Second Chances (ON HOLD)

Chapter 16: Flying Mansions

Vanessa Laurenz had never flown in an airplane before. A year ago, when her daughter had been four, and had quite adamantly declared her love for the flying white birdies, Vanessa had promised her a day when she’d take her to Houston through a local airline. Not even in her wildest dreams would she have thought she’d be sitting on an airplane for the first time and under such circumstances. That too, without her daughter. Then again, she was quite relieved her daughter wasn’t here with her. She wouldn’t have known what to do, had her daughter been here and questioned yet again the identity of the man who was her father, and had ventured into her house one night and coaxed her and sung her into sleeping.

So here she sat, perplexed and twiddling her thumbs in a vast, spacious bedroom. A vast, spacious bedroom amongst the several, in that private jet. She ran her eyes around the golden linings on side tables and the ceiling. The stark white sheets that contrasted with the mahogany colored, shining floor. Being inside here, she wouldn’t have been able to guess this was an airplane if she hadn’t climbed out of the cart herself and walked up the stares leading to the entrance to this flying mansion. Mitch had left her alone to catch up with his business associates.

Would Marco Arthur Davinci be here? It was his company’s plane after all. Vanessa wondered idly. It made her nervous. She was here with a man she felt nothing for after a long time, and close to one whom she couldn’t stand.

She could hear the growing murmurs and voices beyond the closed door, which did little to ease her discomfort. A minute and a brief beep later, a woman spoke through the speakers installed on the top corner of the room with practiced, soft fluency.

“Mr. Davinci has boarded the plane. It is highly recommended for all the passengers to please make their way to the seats placed on the front left of their respective rooms and fasten up their seat belts. The plane is going to take off shortly…” and with that she launched onto the expletives of how to fasten the seatbelts and the normal procedure slash protocol to follow was there any emergency that arose.

The door opened and Mitch walked in with a little smile, gesturing Vanessa to sit on the seat by the window. Without a word, she stood up and gracefully walked to the seat and gazed out of the window that boasted a wide expanse of a ground carpeted with grass and wild flowers, surrounded by the strip of the runway. She felt a little nudge to her side and she turned to look at the man who was gazing at her.

“What?” She asked dubiously.

“Here,” Mitch withdrew a gold mask for her. The intricate lace patterns adorned with pearls around the left eyehole shimmered in the sunlight that streamed through the small window by which she sat.  She looked at Mitch before taking the mask that felt as light as a feather in her palm.

“Where did you get this from?” She asked curiously.

“All the men were given one to give to their dates. It’s a masquerade… the ball I mean.”

The sign to fasten up the seatbelts lit up again, and Vanessa wasted no time in complying. She felt the gentle thrum beneath her feet and the airplane moving forward. Her anticipation was turning into worry as the airplane picked up speed and was now racing on the runway. Her breath hitched in her throat as she gripped onto the armrest when with a jolt she felt the airplane tilting upwards making her sink back into her seat along with her heart in her chest. She shouldn’t have looked outside the window at that precise moment. She knew she shouldn’t have. They were high up in the air now. She could see the Times Square and all the other vast skyscrapers that boasted the Manhattan skyline. Somewhere among those arrays of apartments, would be her daughter playing with her over-used dolls. Somewhere there, Phoebe and Becky and Esme would be doing something, while she was flying above them.