Before Midnight

“Hello my darling Gloria. I hope you’re having a fine birthday. I bet you are, up there in heaven… I hope. Anyways I brought you a bit of vodka this year. Don’t tell Mark - he’s been saving it for a special occasion. Then again how could you, you're six feet under,” I spoke to my old friend who now resided in a grave yard. I decided i should hurry up since they  Just as I was about to spill some onto her grave I heard someone running toward me calling out to me

“Nana what are you doing out of bed!? You’re supposed to be in bed! The doctor said-” I cut off my grandson before I could hear any more of his nonsense. 

“Oh quiet boy. Those doctors are out for my money and nothing more. Besides, how could I miss my yearly drink with my dear Gloria?” I questioned. 

“Nan, why do you have a yearly drinking session with a dead person?” 

“Well it was the only thing missing on her bucket list and although no matter what i do now she still won’t complete it in time at least she gets it done every year. I tell myself it makes up for it if just a bit.”

“What bucket list- Nan I don’t have the context for this,” he sighs probably thinking about how done he is with me.

“Come sit here boy and I’ll tell you the story of Gloria Flores.”

“...”

“Am I just supposed to sit here on the floor or..?”

“Oh hush boy you're not above sitting on the ground. Let me tell my story.”

***

I hurried on to the plane totally out of breath. I sank into the seat not even noticing the girl next to me until she spoke up. “You must have been in a big rush to be so out of breath and barely on time.”

I glanced at her a bit mad but she didn’t look like she was trying to be mean. She probably just had really bad social skills. I decided to talk to her because she must have a hard time making friends. “Ha.. You could say that. You could also say that my dad found out I had ran away from home much sooner than I had intended and I had to run ten miles to the airport trying to make it on time while making sure he didn’t find me,” I rambled.

 Damn, and I said she had bad social skills. She just looked at me with a weird look. She probably thought I was crazy. I decided to explain myself since she didn’t look like she knew what to say. “Sorry I’ve just been having a hard time and I needed to get it out but it’s okay because I’m on this plane about to leave this place and never come back. I’m sorry I’m rambling again and you probably don’t want to hear about my sad life. I’m Julia by the way”

That seemed to snap her out of it. “Oh no, I’m sorry. You just caught me off guard a bit. I’m actually in a similar situation. Kinda. Not. Really. It’s really the opposite to be honest. I just got kicked out of my foster home because I’m an adult now and since finding a new home won’t happen I decided to just hightail it out of here. My name ’s Gloria. Flores. ”

“That’s so horrible,” I tell her shocked.

“Well your situation must have been pretty bad too considering you ran away from home.”

“Tell me about it,” I mutter. “But you know what, we shouldn't waste our time talking about the past. We should talk about the bright, happy future ahead of us,” I say with a bit of sarcasm.

She laughs before responding. “Alright then. Do you have any plans or any idea of what you’re going to do once you get off this plane?” she asks. 

“Pfft. Not at all but I have some cash that I didn’t steal from my dad’s savings which should last me for a bit while I try to find a job. You?”

“Nope. No cash either but I was able to get an associates degree in high school so hopefully I can find a job quickly.”

“Wish I had a degree. Too bad my school didn’t offer anything like that. Then again it wouldn’t have really mattered considering my grades,” I say reconsidering. 

“Well having a degree is great and all but I’m broke right now. I don’t know where I’m going to sleep for a while,” she says looking defeated and like she’s reconsidering her life choices. A bit late for that considering we’re thousands of feet in the air.

“Hey,” I start an idea forming in my head. “What if you live with me while we look for jobs then, after the money runs out, you can take over the payments if I still don’t have a job by then. I’ll still be looking for one obviously but this way we both have a safety net. Worst case scenario we end up homeless together.” I tell her my plan, grinning proudly at myself for being so smart, not thinking about how someone might not want to plan their new life with somebody else they met not even an hour ago.

“Hmm,” she hums thinking about everything I had just blurted to her without thinking. “Well actually worst case scenario you end up being a serial killer or something and I end up in some ditch but because I don’t have anything to lose… why not?” she says, agreeing.

“This is going to be fun. Two girls who are just barely adults planning their life together despite having just met in a plane on New Year's Eve.” I say to no one in particular.

“I feel like we should do something more. We’re leaving everything behind. We can do whatever we want now,” she says

“Like what?” I ask.

“I’m not sure. We should do a list. Like a bucket list of things we want to do in our first year by ourselves.”

“Like a New Year's Resolution! Perfect timing too. Tomorrow is the first of the year, meaning we have all 365 days.”

We spent a long time thinking of what to put in our resolutions. 

Mine had included:

• Stop being lazy
• Get over my fear of heights
• Go to one of those fancy parties rich people go to in the movies 

Her’s had:

• Break into an amusement park
• Stop being afraid of crocodiles
• Get a drink in Tallahassee 

After a while we passed out both taking much needed naps peacefully until I woke up to my seat shaking. My first thought was that the snobby kid behind us needed to keep his legs to himself until I realized it wasn’t my seat but the whole plane shaking. I looked around and saw people’s panicked faces, fear plastered on them. The flight attendants were trying to calm everyone down while having a hard time not freaking out themselves. Somebody was saying something on the intercom but I couldn't pay attention to it. It was probably the pilot telling us what to do in these trying times as our plane fell out of the sky. No wait, nevermind. The pilot was passed out with some flight attendants trying to wake him up but not being able to. I looked to my right and saw that Gloria hadn’t been woken up by the noise. My trembling hand reached out to shake her awake when I realized I needed to put on my seatbelt and oxygen mask before helping someone else. I did it as fast as I could then as I reached out again the plane plunged down. It crashed down into some  forest. I think. As soon as the plane hit the ground I saw nothing but black and passed out.

“Julia, Julia, Julia!” someone was yelling my name too loudly. I drowned it out and let myself be pulled back into sleep . The same thing happened a few more times before  I decided to open my eyes. 

“She’s awake! " "What?!" "Call the doctor! Hurry!” Why were they yelling so loud? I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Where was I? What happened? Then all of a sudden the memories of the plane crash hit me like a truck. Gloria. Where was she? I needed to find her. "Gloria! Gloria! Where are you?!" I yelled and questioned. it took a long time but they were able to calm me down and explain things to me. Gloria was alive. And she was okay. But not really because she couldn't walk and she would be gone before the coming new year ended. My world was shaken up but that wasn't enough, I had also lost a year of life. I had found Gloria but that wasn't hard since she visited me at least once every 3 weeks . Shel looked so different from the last time I had seen her. A year ago but it felt like yesterday to me. She cried when she saw me and I cried harder seeing her in that wheelchair she had gotten from the crash. when i looked into her eyes I couldn't see the excitement and hope she had for a new life so I decided to tp bring it back. we had nothing lose. so on new Years eve we set out to finish those resolutions. we had until before midnight.

"Alright I'll tell you the rest of the story some other time grandson I'm to tired now," I tell my grandson who looks at me in shock.

"You can't just leave me like that nan," he says in disbelief,