The Making of…
Chapter 1
One Hell of an Adventure
“Thank you for flying with New Zealand Air, we hope you enjoyed your flight. If you have any questions, please contact the customer services desk in the arrivals terminal, we hope you have a pleasant stay in New Zealand.”
The intercom buzzed and then fell silent.
I smiled nervously as I slowly descended the steps from the plane and set foot for the first time on New Zealand soil… Or concrete rather. I felt a mild sense of victory as I walked across to the arrivals terminal; I’d just flown to the other side of the world all by myself! That was the first scary thing out of the way, now I just had to collect my bags and find out where the hell I was meant to be going. I tucked my thick script under my arm as I stood waiting for my bags to come around the revolving belt. I had been terrified that they might have been sent on the wrong flight or something, but I breathed a sigh of relief as my suitcase came into view, and obviously hadn’t ended up in Greenland…
I heaved it off the belt before it could be whisked away, and tried not to get jostled by the crowd as I waited for my final luggage item. With a smile I saw my battered leather guitar case appear from the mysterious land-beyond-the-rubber-flaps and I lifted it to safety, before awkwardly manoeuvring myself to freedom, apologising as I accidentally hit people with my cases.
I made my way towards the main entrance of the airport, and sat myself down on a bench, nervously glancing around. I checked my phone, three new messages, one from my best friend, Lucy, and two from my mum.
‘Hey, have you arrived yet? Good luck on your journey to fame! Don’t be running off with any hot movie stars and forgetting about me!
Luc xox’
I smiled at the cheery message from my friend and quickly replied.
‘Thanks! Just got off the plane, no sign of any hottie actors yet!
Ki xx’
I then flipped down through the two messages from my mum.
‘Have you landed yet?
Mum x’
‘Just remembered, did you pack sun-block?
Mum x’
I laughed a little at her fretting and punched in a single reply.
‘Just landed, and yes, I remembered, call you tonight!
Kira xx’
I remembered just as I sent off the message that ‘tonight’ here, would be around three in the morning back in Northern Ireland… Oh well. The clock on the wall nearby claimed it to be half nine in the morning, it would be around midnight back home.
I looked up, and still saw no one that should be looking for me. I had been told earlier that someone would be here to pick me up, but I had no idea who! I glanced down at the script that was now lying on my knee.
‘The Lord of the Rings,
A movie by Peter Jackson.’
Just reading the title gave me butterflies in my stomach – this was really happening! With a slight smile I leafed through the neatly printed pages, each one with my name stamped on them.
“Excuse me?”
I looked up in surprise at the strawberry-blonde man that stood before me.
“Are you, Kira Forest?”
