“Now boarding, flight 723. Please make your way to gate number 4 to board the plane. Have a safe flight and remember to always fly wi~~...” The loud speaker cut off abruptly, causing Lucas and everyone else standing in the airport to look up in unison as if expecting to find the source of the problem in the ceiling where the speaker system was presumably located. When the message did not resume, the airport employees quickly began to reassure everyone that nothing was wrong. Just some technical error which, according to the smiling employees, had been happening a lot lately so there was nothing to worry about. This was greeted with nods of acceptance and quiet remarks about this sort of thing always happening at airports. But no one seemed to be bothered very much. This sort of thing happened all the time, just a fact of life.
Lucas, who was about ready to abandon his obnoxiously large suitcase if forced to carry it for one more moment, decided to risk the technical error and headed to the gate to board his flight. He sat down and began searching through his carry-on bag, his laptop case, for the ticket which he had just received from the desk moments ago. After a few moments with no luck, he began to panic. “Where did I put that thing... I just had it!” Looking around, he saw nothing on the floor, the ticket hadn't fallen out of his bag “Well, at least I didn't drop it. Maybe...” Lucas walked over to the desk to see if he had perhaps left the ticket on the counter.
“Excuse me ma'am, I was wondering if ~~...” A brightly polished and manicured finger held toward his face indicated to Lucas that he was being asked to wait a moment. The woman behind the counter was wearing a lot of make-up. She wasn't a clown or anything, but it was obvious that she was trying too hard. The nails and make up were both done professionally, probably from one of the spas in the city. And her hair... well... At least she tried. In Lucas's opinion, she probably should have let the professionals take care of the hair as well as her nails.
While silently making notes of the woman's appearance, Lucas became aware of someone watching him. (You know, that feeling you get when someone is staring at you and you can just tell somehow. A remnant of a time when humans were not at the top of the food chain perhaps.) Lucas turned around to look, and sure enough there was a young man staring at him. The guy, who looked to be in his early 20's, quickly turned away when Lucas noticed him staring. Slightly confused, and blushing, Lucas turned back to the counter only to find the woman staring at him with an annoyed expression.
“Can I help you sir?” She spoke with a slight drawl, indicating that she had most likely grown up in the area. The accent caused Lucas to smile, which caused the woman to smile and blush lightly. Lucas's smile tended to have that effect on women, and sometimes it helped him to be able to make a situation slightly more pleasant and in his favor. Like now, he thought with a grin. “Yes, I seem to have misplaced my ticket and I was wondering if I maybe left it here? I just picked it up a few minutes ago, but now I can't seem to find it.” The woman, Rachel according to her name tag, looked around feverishly trying to find the ticket. After a few moments, she resigned with a sigh and a small frown. Lucas, who was not one to cast blame on anyone, simply nodded and thanked her for checking. “Have a nice day, Rachel.” Lucas smiled and walked back over to his bags, leaving a giddy and beet red Rachel standing behind the counter.
Sitting down, Lucas looked through his bags one last time before giving up. He glanced at his cell phone to check the time, then sighed loudly and leaned back in the chair while pushing his hair out of his eyes. 6:53 AM. Lucas was supposed to already have boarded his flight. Take off was scheduled for 7:18 AM, and they always liked to have everyone on board and ready for take off well before that time. Lucas picked up his bags and quickly walked towards his gate, hoping to find someone who could help with the missing ticket on his way. But being distracted by his worry and his heavy bags, Lucas clumsily walked right into someone and caused them both to fall down.
“Oh my God! I am so sorry, I'm such a klutz..” The man he ran into began quickly, clearly flustered and embarrassed. He must have been as distracted as me if he thinks it's his fault, Lucas thought while trying to pick up his bags and help the man up. He looked at the man and realized that it was the same guy as before, the one who had been staring at him at the ticket counter. The man must have noticed it too, because he suddenly blushed and became even more embarrassed . At this, Lucas smiled brightly and held out his hand to help the man stand up. He was tall, like Lucas, with broad shoulders and a wide chest. Lucas had originally guessed him to be in his early 20's, but seeing him up close he guessed he was probably around 19 or 20. He looked like a young college student.
After becoming lost in his striking blue eyes for a few moments Lucas held out his hand again, this time to introduce himself. “Hey, I'm Lucas. Sorry for running into you like that, I really need to pay better attention to my surroundings.” He kept his smile, enjoying the fact that the man was still blushing. He quickly reached out his hand to Lucas's, shaking it firmly and smiling back. “Ashton. And no, it's my fault. I was texting and walking at the same time, never a good idea. My mom won't stop texting, trying to make sure that I'm ok. This is my first flight on my own and she's just being a mom. And... I'm talking way too much. Sorry..” Ashton's stunning smile faded as embarrassment flooded his cheeks, causing him to turn a deep shade of crimson.
Lucas just laughed and smiled, “Moms are like that, I remember my first flight alone. My mom wouldn't stop texting me the entire time. Eventually I just stopped responding and then made up an excuse later, like my phone died or something. Now she knows to just wait and I'll call her when I land. It works. Saves her the stress and me the phone bill.” Lucas saw the smile come back to Ashton's face and noticed how his entire body seemed to change when he smiled. It was like smiling made Ashton's entire physical being change. Lucas liked it.
After pondering this for a moment, Lucas checked his phone again. 6:57 AM now. I am going to miss this flight.. Why did I have to lose that damn ti~~... Lucas's thought stopped before it could be finished as a high pitched shriek crashed through the airport. Everyone, including Lucas and Ashton, quickly turned to look towards the direction of the scream. Lucas couldn't see what was happening from where he was, too far away. He turned to look at Ashton and saw his own worry and curiosity mirrored back at him on Ashton's face. “I'm gonna get closer.. That didn't sound like the normal worried scream of a parent.” Lucas finished picking up his things and started to walk closer to the scene. Ashton was right behind him, “I h-hope everything is alright...” The worry was thick in Ashton's voice, causing him to stutter slightly.
As they approached the origin of the shriek, a large crowd was gathering around the woman. Lucas had to push his way silently through the crowd, weaving in and out to get as close as possible. After what seemed like forever, he emerged into the clearing around the woman and stopped dead in his tracks. The woman, who was no longer screaming, was kneeling on the ground clinging a small child to her chest. Lucas assumed it was her daughter, and that the reason behind the scream had something to do with her. Lucas shrugged lightly and turned to walk back out through the crowd, to tell Ashton it was nothing, when he saw it.
Standing maybe 10 feet away from the woman and child there was a man staring around at the crowd of people, as if he were looking for something. His face was covered by his hair so Lucas couldn't get a good look at him. But this did not stop the man from seeing Lucas. Almost as soon as he had looked at the man, the man had turned rapidly to stare back at Lucas. This caused Lucas to step backwards in shock, nearly tripping over a woman standing behind him watching. After regaining his composure Lucas looked back at the man, but this time the man was much closer. He had taken a few steps forward and was now almost nose to nose with Lucas. The proximity gave a much better view of the man. He was old. Well, maybe not old.. But he had lived a hard life either way. Deep crevices lined the man's face and his lips concealed yellowing teeth. The man also smelled heavily of some kind of cologne, although Lucas could not place it.
Lucas opened his mouth to speak to the man, to ask him what his problem was, when suddenly he found himself unable to speak. The man, who had pulled a small stone out of his pocket, was staring at him inquisitively while rubbing the stone. Fear flooded Lucas's mind as he realized not only was he unable to speak, he could not move at all. It was as if the if was literally frozen with fear. The event vaguely remembered him of something from his childhood, but Lucas couldn't place it and the memory was quickly washed away with waves of adrenaline as his body fought to regain control. Before Lucas could do anything to attempt saving himself, the man opened his mouth into a wicked smile and spoke to him. The man's voice was thick with an accent that he couldn't place, and a harsh rasp in his throat made the man sound as if he were in pain.
“Well, well, well. How... Interesting.” The man looked at Lucas with a strange glint in his eye, cocking his head ever so slightly to get a better look at him. The man seemed almost as confused as Lucas was, now that he could get a better look at him. The man opened his mouth to speak again but before he could say anything he stopped and spun around quickly, scanning the crowd. Lucas followed his gaze and realized he was staring directly at Ashton. Why in the world is he looking at Ashton... Lucas thought as the man slowly started to walk towards Ashton. Lucas wanted to scream out to him, to tell him to run, but he was still frozen in place. And then just as the man was within arm's reach of Ashton, everything stopped.
And I do mean literally stopped. The entire crowd has become frozen in place, even the old man, and Ashton was frozen in the middle of a strange movement gesturing his hand to the ceiling. It looked archaic in the midst of the crowd, but Lucas did not understand it. A low hum slowly caught Lucas's attention, causing him to turn around to look for the cause. And when as he did, Lucas found himself staring directly into the eyes of a frighteningly beautiful woman. Her striking auburn hair flowed effortlessly against her shoulders and partially draped over her chest and her eyes were haunting to say the least. The shades of green that made up her eyes seemed to be in constant movement, causing Lucas to be unable to look away.
“What are you, young one?” The woman spoke to Lucas with a strange accent that he could not place. Lucas opened his mouth to speak as the woman reached forward to his face and stroked his cheek. “Words.. they are as empty to me now as they were before. Show me, child.” And as soon as the words left her lips, Lucas's head was suddenly filled with a sharp stabbing pain as if being crushed from within. And then, as quickly as it had started, the pain ceased. And with that, Lucas opened his eyes to stare at the woman finding her face full of confusion.
Her eyes were piercing through his own, causing Lucas to flinch and try to turn his head. The woman turned her head, then waved her hand dismissively at him and Lucas found himself able to move again. Everything was moving again, time had been unfrozen. And the woman was gone. Lucas looked around to find her and saw that in the blink of an eye she had traversed the space between Lucas and Ashton, now standing in between Ashton and the mysterious man. But no one else seemed to notice them. It was as if Lucas, Ashton, the mysterious man and the woman were invisible to the crowd's eyes. While trying to decide what was going on, Lucas noticed something that caused him to burst into a sprint towards Ashton and the woman: Ashton had collapsed.
