FREE FALL

The Journey

The smell of artificially fragranced clean air hit his lungs as he stepped into the madness of busy businessmen, people at vacation and lonely individuals returning from events of despair. It was all so normal to him.

"Raphael Marcel?" The lady at the kiosk asked as she flipped through his passport. She had a distinctive Russian accent as she spoke to him with fascination when she started to soak in the evident fact that she was conversing with a world-famous musician.

"That's right." He said and looked at her with his warm, genuine smile. She blushed and signalled to let him through as a short, grumpy man took his luggage at the check-in.

He picked up his guitar case, slung it over his shoulder and was about to leave when she interrupted him with a soft voice that suggested she was shy to tell him about whatever it is. He gave her another genuine smile to reassure her and she relaxed in her seat.

"I am in love with your music." She said with the most poker faced expression she could manage with a touch of friendliness and notable respect. Raph laughed and blessed her eyes with his happy pearly whites and his prominent left dimple and said, "I continue because of reasons like this one".
He took a quick look at her badge and then added, "I hope you have a wonderful day ahead of you, Miss. Lubov. I'm sure sitting here for so many hours a day entitles you to do something nice for yourself once in awhile". She blushed at the sound of her name in a Portuguese accent and gave him a happy look that said she was overwhelmed and grateful to have someone notice the long hours she spends here.

As he boarded the flight, he performed his pre-flying ritual of consciously putting his headphones away with his turned off electronics and found his seat. Raph had been training himself to observe his surroundings more over the years. He always listened to music to calm himself when he was alone with his thoughts. But now he wanted to challenge himself to embrace those thoughts and mentally take note of their trends when he's around interesting people. Raphael found everyone interesting.

As the aircraft's wheels left the cold grounds of Domodedovo International Airport, he began the second half of his flight travel ritual. He grabbed a black notebook with the initials 'D.S' embossed into the bottom right of the cover and he began scribbling away. He'd do this at the end of every journey to a place he'd visit.

"Moscow's people are warm and welcoming. I don't know if it's despite the chilly air or because of it. I've yet to pinpoint that major detail. The art and music is definitely strong here as I witnessed them pour their heart out into their dance, literature, art and music. I see their pain converted into masterpieces that portray a longing for something more than what they're born into. It's a constantly recurring theme with most cold countries I've visited. But I still refuse to conclude that weather plays a significant role in the art of expression."

He read his little note again and flipped through his older entries. The book was half-filled now. Raphael wasn't a materialistic man. But this little black book was his crude definition of a purpose he was yet to find. He put his book away and then moved on to the last task in his ritual. He observed his surroundings.

Raphael looked out the airplane window and strained his eyes to see beyond the thick white clouds that covered his view of the land. He knew he'd see only the snow covered tops of buildings and more snow but he wanted to add a real picture to save to his mental album his eyes capture images for.
To his left, there was another young man. He was probably in his mid-twenties like Raphael. He was hunching over his phone and was clearly engrossed in a video game that involved ruthlessly killing other men in a fight of "honour". The crowd seemed just as boring as every other flight he'd been on. There's a bickering couple in the corner that make a scene even when they consciously avoid to and assume they're doing a good job at it. Tired workaholics were either catching up on some long overdue sleep or fervently typing in work related things on their laptops. Spots of lonely individuals making friends with their co-passengers who were quietly acknowledging something they had in common with visible excitement. It was all a normal sight to him. These little human things that he found both beautiful and destructive. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.