Writing's Second Taste

Introduction: Untitled.

My carry-on bag swung with every step I took as I had my purse on my other arm, maneuvering my way through the boarding terminal. There were many similar people showing the same expression that I held – excited and anxious at the same time.

Don't get me wrong, I really was happy and thankful that my parents gave me the go signal to leave the country and attend university in the UK. My uncle, who was a professor there, recommended it to me and after months of waiting, I finally got the letter of acceptance.

A few squeals and celebrations later, they quickly realized that it meant that had to move far away from them. It wasn't like the other kids in our neighborhood who went to colleges in other states, I was going to a whole different continent.

Although, they showed their faith in me and I'm determined not to let them down.

A flight steward gave me smile as he examined my ticket before directing me to my seat. I heaved my bag into the overhead cabin before easily slipping into my seat.

This was going to be a long flight.

Few minutes passed by and a boy also came down the aisle, placing his carry-on inside the overhead cabin directly above the lane I was sitting on. Checking his place ticket and the little sign that showed the seat number, he bent down and sat on the space next to me.

What I always disliked about flying alone was having to put up with the awkward silence or small talk with the stranger beside me for hours.

"Hello," he greeted, his voice thick with an accent. He was English for sure, but I couldn't identify which part of England he was from.

"Hi," I greeted politely, looking back down on my lap.

I saw him stick out his hand and offered me a smile, "I'm Adam, you are?"

"Sienna," I said, gently reaching out to shake his hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Like the city?" he asked, finding my mundane name interesting.

Nodding, I spoke, "The spelling is a bit different and I'm probably far from the beauty it has."

"I don't think that," he chuckled, fastening his seatbelt, "I mean, I'm going to need good seatmate for the next eleven hours."

Well, he was going to be gravely disappointed.

Soon enough, the protocols for taking off were done. The seatbelt sign, the captain's voice sounding through the speakers, a flight steward roaming around to make sure everything was alright, the safety video, and everything else.

We were in the air after a few minutes and the moment that we were given the heads up that we were free to do anything that we desired, I reached down to my huge purse. Not because I thought that carry-on bag above me wasn't going to do a good job, but because I kept my trusty laptop in there.

Pulling out the device, I turned it on and placed it on the table tray, grabbing my headphones and plugging it in. I opened the folder where all of my writings were saved in, clicking on the file that had my recent unfinished book.

"What's that?" Adam asked when he saw the screen.

I groaned because although I had nothing playing, couldn't people understand that when I put my headphones on, it meant I wanted the world to turn off?

But of course, I can't take out all of my frustrations on this poor boy, "Stories."

He looked at the device once again while chose a playlist and settled myself in, my fingers hovering over the keys.

Seconds or minutes, time passed by.

And just like what I was afraid of, the words refused to come to me. I sat there motionless as my eyes stared at the blinking cursor. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't find it in myself to write, my thoughts and ideas didn't come out.