The Light of the Blue Pearl (2 page)

After inspecting the other clothes inside,
some nice shorts, a few shirts and a swimsuit that had her
immediately nervous, she zipped it closed and headed for her car.
Her heart began to race when she realized she was really going to
do this. She was on her way to the airport to get on an airplane,
for only the second time in her life, and head to a country she
knew absolutely nothing about.

She didn’t know why she was going in the
first place and had no idea what to expect. Truly a bit of an
adventure she made her way to the airport and found a place to park
her car for the night. Never having any dealings at the airport,
navigating all of the lanes and confusing parking situations, she
hoped she found the right place to park, and that her car would be
there waiting for her when she got back.

Pulling into her parking spot the evening
air was a comfortable temperature and the full moon was just
starting to rise over the horizon. If she hadn’t been where she was
now she would have missed such a beautiful scene. “I work too
much,” she thought to herself.

Grabbing the suitcase from her backseat,
Ethne locked her doors and started making her way to where the
transit bus would pick her up to take her to the terminal. She was
the only one waiting, which made her nervous being so unaccustomed
to air travel, she hoped she was doing things right.

After a few moments a bus pulled up and she
got inside. Just her and the driver on their way to the airport,
she felt a little strange climbing the stairs, the driver glanced
at her and gave her a look that made her feel a little
uncomfortable. “This whole thing is making me paranoid,” she
thought.

It was a quick five minute drive to the
airport and before she knew it she was getting off and making her
way to the terminal. She had her ticket in her hand, gripping it
like it was a rope that was keeping her from falling off a cliff.
Once in line she set her suitcase down and started for the first
time to think about what it was she was doing.

That’s when the panic set in.

S
he felt the cold
sweat kick in and her palms start to feel sticky. If she had been
looking in the mirror she was sure a pale white ghost would be
staring back at her. Someone in front of her asked, “You okay,
hun?” She barely even heard them and decided she better sit
down.

With nowhere to sit she had to sit on the
ground right there in line, getting up each time it moved. Her head
was racing, what was she doing? Where was she going? And a plane
ride? The thought of it just now sinking in. She had only flown
once before to Europe to visit a sick relative, and that hadn’t
gone very well now that she thought of it.

And now she was going to get on a plane and
go to another country, all by herself? This was crazy, she couldn’t
do this.

She had almost talked herself out of going
when the airport security officer called “next.” She was next. She
somehow managed to stand up and grab her suitcase and bring it
closer to the screening counter. It felt like it had gained several
pounds since the last time she had lifted it.

“Ticket and ID?” the officer asked. Ethne
handed them over, the officer having to pry them from her sticky
and clenched palm. As she inspected them for accuracy she looked up
at Ethne assessing the pale individual in front of her. “First time
flying?” she asked.

“Second,” Ethne replied.

“Well, you’ll be alright; there is a
bathroom just over there if you want to freshen up before you
board.”

“Thank you,” Ethne said, not sure that any
time spent in the bathroom was going to fix how she was feeling
right now.

After making it through security, Ethne
slowly made her way to the bathroom to see what the damage was.
Setting her bag on the counter she looked in the mirror and saw her
pale face looking back at her.

“What are you doing?” she said to
herself.

She unzipped the bag and saw a note that she
had somehow missed before. She pulled it out and leaned against the
counter to read it.

“You’re probably feeling a bit unsure about
this trip right now. Don’t worry, you’ll be glad you went.”

Well whoever wrote that note was dead on in
their assessment; she was definitely feeling unsure about her
decision to fly to Belize. “Belize …what on earth could be there
waiting for me?” she thought to herself glancing one more time in
the mirror before she dug into her bag for reinforcements.

Slowly reapplying her makeup to try to bring
a little color back to her face, she looked in the mirror and
decided that was the best she could do given what she had to work
with. A ghost is a ghost, no matter how much you try to dress it
up.

She looked at herself in the mirror for a
second before leaving, noticing how skinny she had gotten. Her
brown hair was just past her shoulders again after she’d cut it
months earlier – a huge mistake she had found out later. Her face
was pale, though today a little paler than normal. Looking deeply
into her own sad eyes she saw what the person had meant. Though she
never thought much of her features, and up until now apparently no
one else had either, she wouldn’t say she was ugly. She saw her
mother’s face when she looked in the mirror, a small nose with
strong cheek bones, except her lips, those were full, like her
father’s had been. Overall, in her mind she was just average.
Average height, average look, average life. But she could imagine
that if she had a little more life behind her brown eyes, maybe
then she’d be worth looking at.

Her flight was going to board in a few
minutes so she picked up her bag and started heading toward the
gate.

On her way there she was tempted to grab
something to eat. She hadn’t eaten much all day but frankly her
stomach was a bit too unsettled so she opted against it. She
decided now was the time to make the dreaded phone call to her boss
to break the news that she wouldn’t be at work tomorrow either.

“Hello?” Scott answered.

Feigning a weak voice she said, “Hi, Scott?
It’s Ethne. Ummm…I’m really not feeling well, I don’t think I’m
going to be able to come in tomorrow either.”

“Oh? That’s a shame,” Scott replied. “Well I
guess we will see you on Monday then since you’re off until then
anyway, hope you feel better.”

“Thanks,” she said, before hanging up the
phone, feeling a bit terrible about the deception. But she didn’t
want to lose her job so there really was no other way around
it.

As she walked up to the gate the line wasn’t
all that long, which was nice she supposed, considering the fact
that she was unsure how this flight was going to go. The least
amount of spectators to what might happen en route the better she
figured.

When it was her turn in line she handed her
ticket to the woman, smiled a faint smile and was soon taking the
long walk to the plane’s door. With every step it seemed her heart
started pounding faster and faster, it probably was. She did her
best to ignore it, but when it came time to actually step foot onto
the plane, she froze.

Her foot seriously wouldn’t move. It was
inches from the plane’s door but she couldn’t take a step further.
The people behind her started to get antsy and one of them even
tried to push her, but to no avail. She wasn’t going anywhere.

It didn’t take long before one of the flight
attendants came to her aid and tried to reassure her that things
would be fine. She looked deep into the woman’s blue eyes and tried
to comprehend what she was saying to her but everything had gone
silent.

“Oh no, it’s happening,” Ethne thought.

She tried to take a deep breath. About half
way was the best she could muster, not quite enough oxygen needed
to stay conscious. She started to feel the room go black.

Someone behind her caught her arm and helped
steady her as the flight attendant moved her off to the side so
that everyone else could board the plane. She leaned against the
wall for support and hung her head low trying not to faint. Another
flight attendant brought her some water and helped her drink
it.

“You gonna be okay, hun?” one of them
asked.

She honestly didn’t know, but she nodded her
head that she would and pretty soon the room started to look normal
again. With her bearings established once more she took a deep
breath and decided it was now or never. She had two options, one –
get on the plane and see where this strange note would take her or
two – go home.

Having seen enough of home, she stepped onto
the plane.

The aisles were narrow, which she remembered
from the last flight; she didn’t care for narrow. But she had
committed and so she would see this through, even if it killed her.
The flight attendant who had brought her the water was right behind
her carrying her bag for her and making sure her newest passenger
was well taken care of.

Her seat was mid-plane just in front of the
wing, a window. Not really liking being on a plane to begin with
she wasn’t sure it mattered which seat she was in. She honestly
couldn’t wait to get off. But this was a long flight, with a couple
of layovers; it was going to be a while before she got her
wish.

The flight attendant put her bag in the
compartment above her and handed her a pillow and blanket.

“Are you feeling a little better?” she asked
Ethne.

“Yeah, a little,” she answered.

“My name is Robyn if you need anything,
okay?” she said with a nervous smile on her face.

Ethne assumed that they dealt with nervous
flyers all of the time, but doubted that they enjoyed it much.

“Yeah, okay thanks,” she answered, gladly
accepting the blanket and pillow.

She hadn’t had much time to get to the
airport and had pretty much handed her ticket over just a few
minutes before takeoff, so it wasn’t long before they were under
way and the plane was taxiing up the runway. She was gripping the
armrest with white knuckles trying to breathe deeply, but wasn’t
having much luck.

There was no one sitting next to her, which
again was probably a good thing. Not only would she likely be
terrifying them because of her nervousness, but in case something
happened she didn’t want anyone nearby anyway. She forced herself
to look out the window and think about other things.

The note from the morning was still in her
pocket. She pulled it out and started studying the paper and the
handwriting, trying to see if there were any clues as to who might
have written it. She didn’t find any. She didn’t recognize the
handwriting at all. She couldn’t think for the life of her who
could have sent it and who had convinced her to travel so far from
home.

The plane was done taxiing and was starting
to pick up speed as it raced down the runway before taking the
final leap into the air. Ethne closed her eyes and tried to ignore
what was happening, which was very difficult because it was so loud
and so turbulent her mind could think of nothing else.

Soon though, they were up and things started
to level out; she was in the air. Flying over her home she took a
quick glance down at the city below. She had such a strange feeling
in the pit of her stomach at the bizarre turn of events of the
day.

“This morning I was sitting on my couch
staring at the ceiling,” she thought to herself. “Now I’m flying to
Belize…I must be crazy.”

Perhaps she was, but considering the kind of
life she’d had up to this point, she doubted anyone would blame
her. Living alone all of those years, spending her time only
working and passing the time, this was probably the most exciting
thing she had ever done. She was terrified.

She thought about what she was going to do
once she landed, but decided not to even think about that because
it brought on even more panic than the flight was. So instead she
got up, got her bag down, and rummaged through it for
entertainment.

She discovered another note.

“How do I keep missing these?” she
thought.

Unfolding the note she read the three words
on it: “Take a nap.”

“Take a nap?” she thought.

Oh yeah, that was hilarious. Like she could
even think about sleeping right now; not only did she have an
extremely anxiety driven flight ahead of her, but then, after she
landed she had no idea what was awaiting her.
Take a nap.
Yeah…right
. Sleeping on a plane never held much appeal for her
anyway, it certainly hadn’t benefited her the last time she’d
flown.

Just then the flight attendant walked by and
asked if she wanted anything to drink. What she really wanted was
something to take away her anxiety but alcohol wasn’t really an
option, so she declined and went back to contemplating her fate
upon arrival in Belize City. The note stayed with her though.
Everything else had been something for her to do, so perhaps taking
a nap was essential for some strange reason.

So, fighting everything in her that wanted
to stay awake, Ethne wrapped her arms tightly around herself and
closed her eyes.

T
he first time he
had seen her sad eyes was the day he nearly fell over her in the
hallway. She had dropped her purse and was bent down to pick it up;
he was in a rush and hadn’t even seen her while he was juggling
paperwork and his cell phone; the halls can be quite dangerous if
you aren’t keeping your eyes open. He tripped over her and went
flying into the wall dropping all of his belongings as well. She
blushed and immediately apologized for being in his way and started
helping him pick up his things. He felt like a total ass since it
had been his fault for not paying attention to where he was going
in the first place.

He was at a loss for words, he felt so
stupid for having tripped over her. After they quietly finished
picking up all of his papers he asked if she was alright. She gave
him a small smile, shrugged her shoulders and said she was fine
before picking up her purse and walking away.