presented a new problem; where to sit? If she were to sit at the front she'd be too close to the pilot, risking him talking to her. If she sat too far back she wouldn't be able to look out of any windows. But if she were to sit in the middle it would force Darius to sit close to her no matter where he decided to sit. Eventually, she chose to sit at the front where she would not only have a perfect window seat, but could also see over the pilot's shoulders.

She looked back to see Darius sitting on the opposite side, at the very back of the plane. The pilot closed the plane's door but the man who hadn't spoken before did not get on the plane. Instead, he got in the car and drove back. She hadn't thought of the logistics of returning the car but it made sense to her.

The pilot gave a short introduction before starting the plane and taxiing along the runway. Despite the whole situation she found herself in, this exciting new experience made it somewhat more bearable.