Surfer Story

chapter one

Louisa gathered her hair into a high ponytail and sighed. The thought of a 15 hour flight in an economy seat dragged the excitement running through her veins to a halt.

'I'll be fine Mom, Tyler will be waiting for me at the airport so there's nothing to worry about.' Her mother smiled and her worry showed through from the lines appearing on her forehead. A tight grip on Louisa's denim jacket as her mother pulled her in for one final hug, the last she would receive for the next six months.

'I know baby but you'll always be my little girl and it's terrifying sending your child to the other side of the world by herself. No matter how old they are.' She placed Louisa's face in her hands and kissed her forehead. Louisa donned a crinkled nose and chuckled.

Louisa's boyfriend Tyler was an aspiring businessman, his father ran a million-dollar investment company and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps.

'Stop it Mom, you're gonna make me cry. And you'll rub off my foundation. My planes boarding, I'll ring you when I land okay.'

Louisa departed from her mother with a tear in her eye. The last time her Mom sent a family member away on a six month trip they never returned. Her father was a loving man, helping his family the only way he financially could by signing up to wear camouflage in late 1995.

As he stood at the curbside with his arms around his wife's waist, he held her as she sobbed uncontrollably.
'I'll be back in no time, you know we have no other choice Liz. Six months will fly by and I'll be here in time for this' He softly spoke as he stroked her barely swollen stomach. That day was nineteen years ago, and that was the very last day Louisa's mother saw her partner.

When the news broke, Louisa was only 19 weeks old in her mother's stomach and unaware of the hole that would never be filled within her heart as the years went by. Her Mom was only twenty years old at the time, and she had gotten pregnant from a one night stand with a college student who happened to be very supportive of the matter. She did not have a job and due to the unfortunate circumstances, had been kicked out of home with parents unwilling to have contact regardless of the outcome.

Louisa pondered this situation and prayed for a smooth vacation as she handed the air hostess her passport and shot her a fake smile. The woman dressed in a red suit and a cap, also with a small circular name badge holding the name 'Donna' in bright pink letters returned an obviously fake smile and stamped her passport before passing it back to her.
'Seat 43, aisle E. Have a nice flight.'

Louisa moved towards the middle of the plane, through first class which was scattered with rich businessmen in different areas as if it was a disgrace the knock elbows with each other. She kept her head held high and strolled to the middle of the plane, which was more or less suited with people she would feel comfortable around.

Middle class people to be exact, as her and her mother had always had just enough cash to get through the days of the week and the months of the year for the past twenty years. She never had top-quality clothes, often opting for a variety of second hand store clothes that she had altered to suit her fashion wants and needs. That's how she had discovered her go-to look, a pair of oversized, distressed blue jeans and a tight stripey shirt covered with a denim jacket that she had cut and sewed to her desire. Tips she had learned from her mother as Liz had always believed that clothes always had more than one life after being torn to shreds or ripped apart.

She glanced up at the numbers labeled on the overhead storage, 40, 41, 42, and finally 43. She sighed and placed her small black shoulder purse in the overhead and took her seat, which happened to be right next to a middle aged woman roughly in her early or late thirties, playing candy crush on her iPhone.

The woman looked up from her phone and smiled, 'Hi, I'm Anna. We might aswell greet each other since we're stuck on here for the next 14 or so hours' She extended a hand and Louisa grasped it gently before shaking. 'Louisa, nice to meet you.'

Anna's hand retreated to locking her golden coloured iPhone and placing it on her lap, 'What's taking you down under to Australia? Family? Or personal, it it's personal don't mind me I'm just trying to make conversation.'

Louisa let out a small chuckle, 'No, my boyfriend actually. He moved to California five years ago from Australia then moved back there at the beginning of the year so I'm going to live with him for six months and see how things go.' She stated as the woman glanced at her intently.

'Those Australian boys are nothing but trouble, I tell you. Nothing but tanned boys who are always up to no good.'