Sky King

Part Two: A Normal Life For A Pilot

     Exiting the jeep from the neutral airbase, the pilot looked up at his apartment complex, the three floors staring back at him with warmth in the autumn air. To the right of the apartments was a small house belonging to a nice elderly couple, to the left a gas station and on the other side of the apartments was a construction site where another complex was at the beginnings of being built.

     The pilot walked up the external wooden stairs to the second level and lumbered over to the door that had the plaque next to it, 2-22. Setting down the briefcase, with his bagged flight suit over his left shoulder, the black haired man reached into his jeans pocket for the key, putting it in the lock and twisting, turning the doorknob and opening the door to his home.

     It was a two room apartment that he tried to keep as clean as possible. It had a fridge, bookshelf, his bed, and a small table in the first room while the second was a bathroom with a walk in shower, toilet and sink. It was as basic as a cheap apartment could get, but it was home. He reached down to get his briefcase, noticing the wrapped brown package the general had mentioned he had debt while the pilot was in recovery. He set his belongings on the low table, then retrieved the boxed champagne bottle, softly closing his door, opening the bottle and placing the vintage drink inside of his nearly empty fridge, planning on grabbing a few things from the gas station the next day.

     The black haired pilot knelt slowly at his table, unpacking his bagged flight suit and the velvet box he had placed next to it in the plastic, crumpling the flimsy container and chucking it towards the small waist basket next to the fridge, missing the rim by a hair. He didn't bother getting up to place it in the garbage, switching his seating so he was on his butt, legs under the table. A sigh solidified his relief of being home again.

     Taking a look at the briefcase, he went through some small appliances in his head that would increase his quality of life by tenfold. He didn't have a toaster or coffee maker, thing that his neighbor and friend Ed did have, so those would be a good buy. Maybe even a television, he had room for one next to the bookshelf.

     A soft knock at his door pulled him out of his mental list. He wasn't expecting anybody and it wasn't Ed, as he would knock twice very hard and enter right away. This was four gentle taps on his door and that was it, meaning he would have to get back up to open the door. The pilot groaned to himself quietly, standing slowly and approaching the door.

     Standing in front of him as he pulled the door open, was a short, auburn haired woman with thick lensed glasses, blue eyes, and a thin, vertical scar under her bottom lip. She had the facial likeness to nurse Tayma, but physically she was thinner and much less filled out. The woman had a grey sweatshirt on over a red tank top with an orange and blue skirt over black leggings. It was such an offense to fashion sense that the pilot briefly considered stabbing his eyes with his own fingers to avoid seeing the ungodly combination. At least her slippers matched the leggings.

     Unlike Tayma, her hair was ridiculously long, reaching all the way down to her small butt, as straight as could be. She was really cute, but her outfit made the man's life expectancy decrease every second he had to look at it. She stared at him for a silent, solid ten seconds before her pale face grew red and she spoke.

     "I don't mean to bother you, I know you just got home but my sister is coming over tonight and wanted to know if you would join her for a drink to celebrate your victory," she said, all in one breath impressively, taking a moment to breath, "O-oh, my name is Amarra, Tayma's sister, I live right below you I think,"

     "Hi," the pilot took a moment to just revel in her introduction being all over the place, "I'd rather not intrude on your privacy,"

     "No, its okay, I don't mind at all," Amarra shuffled her feet slightly, "and it would be kind of cool to have a celebrity in my place,"