I Will Survive... with Louis Tomlinson?

Chapter 24.

"Maybe because it has something to do with the fact it's stupidly early in the morning." I replied sarcastically with a hint of humour in my voice.

"I've known you a week and I'm already used to your sarcasm, in fact it entertains me, this tour should be fun." She chuckled before walking up to the desk.

"Thanks?" I laughed back, following her to the desk. My whole body was shaking naturally due to the circumstances.

"Passport?" Maria asked, already taking it out of my hand. I turned to face the woman at the desk and gave a small smile as she checked over my details. My passport photo was taken when I was sixteen, I look nothing like what I did then but she seemed to process it just fine. The passport I had now contained no stamps of places I had travelled to or anything like that for that matter, it was pretty much brand new besides the photo. My passport was remade before I flew back to England that one time, I didn't have a say in any of it so I'm stuck with this photo until I'm twenty six.  

"Tickets please?" The lady asked, Maria handed them over and grinned around her. Either airports make her really happy or she's a morning person. Or the coffee could be making her crazy, I'm going to go with the latter option.

"C'mon, we got a plane to catch." I hadn't even noticed our bags had already been checked in and processed before Maria was pulling me towards the departure lounge. I used to love shopping in the duty free area before flights but right now all I could think about was being stuffed in giant tin can thirty six thousand feet above the Atlantic ocean. I didn't understand the concept of planes flying, how was it even possible? If humans were supposed to fly surely we would have been created with wings. I found it hard to walk in straight lines; my nerves were getting the better of me. The stress relief tablets I had taken previously were doing little to help.

"I'm off to the bathroom, you coming?"

"No, I'm fine thanks. I'm just gonna go and sit down over there." I replied, pointing to an empty row of chairs.

"Why don't you go look around the shops or something?"

"No I'm fine, I'm not in the mood for shopping."

"Okay, be back in a tick." I wasn't exactly sure how much Maria knew about my past, she didn't seem to notice my odd behaviour around the airport but maybe it's normal for people look shifty and unbelievably nervous all the time. I looked around the empty airport as I waltzed over to the empty seats, everything was so quiet compared to the last time. I flew in the middle of the day last time, the scenery was completely different. Same airport, different atmosphere. I tried not to concentrate on the planes taking off and landing right outside, if I couldn't see them yet then there's less to worry about. I recalled sitting around here, I was reading Harry Potter for about the fiftieth time, however I haven't picked up a single one in the series since. I couldn't think about it without memories flooding back. The only memory I actually enjoyed about airports now was getting my foot run over by a stupidly heavy suitcase which belonged to a member of an extremely famous boy band and now which I can call my very own boyfriend.

"What'cha doing?"

"Uh? Oh, nothing. People watching I guess." I hadn't even noticed Maria had joined me, I was too busy staring off into space, recalling past memories. The calming tablets must be having some sort of effect on me, I haven't run out screaming yet, no matter how much my inner thoughts told me to. Also Louis' pep talk last night was keeping me inside here, he really had a way with words when he wanted to. He could be such a great song writer if he put his passion into it, I'm sure he could reel out hits with little effort.

"Not much of a flyer?" Maria asked, placing her hand on my knee to stop it from bouncing up and down.

"Not one of my passions." I gingerly responded.

"I'm not too fond either, doesn't make sense to launch ourselves into the air."

"Yeah, I agree."

"I mean, they could easily fall, just cut off and we could all-"

"Maria, I don't want to think like that." I was almost on the brink of tears, it was clear now she didn't know what happened.

"Sorry, sometimes my brain and mouth aren't synced."

"It's fine." I stifled out, trying not to cry.

"You alright?"

"Just peachy." I lied. I took a few deep breaths when we entered silence again. I continued to stare straight in front of me, this place was starting to get busier but only slightly. It was full of business commuters flying out to places for work, or whatever they called worked. Flying to New York for a 'business trip', yeah right, I bet it's a free trip with one meeting involved and they get the rest of the time doing whatever they like. I guess it's alright for some. I eyed down each business dressed person and tried to decipher what sort of company they worked for, anything to keep my mind occupied. Car manufacturer, logo designer, lecturer, professor, doctor, website designed were all options I had labelled to each people. I know labels are designed for soups cans and not humans but I wasn't offending anyone, who knows I could be complimenting and promoting people left, right and centre. My eye caught a quick glimpse of a family, they didn't look like business trip associates so I assumed they must be going on the only other flight heading out soon, one to Florida. My flight, to New York was mainly the business suited flight, I'd seen many business looking people checking in. I couldn't help but stare at the family as they walked towards one of the shops. My eyes began to narrow at them. There was a couple, the woman looked around the age of 35ish but her husband or partner looked older, he looked over the forty age gap. My eyes wandered to their child, although she could hardly be called a child she looked around sixteen. She had her back turned away from me as she flipped through a book on one of the shelves. When she turned around to speak to who I presumed was her mum my eyes caught sight of hers. My breath caught in my throat before I stood up, ready to run.

"Scarlett!" I ignored Maria calling me and began walking away. "Scarlett, our flight is boarding."

"What?" I managed to reply, turning around to face her.

"Come on or else we'll miss the flight."

"But-"

"But what?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at me. I turned back around to the face the family but they had completely disappeared, probably never to be seen again.

"She was there." My voice was quiet from disbelief.

"Who? There's no-one there." She replied, looking exactly where I was staring. I remained completely still, staring at the empty space which was previously occupied. "Come on, there's a queue to board." I was already being dragged towards the boarding walkway before I could protest but I'll never get that image out of my head. I refuse to believe I'm seeing things, what I saw was real but I'm too far away now.