To the Arctic

Chapter Three

Aurora's POV
On the way to the Calgary airport, Dad interrupted the silence.
"Almost at the airport!"
Natalie took out an earphone.
"Oh thank goodness, I'm going to go crazy if I sit in this car any longer." Natalie stated, squirming in her seat. We laughed.
"Just hold on for another 25 minutes!" Dad laughed.
"I think I'll manage." She said, plugging her earphone back into her ear.

Switching my gaze back to my window, I looked out at the passing buildings and fields. Everything seemed to pass as a blur of colours, mostly the fields of fluffy white blinding me.
                              *********
20 minutes later, Dad warned us once more that the we're at the airport in 5 minutes. Quinn, Natalie, and I started to pack away our stuff back into our purses.
Soon, I could see the airport out of my window.
                             *********
We brought our suitcases and bags inside and made our way to the baggage claim. Dad handed the man our tickets, while I around the room I was in. It was massive, with carpeted floors and workers, pilots, and passengers making there way through the crowds. After Dad put the tickets into his pocket, we gave him our suitcases.

On the way through security, I glimpsed at some gift shops. Most were tiny, selling sweatshirts, cups, hats, etc. I was sure I counted 12, passing them.

Finally, we were over with security and we decided to go to one of the airport's cafes for lunch.

Waiting in line, Quinn, and I chatted while Natalie decided what to get.
"Cody got so hot this year!" Quinn said, a surprised tone inner voice.
"Guessing you like him now, eh?" I said and laughed.
"Haha, no. He just got a lot cuter this year is all I am saying. I mean, I would be--" She got interrupted by Natalie.

"Quinn! Order!" She said and laughed.
Quinn starred at the menu for a minute, then talked to the lady.

Soon, it was my turn to order.
"I'll have a mocha and vegetable soup." I told the lady.
"What size for your mocha? She asked.
"Medium." I replied.
I payed for my lunch and waited there for a few moments while she grabbed it.

She handed me my soup, then my mocha. Looking around at the strangers, I found the familiar faces sitting in the booth at the back of the cafe.

I sat down and started to eat while Natalie and Quinn made small chat.
*********
Soon, I was finished my soup and I got up, walked to the garbage, then threw it out. Everyone else did the same and we exited the cafe.

Looking for some seats in the lobby, Dad found a spot for all of us while we waited for the plane. He looked at his watch and told us,
"They start to call us down at 11:30. So that means we have half an hour to spare."

I put one of my earphones in my ear and listened to music, changing the songs every couple of minutes. Natalie, Quinn, and I discussed something while Dad was on his phone.
                               ********
Later, a monotone voice on the speaker phone called,
"Attention. Flight 176 to Winnipeg leaving now."
Finally, it felt as if we sat there for hours and I was going to go crazy soon.
"Time to go." Dad told us.

We headed towards the plane. Once we got inside, I sat down with Dad, across from us Quinn and Natalie.

It took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Winnipeg, but once we got there, we sat on our phones waiting to be called again.

Once the flight to Churchill got called, We gathered our stuff and made our way to the entrance of the plane. Dad gave the lady our tickets and she handed something back to him. "Have a good flight!" The lady smiled.

We walked down the long narrow hallway behind a family, and we got into the plane where there were two ladies standing there, the pilot and the co-pilot. They were all smiling and they welcomed everyone onto the plane as they passed.

The pilot seemed as if he was a man in his 50's, with a brown beard, along with strands of grey and blue eyes. The co-pilot looked as if he were a man in his 30's. He eyed everyone with piercing grey eyes, but his smiled looked too friendly to make him look any harmful.
These men seemed completely trustworthy and that's what I liked.

Dad was in the lead of the four of us and he sat down in seat 245. I sat beside him while the girls sat across from us, Quinn by the window and Natalie by the isle.
"Do you want the window?" He asked.
"Sure." I said and we traded places.

It took a long time for everyone to get on the plane and sit down. But finally, everyone was here.

Suddenly, I heard the pilots voice on the speaker.
"Passengers thank you for boarding Flight 176. This is your pilot speaking. Please turn off all cellular devices for we are taking off now."

The ladies walking down the isles reminded everyone nicely to buckle in their seat belts.

A few minutes later, I looked out the window, and I saw that the plane was moving now, zooming down the runway faster and faster.
Then we were finally in the air.

I waited for the plane to be in the air for a couple of minutes, then I took out my phone and listened to music.

During the flight, at time I would glance at Natalie and Quinn to see what they were up to. Usually Natalie would go back and forth, from her phone to her book, while Quinn would gaze out the window and take pictures, or read. Dad was on his phone and laptop a lot. Sometimes I would watch him type on this laptop.

I turned my volume up on my iPhone, not being able to hear the music that well on this loud plane.

"And...done."
"What?" Taking out an earphone, I questioned him.
"I was just emailing my co-worker, Jerry." Dad answered.
"Oh."
I plugged my earphones back into my ear.

Then I remembered something that I've been confused about for awhile. That made my stomach turn over.
"Dad, you still haven't told me what's going on at your job yet."
He looked over at me.
"You'll find out."
"Why can't you just tell me?" I asked, full of confusion.
"Because I said, you'll find out."

I went back to looking out of the window, questions stirring in my head. I ignored the Taylor Swift music in the earphones as I started to ponder and stare out the window.

Up here, everything below looked as if I was searching places on Google Earth. The mountains somehow look so fake, and there were so many, most of them with snow caps.

In Banff, I always loved to go snow boarding and hiking on the mountains, but it always amazes me how strange they looked from the sky.

The plane also passed tons of towns of all sizes, and fields. I was at peace at the moment, staring down at the ground with just my thoughts.
********
A little later on, I heard a speaker go on. I looked at Quinn and Natalie, who listened as everyone else did, with curious facial expressions.

"This is your captain speaking. Please turn off all cellular devices now. If you look outside, you can see the town of Churchill. We are landing in 5 minutes. I repeat, we are landing in 5 minutes."