Alone - Kong Skull Island [R.Slivko]

25- Eyes

I wake up as we land, the plane bouncing like crazy. I’m just glad I got to sleep before having to face humanity. I open the window and I’m practically blinded by the sun blaring through the window, so I snap it shut. I look at a clock on the wall ahead of me and it’s almost 8 AM, been on this plane for 2 hours and should be in Nashville now. Everyone starts to get up and leave, but I remember I can’t carry my other bag.

“Shit,” I mumble.

“Are you Alex?” A voice from behind me says. I turn and see another soldier standing there.

“Yes,” I respond.

“Don’t worry about your bag, I’ll get it. Just head out the door and find the other soldiers. They will lead you to your next plane that will take you to Denver,” He explains.

“Thank you,” I say, then turn and walk out. Wow, they have a lot of soldiers. I wonder if everyone else gets a military escort everywhere. I walk out the doors and see yet another group of soldiers waiting for me.

“Alex, right?” One of them asks.

“Yea,” I reply, still tired.

“I’m Wells, this is Clarke, and the one that has your bag is Kinsman,” He says, gesturing to the girl next to him and the one approaching me with my bag.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say following them to another gate.

“They made sure to get you back-to-back flights, so this will be boarding here shortly,” Clarke explains.

“At least I don’t have to wait forever,” I say rubbing my eyes, trying to get them to focus.

“Facts,” Wells says making me laugh.

“Flight to Denver now boarding,” a voice came over the speaker.

“Speak of the devil,” Clarke says.

“I’ll bring your bag on board and another soldier will help you once you land in Denver,” Kinsman says.

“Good luck, Alex,” Clarke says waving at me as I follow Kinsman.

I sit down and Kinsman puts my bag in the box over my head then leaves. Not long after, someone sits next to me.

“Hey, Alex,” Vinh says.

“Oh, hey bud. I didn’t see you on the last flight,” I say looking at him place his bag at his feet.

“They rushed me into boarding before I could wait for you, sorry,” He says putting on his safety belt.

“It’s okay,” I reply doing the same.

“You excited to see your family?” He asks me as we take off.

“Yea, but I’m also nervous. You?”

“Same, I don’t remember them, but they probably remember me.”

“I’m sure you will be just fine,” I assure him.

“Same for you, they’ll love you.”

“Thanks, Vinh.”

We both drift off to sleep and wake as the plane lands. I’m not as groggy as last time luckily.

“You ready?” I ask him, unbuckling myself as he does the same.

“As I’ll ever be,” He replies standing up and getting all his belongings, “You coming?” He asks when I don’t follow him.

“I have to wait for someone here, go see your family. Maybe we will see each other around eh?” I say.

“Hopefully, cya,” He replies and leaves just as a soldier walks in.

“I assume you’re Alex?” The woman says taking my bag.

“Indeed,” I reply.

“I’m Watkins, I’ll be accompanying you to your family today,” She explains as we walk into the gate room.

“Hi, Alex,” Another soldier comes up and greets me, “I’m Martin, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I say and follow them out of the airport. They lead me to a car and Watkins puts my bag in the trunk, then joins me in the back seat. Martin sits in the passenger while someone I don’t know is behind the wheel.

“Alright, I’m guessing no one has told you anything, so where do you want to start?” Watkins asks.

“How long do we have?” I ask, earning a chuckle from all 3 soldiers.

“It will take about 45 minutes,” Martin says over his shoulder.

“Okay, do you know who they are? The only thing I know is their names.”

“Wow, they really did tell you nothing,” Martin says.

“Okay well your aunt Melissa is 43 so she is the older sister of your mom and she is a professional photographer. Jason is also 43 and he is a mechanic. Michael is 6 and he doesn’t have a job so not much to know about him except he is in 1st grade. Kimberly is 13 and also doesn’t have a job. Matthew is 21 and he is in college for zoology,” Watkins says without missing a beat.

“Zoology,” I say, maybe I could help him if he wants.

“Yea, do you know what zoology is?” Martin asks.

“Yea, my mom had a Doctorate, and my dad had a Bachelors in zoology, they taught me everything they knew,” I say, and both their jaws drop.

“Really?” Martin asks in awe.

“I’ve heard it’s one of the hardest majors there is!” Watkins exclaims.

“At least I know something we have in common now,” I point out and they both nod.

“Anything else you wanna know? Doesn’t have to be about them,” Watkins asks.

“Will I have to go to school?”

“I don’t know, that would be something I could not answer,” Watkins says.

“How old are you?” Martin asks.

“About 17,” I say.

“About?” They both ask.

“Yea, we lost track of days, so I don’t actually know.”

“When’s your birthday?” Martin asks.

“October 22nd, 1959.”

“It’s September 14th, 1973, so that makes you 17 going on 18 in a month,” Watkins says.

“Personally, I don’t think they should make you go to school, just make sure you know basic things,” Martin says.

“Like what the square root of 25?” Watkins asks.

“5,” I say immediately.

“Yea, you’ll probably be fine without school,” Martin says giving me a thumbs up.

“If I may, what was your family like?” Watkins asks.

“My mom was a zoologist, my dad was a marine then became a zoologist, and my brother was your typical older brother. Protective, tall, had a RBF, protective, etc. We were a very normal family except we lived like someone you would be in a video game,” I say, getting everyone to laugh, including me.

“How do you know so much about a world you have barley lived in?” Martin asks.

“My parents would try to tell us as much as possible, hoping we would get to go back. They didn’t want us to be clueless and dumb when we got back. I think they also just liked telling us stories.”

“Makes sense,” He says.

“What’s it like in Denver?” I ask.

“Cold,” They both say.

“I’ll have to get used to that.”

“It’s very pretty though, lots of mountains. Some areas have no light pollution, so you can see the stars. There is plenty of wildlife as well,” Watkins says, my eyes lighting up at the mention of the stars.

“Your family lives in the middle of nowhere away from the big city, so if you can’t see the stars, go outside,” Martin jokes.

“Speaking of which,” The driver pipes up, “We are here.”

I look out the window and see a lot of tall trees and in a small clearing, a beautiful house. The dark wood fitting in perfectly with its surroundings, yellow light pouring out the windows. I take a deep breath and get out of the car.

“You got this girl,” Martin says before I close the door. Watkins gets my bag and follows me to the door. I hobble up the stairs and stare at the door for a second before mustering all my courage and knock on the door. The door opens and I come face-to-face with and older version of my mom, but she has my eyes, not my mom’s.

“You look just like her, except the eyes of course,” She says, stealing my mom’s voice right out of her throat.