The Light of the Blue Pearl Read Free

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