9 August 2012
Yūrei Pt.1 Ch.2
Chrome
Everything seems to be almost glowing, a pale, silver-blue light that fills the entire airport. Crowds of people rush past me as they glance up at the digital screens above. My plane leaves in about half an hour, at 2:04am, and I still haven't managed to get hold of a ticket. I thought of impersonating a flight attendant, but they'd definitely suspect something was wrong, so I've decided to try and sneak on board. I really couldn't care less about anything at the minute other than getting as far away from this place as possible. So, I slip out through the Staff Exit at the far side of the room, towards the runway and look around. After a while, I manage to find my plane and see the pilot entering through the hatch. Before the door can close, I'm slipping in behind him and taking a narrow corridor left towards the first cabin. The metallic door slides open before me and I find my way to an empty seat near the back of the room.
Once seated, I take a proper look at my surroundings. There are about fifty passengers already in their places and most of them are elderly, although a few are college students and about four or five are adults with young children. Sitting in front of me is a young woman, cradling a baby, and a girl of about six. When the engines start, the baby wakes and begins crying and the little girl starts screaming. The mother tries to calm them, but only succeeds in making it worse. After about two hours spent circling the runway, we finally take off, causing more screaming and crying. My ears, hurting enough already, begin to pop from the high altitude and I start to feel nauseous. When the ascent has finally stopped and we are flying level, the icon which allows me to remove my seatbelt flashes on the screen. I do so hastily and proceed to be violently sick into a paper bag. Once I recover, I press my cheek to the window next to me. It is ice cold and, although the sun is shining through, frozen dew drops are forming on the surface. A while later, my head slowly tilts forwards and I fall into a dreamless sleep.
After only five minutes, I wake to the sound of a trolley rattling over the floor. Luckily, food and drink is free to all paying customers, and, although I am not a paying customer, I take a cup of black coffee off the cart and thank the waitress. I fold out the table in front of me and pick up a leaflet from the holder by my side. Slowly sipping my drink, I flip through the pages, looking at pictures of cartoon pandas and vividly coloured anime characters. At one point, I come across a fold out mosaic of manga faces, featuring a proverb at the bottom of the page written in Japanese. Since I can't read Japanese, and the rest of the leaflet is just information, I decide to put it in my backpack and watch a movie. Unfortunately, the only movies available are either 1920 rom-coms or children's musicals, so I just switch off my screen and order some more coffee. This cup isn't as good as the last and tastes like someone forgot to put the coffee in. I drink it, anyway, though, and start making plans of what I'm going to do when I land in Japan.
Yūrei|Ch.2 • Opuss № I