Hiraeth: Cities To Embers

4.1 - Timing Today

Chapter 4: START

Claire sighed, looking out the window, seeing no scenery other than icy blue skies and dark seas.

Gabriel glanced around, hearing yelling near the front of the plane. He glanced over at Claire, her expression cold.
He smiled, "do you think we would get in trouble if we moved to first class seats?"
Claire shrugged, "I'm not sure. I think there's bigger issues out there right now than a couple people sneaking to first class, but... wait- do these planes even have a first class?"
Gabriel laughed, "you know what? I'm not sure actually. It's not the biggest plane, is it? It might just be seats like this."

Claire stood up, looking around, "we could try looking around... right? I mean, I doubt they'd care right now."
Gabriel stood up aswell, stepping out into the aisle; columns of empty seats with a few scattered people sitting throughout the large cabin.

After walking past 6 rows, they saw Amber sitting alone against the window, mumbling on the phone.
Gabriel stopped, turning to her with confusion, "wait... hey, uh-"
She sighed, "Amber."
"Sorry, yes, Amber... are you calling someone?"
She chuckled, "no, I still can't get a connection. I'm just leaving my friend some messages for when I get back online."

Gabriel nodded, "okay... hey, do you know if we're allowed to move to first class?"
Amber's eyes lit up, "well I mean nobody's gonna stop us."
Claire leaned against the row of seats behind her, "well we ju-"
Amber bounded out of her seat, "I'm going to find out."

They followed her calmly, seeing a small glass divider ahead of them.
On the other side of the divider was seats quite similar to the ones where they had been sitting; this smaller section however had rows of two as opposed to the rows of three.

There was three columns of seats and only two individual rows.

Amber was extremely blunt as she spoke, "if this is the first class area, I will be fucking pissed."
Claire grimaced, "this can't be it, there's no TVs."
Gabriel sighed, "I wanted to see what movies they would have on."

Amber rushed forward, "there's more seats up here! Hey, these look way nicer!"
Claire's face grew to a warm and sincere smile, "oh my god, TVs!"
Gabriel stepped through, seeing dozens of seats with not a single person sitting amongst them.

Johnathon walked over with Adam, "come on Adam, we're gonna sit through here. Just... just find something to watch, okay?"
Adam sniffled, "where's mom?"
"Sh-she's at home, don't worry."

Adrien followed behind them, hastily sitting in a seat and staring at the blank TV screen.
Rose walked down the aisle and stopped infront of everyone, "uh... what's happening here exactly?"
Amber shrugged, "no WiFi, no phone service, nothing. I'm bored out my skull and I'm in a country I'm stuck on a plane for fuck knows how long... I'm not sitting in that rank little seat at the back anymore."

Rose opened her mouth as if to protest, but she could not bring herself to speak, letting out a mere sigh.
She glanced around, "I don't think the pilots would mind."

Rose began to walk off, prompting Amber to shout to her, "hey! Uh... Rose! What movies are playing?!"
Rose mumbled quietly before answering, "uhm... there's a Jennifer Lawrence movie I think... and I think the Barbie movie is available."
Amber raised her arms in celebration, "Barbie movie get in!"
"Hmm," Johnathon let out, "I've never watched it. Is it worth it?"

Claire shrugged, "it was alright."
Amber scoffed, "it was damn near spectacular!"
Gabriel sighed, "it made me feel like a proud woman."
Stephanie walked by with a chuckle, "what a grand old movie."
Lauren followed her silently.

Rose furrowed her brow, contemplating silently.

She stepped to the divider between the two classes and grabbed a phone off the wall, "excuse me. Please could all passengers head towards the front of the plane to our business class seats?"

Johnathon gasped, "if this is business class, imagine what the first class must be like."
Rose walked back over, "sorry, this is not a very big plane... it doesn't actually have a first class lounge."
Amber groaned, "no kip for me then aye."
Jonathan's jaw dropped, "was... was that English?"
Stephanie chuckled, facing Amber, "you're from Ireland right?"
Amber turned around, "oh, yeah, I'm from Derry."

The rest of the passengers began to migrate to the business class area.
Rose looked around, "is this everybody?"
Johnathon muttered, "well some people got left behind..."

Kirsty sat silently on her own, her eyes struggling to focus on the screen infront of her. She inhaled sharply and let out a pained sigh.

Rose opened the notes app on her phone, "okay, I-I'm gonna just count everybody here."
She walked up and down the roads, tallying up everybody on the plane.

Rose then walked calmly to the cockpit.

She stepped in, seeing Alison speaking to Sophia. Alison glared at her, walking out silently.
Sophia turned to Rose, her expression cold, "what-... what is it?"
Rose shrugged, "I figured I should get a headcount. There's eleven passengers, well... twelve including that lady."
Sophia turned back around, "Alison."
Rose nodded, "yes. Including us three, there's fifteen people in total."

Sophia did not turn back to her, "thanks."
Rose paused, "huh? Is everything okay?"
"Everything is fine. Just... you can leave now."

Rose silently stepped back out into the cabin, closing the door. She let out a weak sigh.