Behind The Mask

Chapter 31

I can feel the lurch behind my stomach and the pressure in my skull as we climb through the invisible air which is the only thing keeping us afloat as the ground beneath our feet, our stability, slips further and further away.

I grab E.J.'s hand.

"I'm kinda afraid of flying," I whisper. "I guess it's a little late to tell you that now, hey?"

E.J looks at me for a second before he starts giggling.

"You? The big jock? Afraid of flying. But you have flown before. More than once," E.J. says, squeezing my hand tighter while trying to suppress a giggle.

"And I didn't like it any of those times either," I answer, shutting my eyes tightly, waiting for the pressure in my head to go away. "Seriously. I think this might be it E.J. I think this might just be the end. We might actually die today."

Yes, I am being over dramatic. And I know it. I know it way too well. But right now I will probably say and do anything to get this steel contraption to land.

"Okay... Okay..." E.J. coos. "Let's just pretend this is some ride at Disneyland and we can get off whenever we like. But while we are here we are all alone. Nothing in the world can touch us, we are the only people who exist."

"You are not making it better!" I whisper with more urgency. "The only reason why nothing can touch us is because we are up in the bloody air and nobody is stupid enough to take off their seatbelts and come and meddle with us."

I can hear E.J. sighing. I want to make this better for him, but I just remembered that a plane can actually fall if a bird gets sucked into one of the engines, and we are in the bloody sky, which by the way is filled with birds of every damn feather. Not to mention kites, other planes, helicopters, air currents, electrical storms... Am I the only person in the world that sees a massive flaw in the plan that is air travel?

"Okay, let's try another approach. What about just trying to breathe?" I register E.J. saying. "In... and out. Yes Brody, stay with me. In... and out. Slowly now. In... and.... Out... Let's try one more time, in... and... out."

I can feel my chest moving up and down. The pressure on my skull easing up a little bit. I open my eyes and look at E.J. still holding his hand tightly.

"You know what... I think that next time we take a boat," I say allowing a hysterical giggle to escape my lips.

"Ships don't travel over land," E.J. sighs again, pushing his fingers deeper into mine. "Are you feeling better yet?"

"I will feel better as soon as they tell us to put on our seatbelts for the landing," I answer leaning my head a little bit closer to E.J.

E.J. has been different since we met that night with Elijah. It's like he has lost a little bit of himself, and regained another part that I didn't know existed. Something more confident. Almost as if he wasn't as afraid of the world as he was yesterday.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" E.J. asks as he pulls his unoccupied hand through his hair, pushing it back to show his eyes better.

"What? Going back?" I ask.

"Yeah, just... You know... It feels weird going back home," E.J. answers as he turns his head and peer through the window at the clouds outside the window. "I mean, my mom will probably kill me."

"I'd give anything to have a mom that will try to kill me. I mean, you might be going home. I'm just going somewhere I've been before," I answer without even thinking about E.J. but rather wondering what it would be like if my waited for me at the airport when I landed. But then again, if she had still been alive, I probably would not have had this face to brag with either.