*** It's time for me to say hi again to all of you who will check this story out. It has been a while since I wrote something here on wattpad, but now I am at it again, giving it another shot. For your knowledge; this is just a raw draft so to speak, not edited yet (too bad really), so there will probably be errors in grammar, typos and so on, so please go easy on me. ***
The moment Erica sat down in her seat on the plane, was the moment a nagging thought told her that something was off. Really off. If she hadn't actually already been aware the second after a flight attendant had shown her to a different gate than what her boarding-pass told her, on the pretence that she'd been upgraded, she definitely was now.
She cautiosly looked around in the small cabin with eyes the size of plates. Jesus, Maria and Josef, this is just a frikkin' Cessna. Not the overly sized Boeing 747 that she expected to be on. Quite the difference now, wouldn't you say? And upgrade? To Erica this was a serious and utter most ridiculous downgrade. What the actual hell?
And the moment when the alarmbells in her head went off with full force was, when the last two passangers boarded. Two men.
There's nothing unusual with two men boarding a plane, that much could Erica agree on. But it was the way they looked . . . AND, specifically, the way they looked at HER. She gulped.
One of them was big . . . he was huge. Muscles all over the place. And he was tall. Erica blinked. Would he ever fit in the seats? Holy moly. His eyes were dark and he was looking straight at her with a scowl as he smoothly sat down in the seat next to her across the narrow aisle. Okay, so that about answered her question.
The other one had a more normal size, with a few muscles here and there. But it was his looks that made Erica look twice. Crikey! What a stunner. The good Lord sure had been generous with cheekbones, hair and lips on that one. As he passed her seat to sit down behind her, he fired away a crooked grin at her.
Closing her eyes briefly, Erica could feel her cheeks go warm in an instant. God how lame. He just gave you a smile. A smile. She opened her eyes again and stared down in her own lap. Was she really back to being a naive schoolgirl again?
Taking a few, well needed breaths of air, she tried to collect herself. Like from a distance, she could hear the captain talk as they rolled out on the runway. God how she needed a drink. A really, really strong drink. After a second or two, she giggled silently to herself. Like that's gonna happen. On this plane. A midget Cessna. You just have to endure, she told herself.
"Anything funny?" a low booming voice asked her over the sound of the engine. Erica snapped her head to the side, only to find herself staring like a moron at the guy across the aisle. The giant. With all the muscles. And the scowl was still there.
Smiling sheepishly at him, she shrugged her shoulders a little.
"Just the stupid urge to have a beverage of some kind. Preferably with a lot of alcohol in it."
A spontaneuos laugh split the otherwise stern expression, and the ever present scowl that he had on his face, into a shadow of a smile for just a second. "Oh yeah. I can see the humor in that." He rolled his eyes and then the smile was gone. "Like that's going to happen."
Erica widened her eyes. Her exact thought .
The moment after she was pushed back in her seat as the plane accelerated down the runway and took off. It felt like her heart took a dive and then went straight up again, and her facial expression told the story.
After about ten minutes into the flight, and after studying her from across the aisle, the big guy leaned a little over towards her as he asked, his voice husky. "Don't like flying?"
She shook her head.
"No, it's not that, really. I just have a bad feeling that I am on the wrong plane."
He raised his brows a little.
"Really?"
"Yes." she made a slight pause and grimaced, "I should have been on a Jumbo Jet."
"Really?" he repeated the question, the tone of his voice now a bit amused.
Erica gave him a glare through her lashes, feeling quite annoyed.
"YES!"
The big guy raised his hands in a defensive gesture and chuckled silently, then he got all serious looking again. For a brief second, Erica could see him exchange looks with the stunner in the seat behind her.
"Sorry, " he said, "I truly am."
There was a tone in his voice this time that Erica could not really pin point, and she gave him a questioning stare.
"For everything . . ." he added with a voice that dove a few octaves.
Now that made Erica stare at him even more, and the moment he met her eyes, she felt a sharp twinge in the back of her neck. Her hand flew up in an instant and her fingers fumbled frantically and she felt what must have been a syringe needle.
"What the he . . .?" was all she managed to croak out before everything around her faded away and turned black.
~ ~ ~
"This is the last time I will do you a favor, " Caspar hissed through his teeth, his eyes shooting daggers as he looked at Soran in the seat behind her. "Now put that darn thing away before anyone sees it." He motioned at the needle and shook his head with disgust.
"Take it easy, " Soran calmed him, "You just do what you are supposed to do."
"And what exact is that supposed to be, huh?" Caspar snapped and motioned discretely at Erica who now sat slumped down in her seat, out for the count."I sure as hell did not sign up for THIS."
Before Soran could answer an ear-piercing boom could be heard from the outside, and the plane shook alarmingly. Caspar and Soran looked at each other and then like in unison, out through the windows. In the sky outside, the clouds had turned pitch black and it was starting to rumble and multiple flashes could be seen.
"Damn, " Soran said, "where the hell did that storm come from? The sky was blue just a minute ago." He shifted in his seat and bent down, reaching for his bag. "We better put our chutes on, man. Like now."
Caspar gasped. "What?" he then sputtered out, " Are you nuts? NOW? Are you seriously thinking about doing it now?" Anger started to boil inside of him because of the young guy's attitude," And who the hell made you the fuckin' boss?"
Soran clenched his teeth and returned the angry look, then he motioned at Erica."Just check her damn bag, ok. It has to be in there somewhere."
Caspar grumbled under his breath as he saw him hide the needle, and his body language told Soran that he was pissed beyond belief.
Quickly he leaned over and snatched the bag from down by her feet. Hiding it away from view, he started to search through it, and it didn't take him long to find the folded envelope. Carefully opening it, he then looked inside and took out the paper. His eyes widened in shock and he snatched his head to look at Soran.
"The damn paper is BLANK!"
~ ~ ~