"Ash, my love, wake up." Laura whispered, rubbing my back. I slowly opened my eyes to see her fully dressed already, with her hair done and shoes on.
"What?" I asked with a croaky voice. "It's still dark."
"Yeah, we're going to catch the plane remember."
"Oh yeah." I nodded, shutting my eyes again.
"And we have to go meet Sarah."
"Sarah?" My eyes opened again. "Why are we meeting Sarah?"
"She's escorting us through the airport. We have to go with her if we want to get home."
"Why?" I asked.
"It's okay, don't worry about it. Let's get you in the shower." She helped me up and I had a shower. I put on some of the tracksuit pants she had bought me and the Champion jumper before brushing my teeth and walking out to Laura. The sky was dark, but lights were on all over the city and a few cars were still driving by, although not nearly as many as the evening before.
"Would you like me to do your hair?" Laura asked. I nodded and she went to grab a hair tie and brush whilst I put my shoes on. She had already put my clothing back into the bag we had and placed it by the door, ready for us to go. Laura came back and did my hair into a ponytail. She told me how beautiful and long my hair was whilst she did it and finally, we were ready to go. "Grab your phone and then we can go."
I quickly grabbed my phone from the bedside table and followed her quietly out the door. She told me she had already checked out so we could just leave, and the same car and driver as yesterday was waiting for us as we walked outside. He once again took our bag and we got in the back seat.
"The airport isn't far from here." The driver told us.
"Thankyou." Laura responded, then faced me. "We are going to meet Sarah at the airport, and she will escort us through."
"Through where?" I asked. Didn't you go and get on a plane?
"The airport. There's a lot of security and they check your passport to find out who you are. You don't have a passport at the moment, and we can't process one in this amount of time, so because of your circumstances, Sarah can escort us through, and she will prove and document who you are."
"Why do they need to know who you are?" I asked, unable to resist the question.
"Safety. They want to know who you are if you commit a crime on the plane or in that country." Laura answered, unfazed by the question, as always.
"Oh." I responded, processing. Laura then proceeded to explain to me all the different aspects of the airport, like checking in your baggage and security and customs. She assured me that although some people there might be intimidating and its busyness could be overwhelming, that she and Sarah would be there the whole time.
"You can do everything with me except for security, but you only have to walk a little bit on your own." Laura added. "After that's all done, we can go to the lounge and have some breakfast. There's lots of yummy food there and you can eat as much as you like. I've got a container and we can steal some to take on the plane." She giggled. My stomach flipped at the thought of stealing it, although it was free to us.
"Will Sarah stay with us the whole time?"
"Until we step foot onto that plane, she will be with us the whole time." Laura nodded. That was reassuring too.
We arrived at the airport and got out of the car. Laura put the bag on a strange trolley, and I followed her into the huge building. There were people, bags and trolleys everywhere. You had to constantly look where you were going to make sure that you didn't knock into anyone. Big television screens were everywhere, each with different colours and words on them.
"This way." Laura directed me after checking her phone. I followed her quickly as we beelined through heaps of people until finally Sarah appeared.
"How are you Ashlyn?" She asked me kindly after talking to Laura.
"Good, thank you." I smiled.
"That's good. Let's get this started, shall we?" She laughed. We skipped a queue and went up to a lady at a desk. We put our bag on this machine that apparently weighed the bag and then moved until the bag disappeared. I asked if we would get it back and both Sarah and Laura laughed nodding. I didn't get what was funny, but I smiled anyway. Laura's laugh and smile was infectious.
Next we went through security and I had to stand in a weird tube. Inside the tube was another tube that span around really fast, but Sarah told me if I didn't move then it would be over in less than ten seconds. I did that and she was right. Sarah and Laura also had to do the same thing and then we moved onto immigration. This was the part where Sarah was needed most, so I just stood back whilst they did all the talking. I looked around at all the big queues of people and machines that constantly flashed either green or red. I didn't know what they were signalling but people moved every time it changed.
"Let's go Ash." Laura smiled, grabbing my attention. We continued on and went into what Laura referred to as 'the lounge'. We sat down for a few minutes and Laura and Sarah talked, before I asked if this is where the food was.
"Yes!" Laura smiled. "Let's go."
She took me around and showed me what each thing was. There was a huge array of all kinds of food, and even a pancake machine. I had never eaten pancakes, but I knew what they were since some kids sold them for a fundraiser one time at school. I had never wished to have money more than on that day.
I got two pancakes which I drizzled with chocolate sauce, as well as some yoghurt, fruit and granola. Laura said that was a good thing to eat because it would help strengthen my bones. I had never had someone look out for me in that way before.
Laura got some food for herself and then we went back to our seats.
"I got you this." Smiled Sarah, motioning to a cup of a light brown liquid sitting on the bench. "Try it."
I took a sip and instantly recognised the flavour of chocolate in it.
"Yummy. What is it?" I asked her, drinking nearly all of it in one go.
"Chocolate milk." She laughed.
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I have a question - how old are most of my readers? I'm 14 btw