Just have Faith {EDITED}

Welcome Home

*An hour and one REALLY long car ride later*

Zak wheels me around the waiting area to our gate. He's pretending I'm a race car and making noises to match. I'm wheezing from the excitement. Once he settles me next to a table, I open my phone to play some games. I play some fun game about birds and pigs. Dakota comes up to me and sits down.

"You ever play chess?" He asks

I nod looking up at him for a brief moment.

"You any good?" He asks

I nod again. I used to play chess for the school in Oregon. I was the best in the league since I didn't have to do any kind of talking. Dakota places a large phone in front on me. I look at the screen. It's like a tablet of some sort and it's open to an online chess game. I look up and smirk.

It's on

Twenty minutes later and all the guys are standing around us, watching the intense game of chess play out. Even a few strangers are watching. I have about 30 minutes to win this game and get bragging rights.

"Let's sweeten the deal. If you win, I will personally buy you a new laptop. If I win, you have to..... hmm.... Embarrass yourself with a silly dance every time I say 'waffles'. Deal?" Dakota asks holding his hand out to me.

I'm still looking at the screen as I shake it. I'm winning this game by a landslide. I've made it seem that I'm losing however, to save Dakota's ego. We sit in silence as more people gather around the table to watch. Ten minutes pass. 7:20 AM comes, as does 7:25 AM.

"You shouldn't have put your Bishop there." Dakota says smugly, thinking he's won.

I move my queen to checkmate and the crowd gasps. I sign 'checkmate' and lean back in my wheelchair. His jaw drops, people pat him on the shoulder s they walk away. Some people try to shake my hand but I wave them off. I don't like touching other people. Zak shakes a lot of hands for me. We're the first people to board since I'm in a wheelchair and the group is in something called First Class. Zak sits in front of Dakota and I. The seats in first class are apparently larger than the ones in the rest of the plane. The seats also lean back, which is awesome because I am sick of sitting up straight and need to rest my back. Dakota helps me into the window seat and folds my wheelchair up so the assistant can put it in the overhead storage. Zak turns around and hands me a small white pill.

"This is Dramamine. It will help with the jet lag. If you want, I can give you your anxiety medication and that will help you sleep, but you'll be jet lagged." He says

I take the little pill in his hand. I would rather be anxious than jet lagged. Whatever that is. Soon, I'm leaning back in the seat drifting off to sleep.

~~~~~~~

When I wake up, I'm being carried out of the plane. I wonder where I'm at for a moment before I hear Zak talking to me.

"Welcome to the fabulous Henderson airport in Henderson, Nevada. We don't live in Henderson, we live about an hour away, but there's no airport in our city."

There's suddenly a blast of hot air that sends goosebumps over my skin. The sun glares down on my face, warming me from the outside.

"Welcome home, Faith."

Welcome home... I never thought I would hear those words after all these years.

I take in the sight of the hot desert in front of me. I can see the heat waves radiating off the ground in the distance. The dry air sends a shiver down my spine. The warmth of the sun radiates through my bones. The palm trees sway in the breeze, the cars rumbling along lull me into a sense of safety.