Truffle Island

Chapter 1: Before the Crash

Her long wavy brown hair blew gently in the wind as she scanned the line of cars with her bright hazel eyes, in search of me. She wore a black and green puma hoodie and grey shorts with a matching pair of black and green sneakers on. I honked my horn to get her attention and almost immediately, her eyes found mine and the anxious look on her face was replaced with a soft smile. She ran up to the Jeep, opened the passenger door, and jumped in, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, how was your day?" I asked her as I pulled out of the line of cars and drove out of the chaotic school parking lot.

"Good," she replied softly, "when is the flight?"

"Our flight leaves at 5:30pm, so we will probably wanna get to the airport by 4:30," I concocted a rough estimate.

"Okay."

"You nervous?"

She nodded. Journei didn't like doing things she had never done before or going places she wasn't familiar with. It gave her really bad anxiety. I could tell by the way she absently stared out the window that something was on her mind, and it was worrying her.

"Hey, it's okay. Dad will be happy to see us when we get there. The flight will be fine. Just stay calm. You have your stuff packed and ready to go already, right?"

"Yeah it's in my room ready to go," she never took her eyes off of whatever it was they were focused on.

"Okay, my stuff is in here already," I pointed to the back of the Jeep, where my suitcase and carry-on bag were.

Our father was in Dubai on a trip for work, and he had three days off and wanted us to visit him so he could show us around the beautiful city. I was excited to go and I know Journei was too, but she had anxiety. Even the smallest things scared her. She had to fight harder than most others to face her fears, which were fears that most people never had to deal with, like talking to people.

I pulled into the driveway and parked the car to check the time on my phone. It read 3:40pm, "alright, let's grab your stuff and we will see if we have time to stop at the gas station for a snack on the way there."

We went inside and gathered Journei's stuff and got it all packed into the Jeep. Thankfully it didn't take long. As the two of us lifted her last suitcase into the car, our mother came outside to drive us to the airport. On the way there, we stopped at a gas station and got some Oreos to share. They disappeared long before we got to the airport.

Upon arriving, I saw a line of cars leaving the airport. It was oddly long, considering how small the airport was. I remember wondering why, but never bothering to think anything of it.

The small airport was modern in style with about 35 terminals. It wasn't ever very busy because most people chose to fly out from the city. We walked in and headed down the marble flooring till we reached the check-in counters, where we got our tickets and took the nearest escalator upstairs. We went through security and found our terminal all by 4:40pm. After dropping us off a little later than I had hoped for, our mother left, so it was only me and Journei that waited in the seating area near our terminal. After a while, other people started to show up and before we knew it, it was 5:30pm and the plane was still nowhere to be seen.

"Flight C-10 to Dubai, UAE has been delayed due to technical difficulties. Please standby, we will have the plane up and running again shortly," said the man at the help desk over the loud speakers.

"Yikes, technical difficulties? Watch this plane go down."

I looked to my left to see a man sitting in the seat next to me, laughing. On the other side of me was Journei, nervously looking my way. I assume she had heard the man too. I turned to the man and tilted my head with curiosity. "Do you fly a lot?" I asked.

The man nodded, "yeah and this kind of stuff happens more often than you'd think. It's usually minor stuff though. We will be fine. I always feel like my next flight will be my last because I've been on so many without any issues that I feel like my time for a bad experience is overdue, you know?"

I agreed with him, "yeah I feel like that sometimes too," I turned to look at my little sister who was now absently gazing out into the rest of the waiting area.

Was she okay? I knew she was nervous, but how was she dealing with it? Gosh she was hard to read.

"I take it you fly often too then, huh?" The man asked.

I brought my attention back to him and looked at him carefully, this time taking a few seconds to examine his features. He had long brown hair with bangs that nearly covered his eyebrows. His hair was curly on top with a clean fade on the sides. He stared back at me while I continued looking at the numerous freckles that painted his face and his sharp jawline.

"Is there something on my face?" His brows furrowed and his lips pursed with concern as he pulled up the camera on his phone to look at his face.

My eyes widened because I realized that I had been staring at him. "No!" I quickly shook my head and blushed out of embarrassment, "to answer your question," I adjusted myself in my seat, turning to him, "I don't fly as often as I would like to. Life and work keep me well occupied."

The man smiled, exposing a set of perfectly straight, pearly white teeth that I couldn't help but look at a little longer than I probably should've, "I understand. That just makes it more of a vacation when you are able to get out," he said.

His smile made me smile. Before I could reply, a voice came over the loud speaker calling all first class members aboard.

"Oh, that's my que!" He held out his hand for me to shake, "I'm Chris, by the way. What's your name?"

"Dezerae," I took his hand and shook it.

"Well Dezerae, maybe we will see each other again in Dubai," he gave me one last charming, heart warming smile.

I returned it with one of my own and said, "Maybe we will."

Then he disappeared into the crowd of people boarding the airplane. A crowd that Journei and I soon followed.