Between Clouds and Closure

Flames and Intertwined Fingers

My sister sprang up from her seat when I walked back into the house.
"So..."
I shook my head and broke into a sob. It didn't skip my attention that I had cried more times since I arrived in Cali than I had in a really long time. She walked over to me with outstretched arms. "Ah mi niña," she said as she wrapped her arms around me, reminding me once again of our mother.

"Babe, get the wine please," she requested and I heard her husband shuffling to do just as she had said. She led me to the seat while her husband brought the wine and two glasses. He left afterwards to give us some privacy.
"What happened?" She asked and I told her everything.
She made the appropriate remarks when required and when I was done she said,
"I know I said it was too soon but he sounds like a gentleman."
"He is," I said with a sniffle.
"Why didn't you tell me you were crying yourself to sleep?"
" I didn't want you to worry, I've cried more times this past weeks than I have in the last ten years. It's uncharacteristic of me, you would have worried yourself sick."
"I would have," she nodded her agreement. Then she asked "Do you think you might need a therapist?"
I shrugged, "Maybe."
"I really think you should consider it."
"I will."

"I thought you said you needed space," she spoke up after a beat of silence.
"I do. But I also keep thinking he's right and I'm throwing something good away. It'll be selfish of me to ask him to wait while I figure myself out, although that's essentially what I'm asking him to do."
"You're right, it is selfish. Plus, there's no guarantee that he's going to."
"None."
"For your sake, I hope he does," she said offering a small smile.
"I should go to bed," I say, a yawn escaping.
" I can cuddle you to sleep."
I laughed, "I'm not six years old Rosa."
"Okay then. Goodnight Ava."
"Night, Rosa."

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"You tell me how therapy goes, okay?"
Rosa had accompanied me to the airport. I was boarding a flight to Arizona just as I had planned. I had sold the house that Adam and I bought, much to his dismay.
"That's a breach of patient confidentiality. You're the lawyer, you should know that," I said, shaking my head in mock disappointment.
"You're the patient Ava, you are allowed to talk about it." she said, giving me a stern look.
"I was kidding."
She sighed, tucking the strands of hair that had fallen loose from my ponytail.
"I'm going to miss you amorcita."
"I'm going to miss you too, mayorcita."
"Call me."
"I will. I'll be here for Christmas too. I promise."
"You better." she said pulling me in for a hug.
"I'll let you know when I land, bye." I say placing a kiss on her cheek and walking towards the checkpoint.

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I was seated in my designated seat, grateful to not have a seat partner on this flight.
I was waiting patiently for the flight to take off, when I heard a commotion at the door of the plane. Turning to look back at the cause, my blood ran cold when I saw who it was. Shit! I muttered under my breath. I'd told him I needed time to think. He was here because of me no doubt. After a couple of minutes of back and forth, the air hostess let him in. Sighing, I wasn't surprised when I felt him settle into the seat beside me.

"Hi," he said, a little breathless.
I ignored him.
"You can't ignore me forever, I'm on this flight because of you."
"I never asked you to do that," I snapped.
"Too bad."
Remaining silent, I continued to face forward while we proceeded for take off.

For the first hour of the flight, we both remained silent. Then he spoke up "I'm sorry, I should have given you the space that you asked for. I just wasn't comfortable with how things ended". Not knowing what to say to that, I simply nodded. After finalising my divorce, I knew I needed time to revel in my new found freedom, figure out the next phase of my life and not jump into a relationship immediately. It secretly made me feel exhilarated though to know that he cared that much about there being an 'us'.

"My sister told you about Phoenix then?"
"She did," he nodded in affirmation.
"So, you're just going to move with me?" I asked him skeptical.
"Honestly, I didn't plan that far ahead. I wanted to straighten it, whatever this is, out. I want to be with you and I know that you need space right now, so, I'm going to give you that. Ignore the irony that, I'm literally sitting beside you on a plane, while promising to give you space. I'm not moving to Phoenix with you. I only boarded the flight to talk to you."
"What exactly is your pla..."
"I'm going to let you decide whenever you're ready to be in a relationship again, if you want it to be with me.Then, we work it out from there."
"I can't ask that from you. It's selfish." I replied shaking my head.
"It's okay, I want to."
"You shouldn't have to."
"There's only you for me now Ava, only you."
I reached over to place a light kiss on his lips and said "Okay."

The pilot had announced that there was going to be a turbulence. Ten minutes later and we had felt nothing. I was about to hit the restroom when the aircraft started to shake violently. Deciding it was the turbulence, I sat back down. Flickering my eyes to where his hands were now intertwined with mine. I looked back up at him. "It's just a..." the words were cut from my mouth when we felt a huge impact on the left side of the airplane. Instinctively, our eyes found each other's, his hold on my hand now tighter. I managed to look outside the plane, where the wing was, and I gasped when I saw that it was hanging by a few wires.

People were screaming now and the pilot was announcing something but I couldn't make it out over the noise. Some of the cabin crew were cowering at their stations, while the brave ones were trying but failing miserably to put people at ease. One of the air hostess looked outside to where one of the wings was supposed to be and telling by the ear piercing scream she gave, I knew, she had seen what I saw. She was scurrying to get to safety, although I doubted there was anywhere safe on this flight anymore, when a massive chunk on the other side of the plane chipped off, taking both her and a couple other passengers out of the plane.

More screaming ensued, parts of the walls of the plane were chipping off, taking passengers along with it. The pressure inside the plane was falling rapidly and I knew the plane was going to crash. One of the overhead cabins opened, and bags started flying around what was left of the plane. I was about to look to him again, when one bag hit me squarely in the chest forcing air out of my lungs, I heard the sound of bones snapping to what I knew were my ribs and sternum. I also heard him scream "Jesus!" even though he wasn't the least bit religious, from beside me, his hand still firmly wrapped around mine like it was a lifeline. He used his other hand to yank it off me and air whooshed out of my mouth. "I'm okay" I managed to croak out before he could ask me. I was far from okay.

The rest of the plane was already burning now and I could smell burning flesh. Because we had sat at the middle , it would take only a matter of seconds before the fire reached us.
A tear slid down my face as we stared at each other, knowing the inevitable, we were going to die. "I love you," he said, just as I watched the flames engulfed him. Thankfully, I didn't have to mourn for long, before I felt the flames lick at my own skin too, enveloping me.

When my sister was called to identify my body after the crash, she was a sobbing mess when she'd identified my charred body, my fingers still meshed and intertwined with who she could only have identified as Bryce.

The end.