Chapter 0.1: "One Silent Night"
It was peacefully quiet outside.
The night glowed low, the sea was calm, and the sky was clear as one could see.
Such peace seemed to permeate the air inside, as well. The laziness hung so dense. So heavy – one could drift to sleep with ever just a sigh.
So entirely true, it was; as more than half the passengers in the flight were no longer awake. And those who were, time slowly dwindled them away.
…
An hour had come to pass – and only a seventh of them remained. Those would be tonight´s all-nighters.
Or at least, some of them.
To the left, in a seat; a late youth tiredly leaned his head to the wall, and looked at his reflection in the window. But with such lack of lighting, he should had known that there was none to begin with.
He closed his eyes. And deep wrinkles appeared.
He was sleep deprived.
His mind, body, and consciousness were nearing stupor. And yet, his emotions were in such turmoil that he could still not call it a day.
Perhaps, he should have thanked his own luck for getting a window seat. And a wall to lean on, too. Or else, he might not have had comfort enough to rest for the night, at all.
Not to mention that no one snored in his vicinity, either. But that was beside the point.
…
This… dream of his. …Its end goal was way too high. Way too impossible for someone like him.
Being honest with himself, it amazed him to be able to reach this far. And he was barely on his way to start it.
And the reason he was able to take this trip?
Luck.
Simple, untapped luck. With a lot of self-effort and family support, too. But most notably, luck.
Such was the way he thought things had gone: It still felt unearned.
Maybe that was the reason why he kept clutching this device in his palm.
He loosened his grip to it. And with a soft sigh, looked at it once more.
It was a Poké Ball.
A Great Ball, to be precise.
A round, smooth-surfaced Great Ball, with now signs of grime from the sweat his hands had made for holding it for so long.
He would have used cloth and a solution to clean it up. But the latter was rather deep within the backpack between his legs, down his seat. And looking at the other passengers in the row, …he could not bear the thought of waking someone up for something like that.
Still, he opted for cleaning it as much as he could with cloth alone.
Pulling out a small, flat case from a pocket of his jacket; he took out a fine napkin from within, and proceeded to give small maintenance to it.
Overtime, the grime was slowly fading away. However, that meant it was only spreading around, instead of being removed. And so, an additional cleaning was going to be required.
It should also be mentioned that the cloth would need a cleaning of its own, later. But that, was also beside the point.
As he gently rubbed, he couldn´t help but get his mind in a sour, tense mood.
This was new to him.
All of it.
Taking slow, deep breaths, he did his best to clear his mind again. He had been thinking about this too much. And his time to rest has been long overdue.
This wasn´t like him. He was simply nervous – that´s all.
Yes. He was simply just nervous.
…
With the Poké Ball cleaned, he slowly opened the backpack just enough to push said item inside, before zipping it close.
With nothing else to do, the leaned to the wall once more, and shut his eyes.
Perhaps, everything will turn out just fine. He did plan this out, after all.
Perhaps… he was worrying too much. …And all that stress was for nothing.
Perhaps….
…
…
…
Up in the air, an airplane kept its flight. It kept its journey – smooth and gentle towards its destination.
For those in there, the night kept glowing low; the sea kept its flow; while a new passenger found his way to sleep.
Published: 25/10/2018