Sillage [Joji Miller]

1

The rain pounded against the cold sidewalks as I pulled the cigarette from my pale lips, I held my breath until the smoke burned the inside of my lungs, begging to be let out.

I looked out across the sea of parked cars in the JFK airport lot. I flipped my wrist up and pulled back my sleeve to reveal the time.

1:38 pm

Melissa's flight lands at 1:50 which meant that I only have 12 minuets left before my life is flipped upside down and thrown against a brick wall.

I sighed and let the smoke out of my tarred lungs while turning towards the door. So many people filtered in and out of the sliding doors, a woman wiped her damp eyes as she pulled her young daughter along with her into the building.

I lifted the cigarette to my lips once more while taking a long drag.

"Olympia?" I recognized my mothers voice and quickly threw the cigarette into the road.

I looked up and made eye contact with eyes that always seemed to remind me of thin cat eyes. I held my breath as she made her way over to me obviously not noticing the panic in my own eyes.

"You should come on inside your sisters plane will be landing soon." My mother suggest as I only responded with a quick and sharp nod.

She turned around slowly making her way to the doors, my lungs burning as though they were being lit on fire. I waited till she completely disappeared through the doors before relieving my lungs, I took deep breathes doing my best to expand my lungs and slow my heart rate.

I took one last glance at the dark cloudy sky before turning on my heels and walking towards the door.

I shoved past the bustling crowds mumbling quietly to myself about rude people who were raised without manners. I made my way to gate B15 and scanned my eyes across the multiple faces until my eyes landed on my dad.

I stood beside my dad without saying a word as we waited for Melissa and her fiance.

"Why do you smell like cigarettes?" My dad questioned me while looking down at his phone and slightly glancing over at me.

"I was talking to a homeless man while he smoked and I bought us coffee. He told me a story about how it only took him two and a half hours to walk from the Bronx to here. It was really interesting." I half lied. I did buy the old man coffee and he did tell me that story. I just left out the part where I smoked along with him.

"Gotta love this city." My dad muttered to himself while slightly laughing.

We stood in a peaceful silence as we waited for the catastrophe to get off her plane. Despite my mothers excitement my dad agreed with me that it was a bad
idea to let her back into our home.

"Hey." My brother Ezra greeted me in a low tone also not looking forward to this.

We all stood their in silence as 1:50 grew painfully closer. My mom was standing ahead from all of us unable to stand still as she waited. I pulled out my phone and quickly pulled up Safari and typed in the search bar 'Book stores in Queens area.' I clicked the first link that said Topos Bookstore Cafe. I scrolled through there selections of books until I came across what I was looking for.

"Christine, by Stephen King"

I tapped on the book to view the price as my mothers loud scream pulled me away from my phone. My eyes landed on my mother who was wraped around my tall, beautiful sister Melissa.

Her hair was shoulder length and a lighter shade of brown then last time I had seen her almost 7 months ago. She was holding our mother when her eyes landed on me, a small smile spread across her perfect face as she made her way towards me. My features stayed the same even as she greeted me and pulled me into a hug.