First Vacation

Buzz. buz-

Nadji snatched his phone off of the nightstand and shut the 4 am. alarm off, without ever taking his eyes away from the window. There was an urge in the pit of his stomach to open it but he sat frozen on his bed by the glare of something floating just on the other side of the glass. The snow howling outside blew in all directions, leaving only a silhouette of the thing visible. Two orbs that looked like they could be eyees faintly glowed against the storm where eyes should of been. Eyes that that same pit in his stomach told him that he should remember. He started to wonder if this thing has been following him aaround but the moment that he formed the thought, the storm around the thing whipped into a frenzy. He stared in disbelief and the storm slowed. The dull lights flickered back and forth for a few seconds. He felt a shiver rise up his spine and and the rest of his nerves protested. The orbs glowed just a tid bit brighter right before the massive frame faded in the storm. The howling storm felt it’s absence, and the world outside slowed to a crawl, almost like it was letting an anxiety attack finally pass. Nadji finally took a breath when the last of the pale blue light dissapatted from his walls. He slowly walked over and could almost feel the blistering cold on the other side. Stopping close enough to see his breath fog up the glass and he put his fingers under the hinge to lift and at the moment his . . .

Buzz, buzz

Nadji grabs his phone again and shut off his 4 am alarm. He reached to put his phone down on his nightstand and stopped. Confused, he turned his phone over and looked down at the clock: 7:06 AM. For a second, he couldn’t figure out what exactly he was just doing until his phone vibrated and the screen flashed on: Reminder: Flight in 1 hour. He almost stumbled but caught himself on the edge of the bed before hitting his head on the bedframe. His mind spun and vision blurred to the point where it made the lights look like they flickered. He took a second to get up and cautiously made his way into the bathroom to get ready, He hadn’t realized so much time passed. The flight that he bragged about all week was leaving in 2 hours. None of his clothes were packed and he’s waited too long for this chance to get out of the city. He wasn't going to lose it over getting lost into space. He would have to take his anxiety meds with him. As a matter of fact, he thought it was best to get away for a while. Maybe the stress of work and life was the thing that was making him lose focus. Stress does kill your memory.

He switched the water off when he heard knocking on his front door. He waited a few seconds staring into space. Reaching for the knob and the knocking started again, it echoed through the apartment on the other side of the bathroom door. He got out the shower with an odd feeling of deja vu and warped a towel around his waist then tip-toed over to his front door. The floor biting at his feet. He reached the door and pulled it out of place in the middle of another knock. The escaping wind brought a foul odor with it and Nadji felt nauseous as it pushed against his wet skin. He grabbed the door frame to catch himself for the second time that morning. The black metal Mazitah that hung on his door frame scraped against his hand on the way down. He bent to pick it up and almost passed out. The odor slowly dissipated and Nadji’s nausea went with it. He got to his feet and cursed his neighbors bad smoking habits and wonder if that was what made his light headed earlier. He turned to walk back into his apartment staring at the broken piece of metal in his hand. He needed to stop slamming his door, his mother always told him he was going to break something that way. She was right, she was always right. The thought echoed in his head and he spun on the heels to catch the door handle. He slowly closed the door and watched the little ray of light turn dark before it was suppose to. The door clicked into place and the sound of knocking continued. Then, it vibrated before the sound joined in.

Buzz, buzz

Nadji reached down to grab his phone out of his pocket to turn the alarm off. He popped it in his mouth and jammed his thumb on the elevator button a few times, he couldn’t miss his flight. He didn’t want to spend any more time in his hometown of New York than he needed to. Thoughts of the women that him and his friends meant while visiting a ski lodge for someone’s get together. He couldn't remember if it was a business trip or a friend's birthday. The woman whose skin looked like she spent too much time in the water told them that she was from there, it was a beautiful island off the coast of somewhere. He didn’t remember too much about it except that he really wanted to go and needed to get away from the city. Thinking about getting on the plane made him excited and impatient enough to jam his thumb on the elevator button again. Instead of the clicking of the button, he felt another finger. He came to and realized that a woman was standing next to him.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Nadji said backing up to give her space.

“It’s okay, I realized that you were in another world when you when I smiled back at you and you just kept smiling.” The woman replied almost songfully.

He felt his face turn hot from the embarrassment. Turning to greet her, he became locked in her gaze. Her pale blue eyes sitting oddly against her melanated rich skin made her look outworldly. Her short ghostly white hair only added to it. The uneasy feeling that washed over him gave way to butterflies. He pushed away the thoughts of Star Systems and Dead planets, cursing his ADD.

“I'm Nadji, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.” He finally replied.

The elevator dings and the doors slide open.

“It’s Mia, and no I just came to drop a friend off at home, they just came back from a trip.” The woman said before walking into the elevator.

Nadji followed, almost stepping on the back of her foot. He took a breath to clear his thoughts but the feeling of the butterflies in his stomach made his head fuzzy.

“Nadji, are you okay?” Mia asked him.

He tried to tell her no but the feeling in his stomach turned hard and he stumbled, Mia pushed herself against the wall of the elevator and stared at him. Nadji tried his best to compose himself but became lost in the pain. He reached for the Emergency call button but his arms didn’t move. He looked over at her and swore that the woman in the red dress looked familiar.

Buzz, Buzz, Buz-

Nadji took a breathe and his air cut short. Jolting awake, he realized why and slowly pulled the covers off of his face. The cold air brushed a woman's perfume against him and he shivered. He looked around the cabin and thought about how hard of the time the ticket collector gave him a hard time about getting on board. She wanted him to seek help because they thought that he hadn’t slept in days and his boots were caked in dirt. His stomach was just upset from being a first time flyer. Plus, he told them that he got off the bus a few stops early because he wasn’t paying attention and walked through the construction site for the new airport wings. One of the airline employees stared at him with caution. “Sir, the new wing has been complete for the last three months.” she said. They tried to get security involved but the captain stepped in and saved his vacation. The stewardesses keeping an eyes on him, bringing him paper bags and tea to keep him “happy”. The problem was that he was on his eighth cup and third run to the restroom.

He rose as quietly has he could, hoping not to disturb anyone. He knew that he was drinking too much because the kid three rows ahead of him was still waking the same Shrek movie. Nadji watched along as he walked up the aisle. A light flickered and he turned to see empty seat watching an overly bright screen. It felt eerie in the empty middle aisle. He looked back at the kid who was staring at him now and blamed him. He went to turn the screen and for a split second read the closed captions on the screen: "New York has been sunny all. . .". He rushed off to the bathroom.

He managed to lock the door and aim at the same time. Bracing against the sides of the cabin, he looked around for something to stuff in his pocket. His eyes passed over the toilet paper, the soap, the window, the mirror, . . . and the longer he stared at the mirror, the more he started to notice himself and something felt off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, he picked at his hair and thought about getting a new barber. The one that he had was getting up in age. He looked like he didn't cut anything off. The light altered in front of him and he realized that he was staring out of the window again, he could barely see his reflection through the transparent glass. He didn't know when he turned his head away from the mirror but he felt creeped out. Wondering what type of bird flew this high and this close to planes he checked the sky for any movement. As he stared out the window he noticed that his face looked like it was smiling at him, and mimicked the expression. He looked at himself over again and stared at his eyes. He blinked and almost missed it but the image burned into the back of his eyelids. The thing from outside of his window floated above the airplanes' wing. The world mimicking its dead gaze, shades of red took the place of the blue sky. The white fluffy clouds darkened. It stared at him for what felt like forever, Nadji was out of the stall door faster than he made it in. He did his best to try and compose himself on his way to his seat but the anxiety of everyone watching him burst out of the stall made it worse. Sitting down he closed the shade and tossed the covers back over his head. Trying to get his mind off of whatever that was, he slipped into daydreams about what he was going to do on the island. The harder he tired to focus, the harder he found it to imagine the island. He tried to remember the name of the island to look up pictures on Google but hen he realized that he didn’t;t know much about the island that he was going to. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted his friend to ask about the island.

"Sir, do you need anything?" He heard kne of the stewardesses call put to him from the other side of his covers.

"No, thank you. I'm just tired, I think. I'm going to nap until we get there" he replied.

Nadji didn't hear anything for a few seconds before the sound of shuffling feet followed. At the sound he went back to scrolling through his gallery hoping to find a screenshot of something that mentioned the island name.

"Sir, are you sure you're okay?" He heard again.

"Yes, I promise I'm okay".

She lingered for longer this time. He stared at his phone wanting to remember what he was doing. Straining against the fog starting to envelope his mind, he felt it all come to a sudden stop when a notification popped up on his screen. He click on it and the message window opened. He pit in his stomach was back as he read:

"What the fuck are you talking about? Where are you? You've been missing for days. What did you do to your f. . . ."

His covers jerked twice before tearing away from him. he stood to defend himself and saw the entire plane looking over their seats to stare at him. In front of him holding his blanket, Mia stood in a red and black stewardess outfit watching him with her cold dead eyes for the fourth time.

“Buzz, buzz, buzz, buz-”

The buzzing of his phone woke him but the feelings of the water softly splashing against his thighs made him snap his eye opens. He was staring at the sky and wished that he was at the bottom of the oceans where he stood. Thoughts pours in and he replayed everything in his head, over and over again. Realizing his chances to have escape. Where he went wrong and how he got to this point. The thing that stood out of his window was above him now. It’s dead blue eyes the size of moons stared down at him and the others around him lighting up the frozen world in a cold light, It’s silhouette blocked out the sky in every direction but Nadji could tell that it was red again, the clouds whipping black flakes around the area. He tried to move his legs but anything submerged in the water became stuck there. He felt a tingle on his spine an somehow knew that those pale eyes were watching specifically him. He looked around the vast empty ocean and caught the eyes of Mia just as she reached up and touched his face.