I'm Still Breathing

A new start

Sapphire Stone stared at the plane and wondered if she'd survive the flight... She had a major fear of heights, but this was the only way for her to get to her father's home in London. She didn't want to leave her friends, her dog... Her life. She had so much here (or so she told herself), but her father had insisted that she come live with him.

"Sappy?" A voice asked from behind her as she was attempting to convince herself that she was doing the right thing and that she wasn't going to die on that plane. She turned and cocked her head at Amy Montoya, her best friend of almost six years... Well, that was until she found Amy in bed with Aiden, her now ex-boyfriend.

"What?" She asked (nicely), grabbing her bags from Aiden who was standing next to Amy.

"Your flight is about to leave." Amy took a step toward Sapphire, "I'm sorry Sappy..." She trailed off looking at Aiden for help.

"You know that we didn't mean to hurt you. We just... I-I guess it... Uh-" he cleared his throat. "I'd like to ask you for her hand in marriage? It was love at first sight."

Sapphire looked at the two of them and smiled. All she had to do was tell him no. Amy would leave and never look at him again if she could help it. Sapphire knew how guilty they felt for what they did. She watched as they nervously stared at her, anticipating her answer. She studied the happy couple and knew that she couldn't ruin this for them.

"You hurt her, I hurt you."

Amy squealed in excitement and hugged her ex-best friend. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She pulled Aiden into the hug, "thank you Sapphire!"

Sapphire chuckled and pulled away from them, "no need to thank me, I just expect an invitation."

Aiden laughed, "you never could hold a grudge for long." He kissed her forehead before giving her a little shove toward the plane, "your flight will be leaving soon, you should go."

With a last goodbye Sapphire turned and slowly made her way toward one of her biggest fears... Actually she'd be facing a lot of her fears in the near future so why not get this one out of the way? She boarded the plane and took her seat. One fear down, only... A lot more to go. She'd gotten into this flying deathtrap, that was one of her biggest fears. She'd be going into the air, that was a fear, meeting new people and going to a new place.

As the plane lifted off the ground and into the air Sapphire squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. She didn't know how long she stayed like that, but she knew that she didn't want to open her eyes and see the ground miles below her. She might have kept her eyes closed throughout the whole flight if the guy next to her hadn't chuckled and told her that they were safely in the air and that she could open her eyes now.

Sapphire didn't want to make a fool of herself, so she slowly opened her eyes and looked out the window. The height scared her at first, but she got used to it and admired the beauty remembering how her mother had told her that, should she ever ride in a plane, she should get a window seat. The only person who knew of her love for this kind of beauty was her mother.

Her mother. Her mother had passed away only a month before. Sally Stone was the unfortunate victim caught in the middle of a gang fight. Sapphire thought back to that day, she knew that it wasn't her fault, but sometimes she just felt it was.

She had begged her mother to get her the newest skateboard. Having had some extra money to spend, her mother agreed and they went out to get it.

"Ma, look at this! It's even got... I don't know what that is, but look at it!" Sapphire said in excitement showing her mother the green thing on her new skateboard as they walked down the street toward their apartment.