"Enough, Lil, you'll miss your flight if we continue like this.." The resigned voice of a woman filled my ears - far too loud. But instead of letting go, I tightened my arms around her.
"Mm… that would be very nice," I murmured in quiet protest. The slight intake of her breath told me she heard me.
"We already talked about this." She gently pulled me off her chest, ending my cosy snuggle sooner than I liked.
"No, we haven't. That was mostly you emotionally blackmailing me, if I remember correctly." My words came out sharper than intended, heat barely contained beneath them.
Somehow, the exhausted lines along her pale cheekbones quelled the anger in my chest– leaving behind something worse.
Guilt
"But I'm here because you wanted me to.." I trailed off as the main doors of the airport swung open; in frequent bleeds of pairs and trios was all I dared to see.
The sight dulled the sting in my chest, eyes everywhere but where she stood.
"No." She whispered, placing her hands on my cheeks. "You're here because it's your dream."
"One that doesn't need me travelling half the world." I shot back, the sound of my voice tight in my throat.
"Tell me." She suddenly asked, cupping my cheeks.
"What kind of mother will I be if I hold you back?" She continued, right as alway making me unable to resist this as much as I would have loved to.
"You need to go. More than you need to stay."
"Don't worry," Whispering, she gently wiped away a tear from my cheek.
"I'll be fine."
My hands tightened around her waist, my head resting against her chest –her scent of camomile and orchid filled my nostrils.
It was calming.
Home
I breathed in the air filled with her sweet scent, feeling softness of her fingers in my hair.
"It's time." A crisp voice called out, the slight tinge of irritation unmistakable.
Across the lounge, towering like a sentinel, was Jack Alsono – my guardian, watching with patience.
I still don't understand why I need one when my mum is still here.
Apparently, scholarship kids like me needed a physical guardian to supervise our academic lives, hormonal sprees, and social catastrophes our otherwise virtual guardians couldn't manage…
It was all fifteen fine paragraphs of bureaucratic nonsense, I didn't bother wrapping my head around.
"You heard him.." Slowly, I slid off her chest, my emerald eye locked on her brown orbs. There she went again. Supporting him. Like always. It seems she had no plans to stop.
The reason she was so trusting of a stranger, who'll be replacing her in the life of her soon out-of-reach teen daughter, was something logic would never explain to me.
By the check-in counter, eyes sharp under the overhead lights. The outline of the woollen suit was sharp against his tall and sturdy build. Shoulders tight and upright, his lean muscles peeked out from the undone buttons of the jacket, whilst the sharp edge of his polished shoe shone, clinking rhythmically against the shiny marble floor in muted silence.
He acted more like a bodyguard than a parental figure.
"Okay!" It came out more sarcastic than I intended. But who cared? At least not her. Recently, she seemed rather bent on making me do her bidding and less concerned about how I felt about all of this.
Tightening my grip on my luggage that stood beside me. I turned sharply without a second thought.
Maybe leaving without saying goodbye was a bad idea.
But I didn't care. Technically, we already said our goodbyes back at home.
Why she tagged along, I don't know. Probably, to make sure I didn't run off. But that wasn't part of the plan.
"See you when we meet again." The wheels of my luggage skidded slightly against the floor behind me. I forced my gaze to stay on Jack, with everything in me refusing to look behind me.
The weight in my hand barely kept me grounded, striding towards the check-in point in shaky steps.
I was so pissed off. At her and the whole damn situation! Why the hell was I made to choose between my dreams and my only family..
Why did she make me choose?
Not quite right, she freaking made the choice.
My choice.
The one she took away.
Still, here I was…. unable to hate her.
I really wanted to. But, I couldn't...because deep down, I understood. Understood why she'd put me first. Why, she was sending me away.
It was for my own good. My heart clenched painfully against my chest. But knowing that didn't make the ache in my chest hurt any less. I was angry. I was so mad at her for putting my dreams before us.
I swallowed dryly, burying the small sob that almost left my throat, and the sharp sting of unshed tears in my eyes made everything blurry.
How would I survive without her? She believed I would do just fine. But I didn't think so.
My feet carried me closer to the counter where Jack stood quietly, watching with no intention to help. A bile of annoyance rising in my chest at the sight, here I was, running mad with frustration while he watched, acting oblivious to my inner turmoil.
"Good morning, Mr Alsono." I greeted with gritted teeth. The clacking of my luggage against the marble floor was loud in the silence. My barely contained anger spiked on seeing him up close.
"Good morning, Ms Halecrest." Beaming, his mouth curving into something that didn't quite feel like a smile as much as it looked like one.
No warmth.
Precise and clinical.
The sound of my name on his lips was odd. Who addressed someone like that in this day and age?
First, he was a bodyguard, and now he was acting like a butler, hands tucked behind him as he stood upright. Like the butlers of aristocratic families I've only seen on TV.
This guardian of mine really got weirder the more time I spent with him.
"Let's begin." Snapping me out of my thoughts, he turned towards the counter, placing a suitcase I hadn't noticed till now.
The hall was empty.
The staff I heard earlier nowhere in sight.
"Welcome to Peak X International Airlines!" The enthusiastic voice of a feminine robot resounded sharply in the emptiness.
"Welcome Guardian Alsono, and Student Halecrest." It greeted, once again, this time more sentient and familiar.
"Thank you, Aira." The words left my mouth before I could stop myself. No matter how many times we met, I couldn't bring myself to treat her like a mere service bot. Not when she looked really human and was very nice to us.
No, professional. I corrected.
She gave me a knowing smile.
A very human one.
I bet she was assessing my emotional and mental state as we spoke.
"I will proceed with the departure procedures formally." She said more to Jack than to me. I jolted back on hearing her words.
Departure. I was leaving for Geneva soon.
My eyes scanned the hall in panic. It was empty. She left.
I looked at the timer on the enormous screen at the front. It had only been two minutes and thirty-two seconds.
She didn't wait to watch me disappear behind the boarding gate.
The sting in my eyes sharpened. Turning away from the counter, Jack briefly stared at me…
Then, following my line of sight, a faint glimmer of recognition shone in his otherwise emotionless eyes. I felt his gaze on me again and back at the counter, choosing not to comment.
Something I was grateful for. My impression of him grew better for a moment. At least, he wasn't trying to bond over my strained relationship with mum.
Inhaling sharply, the cold air rushed into my lungs, barely keeping me grounded. There was no point mulling over what was already done. The bluish light of the holographic interface came into view moments after I looked back at the counter.
Aira was busy interacting with the interface that was projected from the bluish core on her chest. The whirring of machines filled the air. It made sense she didn't need a computer. She was one.
"Documents" Still focused on the screen, she asked. Disrupting the awful silence that had enveloped us.
Jack inputted some symbols into the touch screen that appeared after the case did some kind of biometric scanning of his palm.
He passed some familiar looking documents, a visa….
My passports. Those were the documents we had acquired in the last month to process my migration.
Of course, they were with him. I scoffed. Well, I was still legally a minor and an adult was required to carry out this process. That, however, didn't make the fact, a stranger had access to such personal information about me less annoying.
Aira quickly scanned through them with her Omnivision, eyes blazing white. In mere seconds, she was over everything, and Jack placed them back in the case, locking it with a click.
"Ms. Halecrest, you are cleared for international transit. Verification Complete." Thirty seconds and she was done.
Wow.
I will never get used to this.
"Proceed to boarding." She said, sharp in finality. Going silent, her eyes turned lifeless, no static afterwards.
I now understand why Peak X Airlines went with these service bots. I let my eyes trail the long counter occupied with other similarly static service bots. Their efficiency was staggering. In two minutes, what took over two hours at other five-star International Airports.
Then, again, Peak X was never enlisted in any of the five-star airports known to the world. I guess a reclusive airport was normal since I was now a student of a secret, elitist school.
Nothing about any of this was normal, but Mum won't hear of it. Dousing logic to all of this madness. This was outright suspicious, except I got the scholarship from a National Scholarship Scheme ongoing for years.
I looked around the empty hall once again, hoping to get just a glance at my mum for one last time. I tighten my grip on the carry handle of my luggage in the silence that hits me in mockery.
"You've much bigger matters at hand as opposed to venting at a ghost." Jack walked past me with unhurried steps, voice sharp across the sterile emptiness of these walls.
Those words, cold and amused, underneath his breath, unleashed a wave of fury I never knew I had in me. I moved without thinking.
Somehow, I reached him. "Cat's away, and the mouse is finally out to play." Walking next to him, I said mockily, like I just got the confirmation that I needed.
That, I had always been right about him.
The thought pleased me, the more it unravelled in my head.
He only stared briefly, not even pausing. Clearly unaffected by what was the harshest jab of my life. Great, I could barely get under his nerves. Whereas, his silence infuriated me to no end.
I swallowed my defeat in silence, trying to match his pace. Now the adrenaline was gone, and I was so outmatched. The boarding gate drew nearer, and so did the automated scans.
It was just like in practice. A blade of light passed through my body with every step, and corresponding green markers lit the screens of the wall in correspondence checking every security detail.
Highly efficient. I thought for the hundredth and one time, slowing down my steps and changing my posture for the next series of security checks at the next terminal, which Jack was going through smoothly.
It made me wonder how many times he did this before now. I had only done virtual stimulations of this in my past month here. Though it was at the other end of the arrival hall at the practice blocks. Nothing really came close to the real deal.
If all the warnings Aira gave me during the training were 100% legit, then one wrong muscle alignment would cause the authorities to revoke my International Visa for security protocols.
Define Crazy.
I had nothing in particular against my Visa being revoked, but I was too frightened to think too far.
Apparently, these security bots specialise in in-depth, cellular-level security checks. If my mannerisms, posture, or emotions differed from what my datasheet recorded, I was screwed.
Legally screwed, to be specific.
It turned out, numerous cases of doppelgangers had taken the place of several passengers and only this level of detailing made it possible to catch them.
Why, I wondered, would anyone impersonate a person at one airport when there were many with less security depth, no normal security checks that went to the same locations with the right tickets and flight timing.
Then again, nothing about any of this was normal. Aira told me Peak X Airport and Airlines had access to places in the world closed off to the public.
Some much for freedom of movement, just never let the public know those places even exist.
She was about to divulge more before Jack reminded her that I didn't have enough security clearance.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Somewhere within me, I was grateful he stopped her before I lost my sanity. That was enough bombshells for a three-hour practice session.
Worse of it all, I signed a Non-disclosure Agreement before the lessons started, and the law compelled me to keep it from my Mum.
Luckily, I crossed all fourteen of them quickly, silently cursing the absurdity of everything. Jack stood at the gate leading to the jetbridge. We walked in silence to the airfield, where several high-end aeroplanes sat glimmering under the morning sun.
I was stunned silly at the sight. Breathtaking. Magnificent, these were simply understatements compared to the jaw-dropping scene before my eyes. The ramp held more than one hundred aeroplanes of various colours.
"Keep walking. You don't want to get lost." Jack's voice chided calmly. Effectively ruining the moment. I glanced in awe at the sight once again before hastening to catch up with him.