THE CAVE: From shadow to light

THE CAVE - CHAPTERS I AND II

CHAPTER I
Please fasten your seat belt, we are ready for takeoff.

It's the D-day ! Indeed I woke up 8 hours prior to my flight even though the airport is just at 1h30 away from my home. The destination ? Oman !

Yah ... It was my first time out of Europe, I used to see the gray sky and face cold fresh weather 10 months out of 12 and used to only see red bricks all around me, with all this grayness, it was hard to get my dose of natural Vitamin C, the sun wasn't shy, the sun was scared ! Yah .. I lived in the north of France, where the architecture is .... Depressing and the weather kind of similar to London. Let's be honest, with all those red facades I'm wondering how fun it would be for a taurus to walk there, would it run and hit all the houses ? Yah .. It was an attempt to be humorous, sorry.
Anyways, let's come back to the main subject, my trip to Oman ! So yes, it's gonna be my first time there, it's totally unknown to me, I'm having thousands of questions in my head, where to go once I'm there ? Will I make friends there ? Do they speak English ? Do I even speak English ?

After having double checked, triple checked, hundred checked if I didn't forget anything, I'm ready to start this long trip and jump into the taxi, because I'm lazy, I don't have my driving license nor car and I'm tired just by thinking about the idea of going to the first metro station to go to the train station to go to the airport... I mean, the bags are heavy, it's cold outside and there's too many people around, and I have a form of agoraphobia. Sometimes, not always, it depends on my mood.

We are on the highway, it's raining outside, it's silent in the car, the driver throw some looks over the front mirror from time to time, I don't know if he's embarrassed because I don't talk, or because he is attracted by me, or because he wants to engage a conversation but he doesn't dare because my face shows annoyingness, or just because he looks at the car that are behind us, as the instructors tells us to do it thousand times at the driving school ? I don't pay more attention to this and I go back through my daydreaming process. I don't know if you do that, but, everytime I'm in a car or a train, I love to sit at the window seat, put my head on the glass and start thinking for hours.. Oh ! by the way ! Sorry, how impolite am I? I forgot to introduce myself : My name is Alia, nice to meet you too.

We've arrived at the airport's drop off line, the driver was nice enough to help me unload the suitcases from the trunk before leaving me with a "have a good trip!", "Thank you sir".

The adventure is starting for real. The smell of kerozen, and the crowd of travelers, all around me, going to or arriving from different sides of the world, how beautiful it is. I smile, but I'm stressed, I'm scared to fly... What if the airplane crashes ? After all it's rainy here, I'm sure that once in the middle of the mad clouds, it will be shaky and I'll start to freak out because I'm not really sure if it's a good idea to fly today. I trust the pilot, but not too much, man ! How can we stay in the air with this huge machine carrying hundreds of people, and tons of bags ? I mean, we are really heavy ! I ran to the first library shop inside the airport to buy a random book, just to read and keep my mind busy to forget my fear about flying, and to try to manipulate my emotions by redirecting my thoughts to something more peaceful. I'm here, sitting, at the boarding section, reading my book that talks about crossword puzzles and charades, damn it's a magazine.. All these by trying to manage my panic attack "inspire, expire, inspire, expire" ... People around stare at me, wondering what's wrong with this girl ?

Looong minutes later, we were finally ready for boarding. I grab my small bag that I kept for the cabin. Yes, my makeup, my tuna sandwich and my tablet are mandatory to accompany me because I already know it : I will not be able to fall asleep in a 7 hours flight !