Whatever It Takes

Passport. Check. Luggage. Check. Backpack. Check. Wallet. Check. Phone. Check.

Victoria glanced over her items spread out on the floor, making sure she wasn’t forgetting anything. This vacation had to be perfect. She worked an entire year for it and she wasn’t planning on wasting any second.

“Whatever it takes” was her mantra. No matter what she had to go through, she was going to spend the weekend in Barbados sitting in front of the ocean with the sun shining in her face all the while drinking a cold drink in one hand and reading a book in the other. 

She collected all her things just in time for the arrival of her taxi she had called earlier. She did a quick sweep of her house, making sure to turn off all the lights and to leave a spare key under the welcome mat for her neighbor to use whenever they came over to check if the place was still in good condition, before stepping out in the mild weather of Clearwater, Heights.

-

In the taxi is where Victoria can finally relax. Months of complete chaos have brought her to this point. Ever since her boss informed her about having an entire week off, she instantly got to planning everything. That same day she decided on the location and purchased the plane ticket. Then she proceeded to book a room and arrange all the activities she would do once she arrived on the tropical island. After that, all she had to do was wait. 

Now, she didn’t have to anymore. The day she anticipated the most was finally here.

But, of course, something just didn’t have to go as planned. She should have known.

As she was on the verge of dozing off, the taxi came to an abrupt stop. “Why did we stop?” she asked the driver.

“Traffic,” the man responded, not even bothering to look back at her.

She leaned towards the middle seat and looked through the windshield. From her view, she could see the line of cars. It was usual for the town to have traffic, but she didn’t think it would get this bad. The line was barely moving at all. 

Victoria brought her arm up and saw in horror the time her watch displayed: 9:37 A.M. Her flight departed in less than an hour and she had yet to arrive at the airport, check-in, and go through security. If she didn’t move now, the plane would leave without her and she couldn’t risk that. Not after how hard she worked for this vacation.

Whatever it takes.

She looked through her window, trying to pinpoint her location. “What street are we on?”

“St. James.”

“The airport is straight ahead, right?” she asked. The man gave her a slight nod.

She could still make it on time. By car it would usually take around ten minutes to get to the airport, but considering the situation she was in she would have to go by foot. She could make it in fifteen if she ran there. 

Whatever it takes.

“Ma’am, what are you doing?” the driver asked at the sound of a seat belt unbuckling, finally looking back at her. 

Victoria grabbed her belongings and opened the taxi door. “Going on a vacation.”

-

Saying Victoria ran her quickest was an understatement. She ran like her life depended on it. Although her luggage didn’t make it easy, she wasn’t about to let that stop her. Passing through cars and pushing past people on the sidewalk also weren’t easy tasks, but she managed to dash through the glass doors of Clearwater Regional Airport just as the clock struck ten. 

That didn’t stop her, though. She continued running until she reached the check-in counter, not wanting to get another close call. Once she got there, she ignored the look the lady gave her and took out her phone in which her digital airline ticket was safely located.

The lady scanned the ticket. However, instead of letting her through as Victoria had expected, she frowned at the computer in front of her. “There seems to be a problem.”

Victoria furrowed her brows. What now? “What’s wrong?”

“Your information isn’t appearing in our system, ma’am,” the lady typed in her computer again, “I found nothing under the name of Victoria Harlow.”

Victoria tried to hide the annoyance in her voice, but she had enough of these little surprises. She just wanted to have a vacation. Was that too much to ask for? “What do you mean it isn’t appearing? It should be there. I paid for a plane ticket to the Caribbean.”

“Where exactly did you pay for it?”

“On a website.”

“What was it called?”

“Happy Tours,” Victoria responded, but now that she said it out loud she realized how sketchy it sounded. She was too eager to book her flight for this trip that she didn’t take a moment to actually think things through. No wonder the prices were too good to be true.

The lady typed away at her computer before turning the screen towards her. “That website doesn’t exist.”

Victoria looked incredulously at the screen. She skimmed through the search results, but not a single website with the name of Happy Tours appeared. “No, that can’t be.”

“It probably did exist at the time you bought your ticket, but it was all a scam, ma’am. It’s common for websites like these to suddenly disappear once they've collected people’s money.”

Victoria ran her hand through her hair. Everything was getting out of a hand. This was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be the best week of her life. 

Whatever it takes.

She sighed as another idea popped up in her head. “Are there any more planes heading to the Caribbean?”

The lady took a moment to search for any other flights before responding, “I can squeeze you in on one for tonight. It’s economy class, but because it’s last minute it’ll cost you $860.”

Victoria shuddered at the amount. It wasn’t an issue of whether or not she had enough money. She did have enough. The issue was that all the money she had left was in her savings account which was strictly reserved for emergencies only. Major emergencies. As the day was turning out, however, this was becoming a major emergency.

Yes, she would have to make up all the money she would spend.

Yes, she would have to refrain herself from spending any more money on the island.

But… 

Whatever it takes, she reminded herself. Whatever it takes.

“I’ll take it.”

-

Although Victoria hated the fact that she had to wait twelve hours for her flight, she really couldn’t complain about it. At least she was still going on her vacation. She was going to arrive later than planned, but she would still have the weekend for herself. 

In the meantime, she proceeded to check-in her luggage and pass through security to get an early start on the boarding process. Once that was done, she got situated in the departure lounge. But it wasn’t long before she couldn’t handle the boredom anymore. She walked around observing the scenery around her and exploring the different (and over priced) concessions.

Fast forward another couple hours, and it was finally time for her to begin the actual boarding process. As soon as the intercom indicated that her flight was allowing passengers to board, she made sure to be the first in line.

She let out a sigh of relief the second she stepped foot into the airplane. One of the flight attendants greeted her and indicated where her seat was located. To her surprise, it was a window seat and there was only one other person in the row.

Maybe this was a sign. A sign that things would now go as planned.

Victoria gave herself a moment to process today’s events. She had many close calls and at one point she thought this wouldn’t work out. But it did. In just a few hours she would be arriving on the tropical island of her dreams.

As the plane was taking off, she got comfortable in her seat, her tiredness taking over, and fell into a deep slumber.

-

Victoria awoke to the rattling of the plane. At first, she thought it was slight turbulence that they were experiencing. She soon realized that it wasn’t.

The flight attendants tried to stop the other passengers from panicking, but it was a lost cause as another rattle, much harder than the first one, shook the plane. It prompted the oxygen masks to come out of their panels.

No one was paying attention to the instructions being given out.

There was chaos everywhere as everyone desperately reached for their masks. Victoria couldn’t even hear her thoughts anymore. On one side of the plane she could hear a group praying. On the other she heard voices rushing to call their loved ones.

She didn’t know what to do. She just secured her mask around her face. Tightened her seatbelt. Held on to the arm rests as the plane dipped in a dangerous angle. Closed her eyes as she braced for the incoming impact.

Whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes.

Whatever it-

-

Pain was the first thing Victoria registered as she came back to consciousness. A stinging ache that seemed to spread throughout her body. She opened her eyes, but she had to quickly shield them from the blazing sun with her hand.

Day already?

It was dark on the plane… 

The plane.

She quickly got up on her elbows, events of the previous night coming back to memory. She ignored the throbbing in her head as she took in the sight before her. There were parts of the plane dispersed throughout the ocean. Smoke was still billowing from some of them.

Victoria squinted her eyes as she noticed that the destroyed machinery wasn’t the only thing floating in the clear water. There was also… 

Bodies.

Many of them.

Floating head down.

Lifeless. 

It hit her then.

She was probably the only survivor… 

But she couldn’t bring herself to care. She just couldn’t. All she could focus on was the feeling of the sun and breeze hitting her face. The tranquil movements of the palm trees that surrounded her. The sound of the seagulls flying over her in the bright, blue sky. And the… 

The sand.

She buried her hands in the grainy material and laughed at the weird yet familiar sensation.

Finally. 

This was all she wanted. 

Whatever it takes.

Victoria laid back down and at long last did what she had waited months to do: relax.