Connected 2 You

France

The drive away from the house was long. I understood Rena's want to stay away from the city, but the side streets and backroads the driver had picked were some of the roughest I had ever been on. I winced as the driver hit another pothole with the SUV. Did it really take this long to get to Incheon Airport?

I kept looking out the window, expecting the airport to finally show up from a distance, or even some planes that were coming in or taking off to grace the skies. But as we moved further and further away from Seoul, I realized we weren't going to be using Incheon's airport. I didn't even know what other airport was close.

Bushes and trees lined the roads as we zoomed past for a few hours, until finally a small opening showed me a wide open field. It was the first clear line of sight where I could see more than a couple hundred feet in front of the car. The SUV began to slow down and the roof of a small building came up on the horizon.

Rena turned around in her seat to face me. "I just had a thought. You're ok with flying, right?"

I nodded. "It's been a while, but yes."

She smiled. "Good. The plane is a bit smaller than what you would have been used to, but the pilot is a friend who owes me a favor. He is very good and I have never had problems in the past." She winked and turned back around in her seat as we pulled off the main road onto a smaller completely dirt road. The potholes seemed to have tripled in size, but the driver had slowed down a bit to accommodate for them.

When the car came to a complete stop I was able to get a little bit better of a look around. The large field was a small airstrip and the building was a tiny hangar. The nose of a plane was peeking out of the front of the building.

We were in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't see any other buildings or houses anywhere and it had been a long time since we had passed by any other buildings on the road as we drove in. As I looked around, a word circled through my head. Alone.

I bit the inside of my cheek as the driver opened my door. I slid out of the seat and my feet hit the dirt beneath us. I took a deep breath to move my thoughts along and followed Rena as she beckoned me closer to the building.

A much smaller plane than I was used to took center stage in the hangar. Pieces of fabric swayed slightly in the breeze along the ceiling. A small desk sat in the corner and had several computers sitting on it. Even small airline ventures like this needed control clearance to take off and land, it looked like.

A nervous looking man was pacing just behind the plane and he stopped when he saw Rena. She continued on towards him and I watched as he seemed to tremble even more as she got closer and closer. He finally stopped visibly shaking when her hand touched his arm. Rena began talking with the pilot and I watched as he nodded after every few words that he said.

I sighed and looked around again. People were standing at the control station. The driver was getting bags out of the back of the car. No one was by me. I was alone. No one would see me go. I took a step to my right, testing my own motion. No one moved. I took another step. Still no one moved.

Do I go for it? I could leave and go... where? Rena had made it perfectly clear that she had eyes on everyone I had interacted with in the last two weeks. And we were in the middle of nowhere. The road in was the only way out. And the last building I had seen had been an hour's drive away. I would be caught before I even made it a mile up the road.

"Y/N."

I looked up to Rena who had just called my name and she smiled. I had lost. This had always been her game. She knew I couldn't go anywhere from here, that's why it didn't seem like she cared. That's why no one was around to guard me. There wasn't a need to. I felt my shoulders deflate slightly and I walked over to join her.