The Take Off

Shit. We boarded the plane in different parts of the line. I couldn't see if Lilith could see them as we moved into the plane. Why did so many people decide to board a plane that was going to Pennsylvania?

My eyes shook in my skull in a vibrating sense almost, panicked and searching for the gang. Is this the feeling a mom gets when she loses her kids in a store? Small, lost, and scared that I would never see them again. Think, Kenneth. Of course, they would be on the plane with you, it's only a matter of where they sit. I took a breath and continued on, the voice of the other passengers bouncing off the walls of my head. With each small step, I was loosing my patience. I could feel the chatter of the other passengers swell against my ear drums.

As I made my first step onto the airplane, I could hear a baby crying. Outside with my ears and the baby's crying from inside their head. I knew that if I didn't sit down and distract myself quickly, I would say something I didn't need to.

With an angered force, I threw my backpack into the window seat. A lady behind me raised an eyebrow and I raised one back, starring her dead in the eye. I felt that I could absorb her soul through those chestnut brown eyes, her freckles tickled the underside of her eyes and her skin matched her eyes, hair did too, bouncing around. Her headphones was the way she escaped my death stare, her eyes made a quiet getaway to the window.

People shuffled by, different scents of perfume and body odors, a confused mix in the air. I was lucky to not have a seat near the toilet. Two more passengers passed by then I saw Halvor shimmy into the window seat, he then waved Linsday over with his light luggage in his seat. Linsday made eye contact with me once. The slowed motion of her lowering her arms from the overhead luggage space made it clear that she noticed. She noticed Lilith right beside me and took the seat beside Halvor, five rows away from us and facing away, Halvor tucked into the window seat. It was like she read my mind at times, even though I was the one with the mind reading ability.

Oskar had a seat nearest to the fire exit and three seats away from us. Right then and there, I prayed to the Lord that he didn't smell strongly of werewolf. Even if I didn't believe in deities, I needed the help more than ever. My brain was ready to give up from the stress of this trip. The best part of this trip was that it was just beginning.

I heard the clank of a familiar pair of high heels as they made their way down to where I was sitting. Purse and luggage behind her, she digs around the front pocket of her add on then her purse. She throws her luggage to the overhead, I found myself having to glance away. I guess today she was nose blind or something because she took a seat beside me, pulled out makeup and was fixing everything she was currently wearing. When Lilith finally was done messing around with her purse and her makeup, she sharpen her eyeliner in her hand mirror, her eyes meeting mine.

"Kenneth~! What are you doing on this trip?" Her voice was cheery, happy to see me. Those oddly brown tinted eyes greeted me with nothing but warmth and kindness. Her contacts were only covering her crimson eyes, the rest was genuine. I thought demons only felt bad emotions. I had to hold back my kindness and reply coldly.

I pulled out my earbuds, they were in tangles so I got to work, "I could ask you the same thing. I figured you would be back in Hell already."

The kindness in her eyes shaped itself into a drop of sorrow, "Yeah, I used up all my energy plus I'm on lock-down."

With the white earbuds wrapped around all my fingers somehow, I raised my eyebrow at both my hands and this new information, "Lock-down?"

"Yeah, I can't use my powers right now because the boss has all minor demons like that so he can have enough manpower to have guards right now."

So they were guarding Mindy. So that meant that even if we get through the gates, we'll have to fight our way through. I had to hand it to Satan, he's the devil for a reason because he was making my life a living hell as of right now. Especially with these damn earbuds, why do these things get like this?!

Lilith must have noticed I was struggling. She took the tangled mess and undid it like a magician with hoops locked together, quick and with no idea of how they did it.

I was amazed as she gave them back, not a single knot in sight. "Woah, thanks."

Lilith was now beaming, "It was no problem really~." I smiled and pulled out my phone, there were messages from Linsday and Halvor, I had to ignore them and open YouTube, Lilith couldn't find out what we were up to, we needed to get ahead at the very least. Deep down, I was thankful that I was an asshole to put Lindsay's and Halvor's contacts under "Pickle Juice" and "Weird Kid". Halvor was weird and Lindsay decided to drink pickle juice, they sealed their fates when they did that.

I swiped down, past bright and flashy thumbnails and the documentaries I know I wouldn't be able to pay attention to. I was done with this trip and it already started. The flight attendant was just starting to go over everything.

Lilith took out a book that was an orange background with red letters. "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. The first volume, there were many sticky notes throughout the book and the pages had the curl of constant reading. From how bent back it was, Lilith had been reading it for at least thirty years straight. How I knew that was the part was what I hated about myself.

A different book than the one Lilith was holding I read everyday. I didn't like the way the words printed themselves onto my eyelids. I hated that I loved that story to have read it fifty times over. If I catch myself spacing, I can recite the book word by word. A book I was given when I first came to the village. It was lovely, such a lovely story, forever ruined by those people and that night they chased me out.

The lady I loved while I stayed there, she was targeted by the others because of me. I don't know where she might be nowadays, she never tried to find me I guess. That's okay though, I'll remember those sweet nights by candlelight, the endless conversations about whatever we wished, unknown to us, ember flames made their way up the road.

I furrowed my eyebrows at this. I try to convince myself she might be out there even though I saw the torch go through the window, I could remember the screams that escaped her throat. I guess I wished she was a vampire and was faking it. I think that every now and again, I find myself looking for her face among the crowds. I guess she was just to important to me, I guess I'll have to keep stopping myself over and over whenever I start looking for that smile, those emerald eyes, the way she pinned her golden locks into a bun. Ashes to ashes, they say.

The flight attendant finished her speech, at least that's what I could have assumed because Lilith turned to me with a sugar coated smile. I wanted to curse under my breath and pulled up a streaming site that was known for shitty movies. Plugging up the earbuds, I was about to put both in then stopped, Lilith with puppy eyes in the corner of my vision.

I audibly sighed and handed her one, her eyes lit up and she waited patiently with the earbud in her ear. I shook my head at her while placing the other earbud in my ear and started a cartoon series that looked interesting as the plane drove down the runaway and took off. It was an odd feeling but it was nice. It was a new different than when I was younger, a way to move on I guess in a sense. The new generation can be useful for some things after all.