Chapter 1
She took a nervous glance from squinted eyes as she gazed outside from the plane window. Her knuckles had turned white from holding so tightly onto the arm of the seat. Her face was pale and a small drizzle of sweat was running down her cheek. It was obviously the girls first time on a plane. Taking off sent goose bumps across her skin and nervous shivers up and down her spine, but landing was a whole other story. It was going to happen. She was going to throw up if she didn't calm herself down. Quick thoughts rushed through her head, as she thought to herself "just breath in and out, you're stronger than this." Taking her gaze off the plane's window, she leaned over closing her eyes tightly taking in a deep breath. Then all of a sudden she felt a warm hand close over one of her own that was grasping the arm of the chair. It made her jump and look over to her side.
A man in his mid-forties looked upon the seventeen year old with a gentle smile. His blue eyes matched her own. His held a brightness within them, telling the young lady that everything will be alright without having to speak any words. He then slowly brought his hand up to the girl's strawberry blonde hair to brush it gently. He laid a kiss upon the girl's forehead and then put his arm around her shoulder, holding her closely.
The girl sighed, closing her eyes once more and leaning her head into the man's chest, "Sorry daddy. I guess I'm a lot more nervous than I thought." It was true. Moving is stressful. Getting on an airplane for the first time is also a bit hard, but the worst thing about it was moving to a whole other country all together.
She had been preparing for this move the past year. She quit her job at the mini-mart so that she could take the majority of her time studying Japanese culture and language. She thought to herself that perhaps she didn't do enough preparation, but she pushed those thoughts aside. It was only going to make the feeling in her stomach worse. With her father's arm around her now though, she felt a little better and allowed the arms of the seat to have some relief. They were stricken with her sweat and an imprint of her fingers lingered upon the fabric there for a moment.
The move itself happened at a random time, but it was not something that was unexpected. She had already told her friends that her father was considering to be stationed in Japan at some point in the future. He had been talking about working at the American Embassy in Japan for the past two and a half years. He quickly nabbed up the opportunity when it came to him.
The man held onto his daughter tightly, his hand gently rubbing her arm now, "Are you sure you're alright with this Dominique? You know we can always head back if this gets too uncomfortable for you. I wanted to wait until you were finished with school, but this was something I, no we, couldn't pass up. Just know though, it's not just up to me." He looked down upon his daughter with a sincere look in his eyes. She opened her eyes and looked up at her father, her face showing a bit more color now. She gave him a nervous, but gentle smile and nodded her head, "I'll let you know if I can't handle it, but I think I'll be alright." She wrapped her own arm around her father to give him a quick squeeze and then let him go. He took this as a sign they had battled her moment of nausea and finally let her out his embrace. He patted her on the thigh and leaned back into his chair, "Just a few more minutes now and we'll be on the ground. That should make things a bit easier. Hang in there champ."
She nodded once more and took a drink from her water bottle. A tinge of excitement instead of nervousness started to build up as she realized with her father's words they were finally in another country. She spent a lot of time wondering how it was going to be living in Japan, but this time it was real, not a fantasy.