Mute

Chapter Nine

⏩Many years back⏪

Daniel was working a late shift at the office, he needed to finish up his presentation for the meeting that will be held in two days time. He was exhausted but nonetheless continued working and purposely kept himself occupied with the graphs on the computer screen. It was close to 12am in the morning and he knew that Martha would be calling him asking if she should wait for him. 

Daniel never knew that being married to a woman like Martha would feel like an eternity in just the two years that they've been together. He was young and so was she but after graduating from high school together he was completely convinced she was the love of his life. He always loved her bright and strong personality but days like these he just wanted to mute her. He wanted peace and quiet; he wanted a wife that would give him time for his brain to think. 

He sighed in relief when he finished the last details on the slides and saved it on the files. He left his small office making sure to lock the floor since he was the last one to leave the office. He emailed Martha telling her to go to bed already because he was going to arrive late home. He got into his small car and rubbed his head. Martha had called him several times only adding more to his stress level. 

He drove home slowly, not hurrying up and enjoying the time alone in his silent car. Tomorrow morning he would be packing up his suitcase to travel to Hawaii for that meeting he was going to with his boss. Everything was already paid for including the hotel room and the plane ticket. 

He tapped his finger on the wheel of his car and let the cool night air brush past him. He could already see the old apartment in which he was living in with Martha and slowly parked his small car on his parking space. He walked down the hallway and smiled when the apartment was quiet and with Martha no where to be seen. 

He slept that night trying to focus on that weekend trip that will somehow end up being a mini vacation. 

~

"Oh I miss you already" Martha's lower lip trembled as she tried to contain the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Daniel was all ready to go but Martha kept hugging him and he found it difficult to push her away. She always loved being close to him and this was the first time he was going to be away from her for such a long time. 

"Hey, it's okay" He tried to soothe her and rubbed gentle circles on her back. She sniffed loudly and nodded gently removing her arms from his torso. 

Daniel went in for a kiss and a good bye hug. She hiccuped her goodbye and watched him from the doorway as he rolled his suitcase down the hallway. 

Once inside the airplane he read magazines and tried to keep himself occupied during the nine hour plane trip to Hawaii. Appearantly this was something very important for his boss and he was glad he didn't have a seat next to him. The flight attendants walked up and down the aisle doing there job. Eventually he closed his eyes and slept out the remaining 4 hours of the trip 

The shaking is what woke him up. There was a storm in Hawaii and as the plane got closer to the airport the winds became stronger. The belts were to be fastened and the flight attendants were working fast and diligent trying to help the mothers with their toddlers in their seat. 

"Please remain seated" the captain's voice spoke through the speaker trying to keep the calm among the scared passengers. The turbulence continued until the bumpy landing and he could feel the huge sigh of relief that everyone let out when the doors opened for the passengers to exit.         

"Daniel, what a bumpy ride" Daniel's boss exclaimed. It was raining really hard and Daniel was glad his plane landed safely because all planes after his were cancelled from the harsh weather conditions outside. He took the taxi to the hotel with his boss and made polite conversation with him. He felt trapped in the small cab and already wished to be at the hotel to take a warm shower and jump into bed. The hotels that he passed were over crowded with tourists that were trying to find refuge and some were people from the airport who refused to sleep on the floor.