Escape to Paradise

It is tradition to walk down the long zig-zagged line that was my town’s potluck dinner. Every year my entire family from a little place in Ohio would line up with our community. This year, absolutely everyone is here! My new aunt has brought chicken and rice, while others have brought roast beef, turkey, mashed potatoes, spinach salad and so much more. Just walking across the wide-open field and smelling the delicious aroma makes me think of home. Where I am.  I grab a plate and hear my Mom chatter on and on about how great a new job would be. This seems to be the only thing we talk about. But no matter how bored I am, I throw on a smile and nod when the times are right. I spot my friend, Emma, on her phone texting away as her mom spoons up dishes of homemade macaroni. I also see my Papee,  my uncle, my aunt, and my Nonee. I walk down the line, sure to pile on as much food as my plate can bear. Then, as usual, I set my plate down and wait for the rest of the family to run out of food to serve. I call Emma over and we sit down in the grass to talk. I am so grateful that she sets down her phone to talk to me. But it’s kind of disappointing that all we talk about is how her mom is looking for a job too. We don’t chat for long before her mom wants help. My family walks over soon after. We all sit down and chat. My mom talks about that job, my aunt and uncle ramble on about their new dog, and my Nonee and Papee talk about what me and my brother want for Christmas. I don’t really know what my brother wants. He went to my dad’s potluck this year, with our father’s side of the family. We switch every year. When we finish eating, we talk for a little longer and then start to clean up. The event starts to die, and dishes are stored as cars drive away. My family leaves but my mom and I always stay for a bit longer to watch the sunset over the pine green mountain. Colors of orange and pink swirl the sky as the sun disappears into the night sky where stars twinkle and the moon smiles. To my surprise, Emma comes up behind me and sits. My mom rises to go talk to Stephanie and Yuri, they have been friends for years. Emma doesn’t bother to talk, we just sit there in stony silence. But something ruins the mood. A major wind sets in. As if it has been waiting so not to disturb us, A plane swoops in after everyone leaves. Over the intercom it proclaims: “Job offer in New York! Job offer in New York!”. Before I can even process this, my mom and I are on the plane along with Stephanie and Emma. I’m not sure where Yuri went, but there are so many people on this plane that it’s hard to tell whether she got on or not. We walk around the plane a little bit and it has actual rooms! We have no intention to sleep though because of the surprise that was this airplane. We are about halfway to New York when a gunshot goes off. Then people in uniforms walk into our compartment. They are holding guns. They start shooting everyone in the room. We find cover, but many are not that lucky. We see children bent over parents, parents bent over children. I don’t even know these people, but it’s painful to let them go. All of a sudden, a woman with chocolate brown hair and mean emerald eyes walks in and tells us that anyone living needs to step into the hall. Everyone forms a line and everyone has a gun pointed at them. Then the lady starts asking questions. You get one wrong, well, you get shot. Stephanie wasn’t fortunate enough to know the correct answer. BANG! Tears spill over my eyes and Emma’s scream is unbearable. When the question comes to me, I am shaking. It is a simple question. “Why are you here?” the lady asks. I know if I stutter, hesitate, or even take an extra breath I will die. So the first thing that comes to mind has to pour out of my mouth. “My mom’s dream job” I say. I hear my mother sob beside me, awaiting what comes next. The lady scoffs and says “approved”. She moves one over. I am overcome with joy until I realize whose turn it is. The last in the line. My mother. It is unfair the fear I feel. Her question wasn't hard either. I’m just hoping she knows what to say. “Why were you at that potluck” . My mother shoots something out of her mouth as soon as the question is asked. “Tradition, ma’am. My family was there.”. The lady stares at her for a long while before she approves my mother. After that some people scream in agony, some people cry with joy. I could do both. But my mother and I already know what is coming. Anyone who made noise is shot. Surprisingly enough, there are still thousands of people on board. The plane shakes and I know we have landed. Everyone rushes to the window and sees where we are. New York. We have landed on a solid white building. Hundreds of stairs flow down beneath us. Leading to our future. My mom and I head to the door where one last meeting awaits us. This one isn’t scary though. A man simply moves his arm in the direction of the door. I tread lightly, as if to not awaken a beast outside the door. But when the cabin opens, a flood of scents flow through the door. Pretzels, hot dogs, even sewage. But we can’t take our time. When the door opens, everyone rushes through. My mom and I lose contact and I am pulled through the ocean of people. I see her trying to reach me. I lose sight of her. I start screaming and screaming. At the bottom of the stairs I wait. I dodge bullets here and there but I wait for 5 minutes before Emma comes. I cry. She hugs. My mom never came. But the dark-haired lady catches sight of us and bursts through the door. “Run.” is all I can get out. I squeeze Emma’s hand, knowing I will not lose another person. We sprint through the city looking for any sort of cover. We duck behind a building with a side entryway and go in. The building is nice, probably a hotel, but there is no time to observe. We sit on a couch and go through Emma's luggage. All I have is my phone. As Emma puts everything away I turn around and notice someone. Ms. Yuri! I run over and squeeze her tight. When she notices who I am she hugs me back. I take her over to Emma. Yuri can’t stay for long. She is in disguise as a worker at the hotel. She gives me her phone number and tells me and Emma to run along. We run out of the building. The dark-haired lady is looking around. We don’t have much time. I grab Emma’s hand again and we race through the streets. We have to stop to catch our breath. We don’t know where to go. An airport catches my eye. Emma is still panting when I grab the luggage, my phone, her, and we run into the airport. The air is cool and we are very hungry. We have no money and we need to get on a plane. Of course! Emma always carries an emergency credit card. It doesn't have very much on it but it can get us a plane flight and a meal. We walk up to the stand and buy a one-way ticket to Hawaii. It was the only flight they had left and we were running out of options. We made it to security when the dark-haired woman appears behind us. We get to security and she pulls out a gun. Big mistake. Security guards take her to the floor. We get through and run to the counter. Our tickets just say B1. A lady walks through the door with other tickets in her hand. We have 20 seconds until boarding. Me and Emma are frantically screaming. We don’t catch her attention until I burst into tears and she points in the direction of our gate. We are 3 minutes late but people still aren’t boarding. Somehow, the lady got out of TSA and was looking around for us. Emma and I ducked and tried to hide. We managed to make it look like we were just rummaging through our bags. But the dark-haired lady wasn’t falling for it. She started to speed over to us. All of a sudden, the intercom went off saying “Flight 84659 is now boarding”. We stood and tried to hide how anxious we were as we walked over to the plane. The dark-haired lady walked up and said “Gotcha!” like we were some sort of prize to be won. I had to think fast. “Excuse me, ma’am. Do I know you?”. The dark-haired lady just looked at us in shock. She started to mumble. “but-I-uh-no-” was all she could get out. “If there’s nothing else then we would like to get on our flight.” I say smoothly. “Ok”, the lady says “would you have happened to see any little girls running around?” she asks. “Actually, yes. Their gate number was B2” Emma says. “Thank you so much. Sorry I wasted your time” the lady said. She left, still racing. Neither me nor Emma could believe she fell for that. A woman scanned our ticket and we walked into the plane. Nervously, we took our seats and started to just breathe. A lot at just happened so I decided to just stay silent. Emma does the same. We are probably about 2 hours in when Emma breaks the silence. “Grace, what will happen when we get to Hawaii?”she asks. I take a long while to think. “I’m not sure. Probably start in a hotel, get an easy job and work our way up.” I say. Emma nods. I’m not sure how I will live without friends and family. All I have is Emma. But we’ll make it through. I know we will.