APRICITAS [ENG] || Johan Liebert || Monster

Chapter 4 - Berlin 1995

"We are asking all passengers of flight FG-33 to fasten their seat belts, the plane will soon be approaching the airport in Berlin..."

The voice over the plane's speakers told. Emiko looked through the glass, where below closer and closer, she saw tiny houses on the background of greenery, surrounded by a light fog. Gray clouds were visible above the city as well; it looked as if it had been raining recently. At the mere mention of the rain, Emiko yawned a little, because the flight from the other end of the world exhausted her tremendously. The journey took seventeen hours including a transfer in Finland and the girl didn't even get a good night's sleep, so she decided that the first thing she would do after leaving the airport was to find a cheap hostel and rest.

There was a slight turbulence, followed by tinnitus, a sign of changing pressure. Eventually the wheels of the plane touched the ground and the rhythm of the engine slowed down, and shortly thereafter it came to a complete halt.

"Thank you for using our airlines, we wish you a pleasant stay in Germany..."

'Whether it will be nice, it remains to be seen... ' - the girl thought, going through the jet bridge to the airport.

As soon as she entered threshold of the jet bridge, she immediately felt that she was in a foreign country; German was heard everywhere: both between passengers and between airport staff and through loudspeakers announcing informations. Without much thought, she headed straight for the baggage claim.

****

Before Emiko got outside the airport walls a good hour had passed. First she had to wait for airport's staff to load and bring all luggages from the plane, and then she went through customs again. So when she finally found herself in one of the streets of Berlin, she was incredibly tired and discouraged. However, she knew it wasn't over for today - in fact, it was just the beginning. She had to find a place to stay, but she didn't know where to start her search. She put her suitcase on the sidewalk, sat down on the small wall by the street and began to look around at the surrounding area.

Berlin was impressive, no doubt. The architecture here was completely different to what she was used to in her hometown, and there was clearly more greenery here than in Yokohama.

Suddenly, due to the fact that nothing she was looking at or heard was familiar to her, Emiko felt very small and incredibly alienated for the first time so acutely. Already better was the presence of Hiro, who liked to tease her, than the current situation in which she was now... She shook her head violently.

'Get a grip of yourself, woman! It's time to find accommodation, have a good rest, and then start looking for information about brother!' She felt motivated again, so she got up and looked again at the passers-by on the sidewalk. She noticed that a blonde, middle-aged woman was leaning against the car by the car park on the right, and she looked as if she was waiting for someone. Emiko took advantage of the opportunity, quickly grabbed her suitcase and headed towards her.

"Guten morgen! (Good morning!) Excuse me, how can I get closer to the city center?" The woman looked at her, slightly surprised.

"Ah, good morning. I thought you were my niece Maria... How can I help you, miss?" The woman asked, slightly confused because she was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the question asked earlier.

"How can I get to the city center? I looked everywhere, but I didn't notice a bus stop anywhere..."

"Aaah, you aren't from here? Well... they should to fix this problem already, but as you can see, the authorities in this city have more serious problems after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The bus stop is about two and a half kilometers from the airport, maybe a little more... Usually tourists take taxis, those that stand at the airport, or, they are picked up by relatives or friends from here." Emiko felt her motivation drop again - lack of sleep and a heavy suitcase were an additional reason for this. Fund constraints didn't help her either - she preferred not to spend money on a taxi, the ticket was cheaper.