You Light Up the Sky Like Lightning

Chapter One

Chapter One

~Landry~

"Bye Blake," I sniffed as my older brother bear hugged me again. "I'm going to miss you."

"Bye Landry. I'm going to miss you too."

He squeezed me tight, and I tried my best to hold in my tears. I had no idea how hard this would actually be. I didn't want to leave him! He was the only sane thing I still had in this world. My world was turning upside down without my consent, and I hated it.

"This is the final boarding call for flight 309 to Atlanta," the gate agent announced over the annoyingly loud intercom. 

"Go on, Landry," Blake said hugging me tight. I squeezed him back, but when he pulled away, my heart dropped. Handing me my carry on, he said, "Hopefully I'll see you in six months."

"Make sure you call me between now and then," I said weakly, my voice matching exactly how I was feeling.

"Don’t worry, I will."

Saying one last final goodbye to my brother, I turned around towards the gate. I slowly made my way to the jetway entrance, but when I noticed how irritated the gate agent looked because I was the last passenger to board, I hurried my steps. Handing her my ticket, she quickly scanned it and shoved it back in my hands. Well, someone was in a pissy mood.

Sparing one last glance at my only brother, I sent him a little wave along with a halfhearted smile. Like the moron he is, he started jumping up and down, waving like an overly-hyper three year old. It was quite entertaining to watch a twenty year old do that. Letting out a little laugh, I waved again before starting my walk down the jetway and onto the plane. 

It didn’t take me long to find my seat once I was aboard. Thankfully, it was next to a window, so that made my life a little better at the moment. 

Glancing around the aircraft, I allowed my mind to wander. The plane was an MD88, so there was a row of two seats on one side on the plane, and a row of three seats on the other. I was in a row with two seats, and thankfully, since it wasn't a full flight, no one was sitting next to me. 

The flight attendants explained the safety precautions, and while they did, I thought about why I was going to Atlanta in the first place: 

My parents had issues with each other, so they were shipping me to my aunt and uncle's for the summer. Long story short, my parents don't get along at all, and they didn't want me around to hear them fight. They fought daily, and apparently it was a bad influence on me. Getting my brother Blake out of the picture was easy for them because he was already in college and has been for two years. But since I just turned eighteen, my parents wanted to make sure I still had someone watching me. I didn't understand that either because I'm not a baby. I was legal, so I didn’t need to be watched like a hawk. I was supposed to be going to college back in New York because I got a full scholarship for dance, but my parents didn’t want me to go because they hated that I was so focused on dance.

I stared out the window as the plane finally took off. I watched New York City- my city- disappear as the plane's altitude increased. Having lived in New York my whole life, I wasn't too happy about leaving- even if it was just for the summer. 

I pulled my iPod out from my backpack, and plugged in my headphones. Putting it on shuffle, I smiled when the first song that came on. It was a dance song that I had done a solo to a few years ago. Smiling to myself, and started running through it mentally. 

See, I love dancing. It's basically my life and has been for as long as I can remember. I've been dancing for sixteen years, but now that I was going to Atlanta for the summer, I will most likely have to take a break from it, and I am not exactly too happy about that. I'd have to ask if there was a studio where I could practice on my own time.