*Guitar arrangement of Dust In The Wind plays*
"No." That's my alarm, I don't want to get up yet. "5 more minutes..."
*Music stops*
"Hey!" I looked up and I saw 'Lo Charles. "Lo, it's you." I breathed, then sat up - half sleeping. "Do we really need to go now? It's 4 in the morning. Our flight's 7 right?"
"Yes hun. But we need to be there atleast 2-4 hours earlier. It's an international flight." He smiled then hugged me. When he let go, I laid back and clawed at my bed to look for my comforter. When suddenly I was dragged to the edge of my bed. "Okay! I'm up, Pops. Good morning!" Then we were laughing.
I shuffled down to the box beside my mirror where some of my clothes were put in and brought out my favorite summer dress and dropped it on the bed.. It's beige and the hem is lined with white laces dropping to my knees. Looking at my dress, someone knocked at my door. When I didn't get to it immediately, it was being kicked. And in that moment, I knew who it was, Gavin.
Turning the knob, I hissed, "Gav! What do you want?"
"Pops wanted me to give you this..." handing me a box which looked familiar to me. "Mom wanted to give this to you but - "
"I get it Gavin, go and eat. What's for breakfast?" I said, examining the box and giving no attention to Gavin.
"Were not eating here. We'll be eating in NAIA," and he ran off.
When I opened the box, I gasped seeing what was inside. My dream shoes! A pair of strappy sandals that matched my beige dress. "Mom," I said with a smile, "you know me too well..."
~☼~
"Pops! My tummy's grumblin... Are we there yet?!"
"Gavin, stop shouting" I hugged him to my hip, "Pops is tired from driving."
Yup, that's Gavin. My 6 year old bro. Asks too many questions and cant wait for ANYTHING! Okay, you know a bit about him now, but not about me. Well, my name's Veronica Brooks. Nica for short. I was born in California but grew up here in the Philippines. My mom's a Filipina and my dad's Half Spanish - Half American. And he's the reason why we're here. Since Mom died, we have all our rights to stay in Reseda with Dad. Haven't seen him since my 4th birthday so I'm quite pumped to see him again.
We walked inside NAIA and had all our bodies checked and our bags settled. After that, we all sat on the benches and waited for an hour. I got tired of looking at other planes fly and land so I rested on Pops' shoulder. After 2 hours, not sure if I had a short nap, Pops shook me and told me to get ready...
"Good morning passengers." A robotic voice of a lady startles us. "Flight 92B to Reseda is now boarding, kindly proceed to Gate 3. Please have your boarding passes and identification ready..."
When we heard the first line, we dashed to Gate 3 and waited for the officials to attend to us. When we handed out our passes, we walked towards a giant air bus. We waited, until they brought the portable escalator in front of us. When they settled it to lead us to the plane's giant door, I took a deep breath, and breathed out, soft enough that only I could hear it, "We're coming, Dad". Gavin stepped up first, then I followed. That felt like the longest time for me on the stairs cause it was so high. I think it was taller than a 2-storey building.
Next thing I knew, we were inside the plane waiting, again, for further announcement. I sat by the window and stared everywhere. Glancing at the buildings, billboards and cars from afar I murmured, "I'll miss this place..."
Ü ~☼~ Ü
End of Chapter 1
[A/N] There's a video of Sungha Jung's guitar cover of 'Dust In The Wind' sa side if you want to listen to it :) I've casted the lovely Ms Julia Barretto as Nica Brooks <3
