Ariel’s mother blotted several sloppy tears from her eyes. Balled up in her fist was a wrinkled white handkerchief, which she had dropped into the chaotic void that was her purse on the way to the airport.
She had made a point to remember tissues in a botched attempt to stop herself from sobbing, but the tears still came regardless. For her daughter’s sake, though, she plastered on a smile, looking into a face that reminded her of herself thirty years back. “I know you’re going to do great things out there! You'll be fixing those old folks up before you know it!”
Ariel smiled and returned the affection, her gentle hands fading into thin air as her rosy red lips yielded to a bittersweet feeling. “Thank you. But this job is not about fixing people; all I do is help them get back on their feet and integrated into society again.”
“You mean like you never could?” Her mother smirked, wrapping a playful arm around Ariel’s torso as Ariel looked down at her with a stagnant expression. The dulled-down look in her eyes was the same one she’d had when her father’s body had hit the ground all those years ago, the same one she wore to his funeral, and the same one she greeted all of her doctors and nurses with whenever she returned to her hospital, her sterile home away from home.
So why would now be any different?
“Don’t give me that look, Ari.” Her mother said, rolling her eyes. I feel like you’ve forgotten that this is your first night going off on your own. Ever.”
Her seriousness gave way to her sorrow again, as she searched for a reason, any reason, for her daughter to stay. “On second thought, maybe you just shouldn’t go. I’m sure it’s not too late to get that ticket refunded.”
Her mother sighed with a heavy heart, knowing full well that there was no escaping the cold hard reality of her daughter getting on that plane and flying a thousand miles to Small Town, South Carolina. “Don’t you think that this is just a little too soon? I’m sure that there are plenty of veterans here in St. Paul who would love to have such a kind and caring girl to talk to.”
“I’ve already agreed to see this man. It would be highly unprofessional of me if I turned back now. As much as I wouldn’t want to leave you of course...” Ariel’s eyes shifted, looking down at her baby blue ballet flats to hide her worry.
Ah, there it was. In her daughter’s voice, she could hear a hint of emotion, a sign that Ariel was not, in fact, a cyborg sent down to earth to integrate with the human race.
Sensing her daughter’s discomfort with the power of a mother’s intuition, she put a hand on her shoulder and began stroking it with a gentle touch, and her expression bounced back to a false joy not a second later.
“Well, whatever it is, all you have to know is that I'm proud of you. You’ve come so far from who you were then.” Her mother said that as if she hadn’t just gotten older, though they both knew what she had meant.
As if its one true purpose for existing was to invade sentimental moments, the intercom buzzed to life from out of nowhere with a loud and obnoxious hum, a bored employee stating the latest announcement from five feet away. “We are now boarding flight 307 to Grand Port at gate I8, I repeat, we are now boarding flight 307 to Grand Port, South Carolina at gate I8, thank you.”
As Ariel and her mother took the signal to break away from each other, Ariel’s lips started to quiver. She had been hit with the impact of bittersweet pain and reality.
Her crystal blue eyes watered, the teardrops racing their way down her rosy cheeks and onto her ghost-like neck, her collarbone creating a barrier as if to stop her teardrops from puddling onto her seafoam-colored shirt.
“I guess this is it, Mom. I’ll see you...” Ariel bit her lip, not even feeling a hint of confidence in the answer herself. “...soon! I promise that I'll call you every night. Although, that’s more for my sake, really.”
“Ari, remember what Dr. Kerringsworth talked about. The only way you can finally heal from that is if you process and talk about it.”
Her mother sighed as she glanced at her watch. She had two minutes left. Two minutes left to get whatever else she needed to say off of her chest. Thinking fast, she took a deep breath and began to rush her words, flowing through them with all the grace of a newborn horse. “Getting here took a hell of a lot of effort, and it was a rollercoaster of emotions for the both of us, but I guess what I’m trying to say is...Good luck out there, Ari.”
Ariel nodded, hugging her mother one last time. As more tears shook themselves loose from the grasp of her eyes, Ariel rolled her baby blue suitcase behind her and took baby steps towards the plane, looking back every few moments to see if she could survive this journey without her mother’s help.
When she finally got the idea through her head that yes, she was 20 years old now, and yes, she would be more than fine without her mother by her side, she made her way on board her flight.
When, after a few attempts, she found a sitting position that was the lesser of two evils, she took out her book; one that looked more like a college textbook than something for casual reading, and began flipping through it, scanning the pages for any notes she may have missed the first time she’d trekked through its massive pages. It wasn’t her ideal kind of reading, but she figured she would take a look at it one more time before she began her work, the hours melting away into minutes as her brain sunk into the mountain of million-dollar words and plain white pages.
It wasn’t long before she touched down in an airport that was noticeably smaller than the one she had come in from, giving her a minuscule amount of hope that she would be able to traverse it on her own.
She gripped her suitcase with white knuckles as she teetered off the plane like a scared child during their first day of kindergarten. She already missed having someone to tell her what to do.
Truth be told, Ariel was more childlike than she thought; Most people her age had stories to tell about their first night away from home by the time they turned ten. For her, this was the first time since her father’s death that she’d even considered spending a night outside of the house, and yet it was her bright idea to take this job in the first place, so there was no one she could blame but herself.
Remember, this isn’t about how nervous you feel. You’re doing this to prove that you’re useful to society. She repeated that thought to herself like a mantra, slowly but surely pulling her suitcase along as she looked around at the clumps of people rushing past in attempts to make up for the time they had lost chattering in the nearby food court. Despite the frantic looks on her faces, they seemed to have it together, so why couldn’t she?
The compact size of the airport turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it didn’t take very long for her to spot a greying man who was standing as stiff as a statue and holding up a sign with her name inked in elegant black calligraphy. “Hello there, are you the man who’s supposed to be taking me to the O’Connor House?”
The man nodded, his expression unchanging.“Yes. I'm assuming that must mean you're Ms. Ariel Goodman?”As Ariel confirmed her identity, the man let a small smile wash over his lips. “I’m Keith Swanson, Mr. O’Connor’s personal chauffeur.” He extended his hand, shaking with a firm grip on her fragile and slender fingers. “It’s a pleasure to meet a fellow employee. Come with me. I’ll take your suitcase as well, if I may.”
He began rolling the pale blue suitcase behind him as they walked through the rest of the airport in near silence, stopping at a sleek black Cadillac that was parked at the front of the lot, as if the driver wanted any possible passersby to gawk and stare in envy. “We’ve arrived, miss.”
Making her best effort to pretend that she belonged in the lifestyle of the wealthy and that she was used the smoldering heat of suburban South Carolina in August, Ariel painted a dainty smile onto her rosy pink lips and pretended not to stare at the luxury car or the massive house in front of her. “Thank you, sir. I have to say, this whole setup is rather lovely.”
The man nodded, looking somewhat happier than before, with Ariel gathering that he was a man of few words. “You could say that Mr. O’Connor appreciates the finer things in life.”
They arrived after thirty or so minutes of driving, and it was filled here and there with minimal conversation and small talk, Ariel choosing to fill the ride with the picturesque view of rolling hills and turquoise forests.
“We’ve arrived, Ms. Goodman.”
ns 15.158.61.20da2
