Solarity: Away From Home

003: Sofira

003: Sofira

After spending the rest of the evening researching my birth mom, who apparently had an affair with a guy that wasn't my biological brother's father leading up to putting me up for adoption, I impulse-buy an airplane ticket to New York that night.

"Are you sure you want to go to New York? What are you going to do? You don't even know them! What if she put you up for adoption for a reason? What are you going to tell your parents? Your mom is going to think you abandoned her! What is your plan?" Elliot is going off on a tangent, and I don't know how to calm him down.

"Calm down, El, I'll be fine. I'll just tell my parents I need some time away from them and they'll assume I'm staying with you." Elliot is usually pretty easygoing, but once he's fired up, no one is able to take him back down to Earth except for me. I wish I can say the same for myself. Once I'm fired up, I can't simmer down that quickly.

He doesn't seem like he believes me in the slightest. "What's your plan?" he asks again.

"I'm going to fly to New York, find my birth mom's company, and try to talk to her to see if she'll acknowledge me."

"Did you just come up with that on the spot?"

"Damn. You know me too well."

"Look, I know you're too stubborn to let someone else tell you what to do, but at least let me come with you. I'd feel way better being able to be there with you."

"That's really sweet and for most other situations I'd probably let you, but this is something I have to do on my own. You can't convince me otherwise."

"I don't like that..."

"Deal with it, Bub."

He frowns at the nickname. "Whatever," he resigns with a sigh. "I expect updates every hour."

"That was already going to happen," I grin.

☀☀☀

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Elliot insists one more time, forehead lines creased with worry. We're finally at LAX and my flight is about to board.

"Elliot! I'll be fine. And smooth out your face, you don't wanna have stress lines so young," I smile.

"Fuck off," he scowls and swats away my hands before grabbing them again, eyes now focused on the tattoo-like marks on my skin. "When did you get these? Is this new?"

Hearing the intercom call out the details of my flight boarding, I pick up my carry-ons. Perfect timing. "Yeah, they appeared this morning. I forgot about them until just now."

"Wait, what? Sofie!"

"Bye Elliot! Love ya! I'll see you in a few days!" With a parting hug, I walk towards the entrance to board the plane.

☀☀☀

"Miss, we are landing in a few minutes," my neighbor gently shakes me awake.

"Thanks," I blink awake, slightly dazed. Immediately I pack my things up and prepare for landing, which doesn't take long. By the time we land, I am ready to leave the plane. Luckily, I was able to get a seat near the front so I'm one of the first people out. Sending Elliot a quick text telling him I landed, I almost expect an immediate response but remember that California is three hours behind, so he's probably still sleeping.

As I round the corner, someone calls out my name. "Sofira!" Who the hell would know who I am here? Praying that it isn't someone I haven't seen since high school, I turn back, and the culprit is the man sitting next to me. Behind him are the flight attendant that handed me my water and the woman that sat next to him. I almost breathe a sigh of relief before I realize these are complete strangers and they could hurt me.