Give Me Stars

3. Hello, Rome

THREE

HER

Karah awoke to a violent earthquake.

There was a brief moment of peace before the shaking began again. A resounding 'bing, bing, bing' echoed throughout the plane, indicating an announcement.

"Apologies for the turbulence, we are currently passing over some rough winds. However, it should be over shortly," the pilot informed its passengers over the intercom.

It took a couple moments for Karah to get a baring of her surroundings and finally realize it wasn't an earthquake. But waking up, she couldn't decide if it was better or worse that it wasn't what she thought it was.

"Please remain seated with your seat belts on until further notice. We are still on route and should be arriving on time at 4:15 pm, Italy time."

Pulling herself up straight in her seat after evading her frantic nerves, Karah looked around. Still about three hours from landing, they were currently flying over the endless Atlantic ocean. Karah was grateful for the empty seat beside her. After eating lunch, she had completely knocked out and had somehow unashamedly stretched over the two seats. Her dry throat was becoming a nuisance though.

She tried to will it away but instead reeled herself into a coughing fit. Trying to suppress the coughing was like attempting to breathe while swallowing water. Simply impossible; in fact the more Karah tried, the worse it became.

The passengers surrounding her seemed to ignore her predicament, though their flickering glances towards her said otherwise. Signaling the the flight attendant with the aid button, Karah frantically gestured for a glass of water and gulped it down in seconds.

It had been ages since she had last flown on an airplane and the dry stale air was something she had clearly not missed. Leaning back in her seat, she looked out the window a bit red faced and blotchy.

It was so serene, almost angelic even. The mountainous white clouds floated majestically, just brushing the horizon, as the sun shone ever so brightly.

And what a contrast it was, compared to her murmuring headache. From the moment Karah had stepped aboard, her head had started thumping and aching as if a mini construction worker were drilling a hole into her skull. And it only seemed to get worse from then on in and showed no signs of disappearing. Now it just seemed to be a mere buzzing at the nape of her neck. It was annoying, yes, but infinitely better than before. The prospect of landing in a couple hours had her feeling ecstatic.

She'd had enough near death experiences to last her a life time.

However, the turbulence was enough to prevent Karah from falling asleep again, so instead she plugged in her earphones and let her phone shuffle through random songs. She tapped her foot to the beat for a while until memories of Paul came to her. He may not have been here now, but Karah would forever be grateful to him. Her mind wandered over to what he had said moments before flying.

Burn it when you get the chance.

The file. She tensed and then relaxed moments later when she realized she had put it in the side pocket of her purse.

Leaning forward, Karah carefully pulled it out and gently settled it on the folding table in front of her. Just to be safe, she peered around to see if anyone was awake but most of them were either snoozing away, watching a movie on the mini screens before them or minding their own business. Satisfied, she turned the cover of the file to reveal its contents.

Karah Anello. There it was in bold letters, with a new birth date and family history. She was no longer Karah Calarco, who was born and raised in Canada. Instead, her whole life was remade to fit her new identity. She was now an Anello from a small city in Pennsylvania, US. At least the authorities had decided to keep true to her Italian background -she could hardly change the way she looked with her oilve skin tone and light brown hair. A compartment in the folder contained her new Italian ID, keys to the house, pictures of the neighborhood, pictures of her new home, the security checks of all the people who would be assigned to her, new opened bank accounts and some more. Karah almost felt as though she were a puppet being flung into a real world play with a poorly written script.