I'm sorry for the long wait, but a sinus infection kept me from writing this chapter. It won't happen, I should have the next chapter up in a few days. the language Sophia's mother was peaking is Hungarian. Use a translator if you wish to know what she was saying.


Abduction

Chapter 2

Arrival to Chicago

XXX

The plane glides swiftly through the air, out into the stratosphere. Outside my window are the mountainous desert landscapes below us, the Nevada desert will slowly become the Utah desert. Even though the plane is air-conditioned, the air outside my window seems to feel heavy, palpable almost. It's hot outside, even for June 2012. It won't be as hot in Chicago as it was back in Las Vegas, people could easily pass out or even die from the heat like that! It's almost surprising that my friend here didn't. I smile at that, I'm just silently teasing her in my mind. I won't tease her verbally, she's sensitive like that. I've known her a long time now to know what she hates and likes.

The desert…the desert can be boring to some people. People who are not optimistic. I for one, er… Sophia and I are optimistic people. The world has its good and bad times, but it's a beautiful place. No matter what happens. I turn my head to look out the window; a few clouds drift by, brushing by as if they're nothing. They're water droplets condensed into clouds.

Down further below are mountains, the desert landscape.

"Mel, you bored or something?" My friend's voice breaks into my thoughts.

"Hm, no. What makes you say that?"

"Well, you just look bored. You keep staring out the window."

"I, uh…trying to keep my eyes busy. The desert is pretty out there." I smile.

Sophia looks past me and out the window. "Yeah, the desert's pretty. Mainly the mountains are. Anything outside the Las Vegas Valley is pretty."

"You seem to dislike Las Vegas. Why?"

"You know why, Mel. There's hardly anything fun to do there. Too much casinos, the Strip is made of high-rise hotel-casinos. Gambling. If gambling became illegal in Nevada, Las Vegas would become a ghost town. There's nothing special about the city. At all." She turns away.

I frown. She really regrets moving to Las Vegas. She prefers to be there in Los Angeles instead. It is her hometown. It's by the beach, the ocean. Her sanctuary almost. She always feels calm near sea breezes. Lake Michigan is one of the great lakes, almost as large as an ocean. I smile a little. Maybe this trip to Chicago will brighten Sophia's spirit. She'll feel right at home with the lake breezes and with the Windy City to help remind her of Los Angeles, I think to myself.

The pilot's voice suddenly sounds over the hidden speakers, announcing the weather, current temperature, wind speed, and stuff currently in Chicago. The pilot then announces that the flight attendants will be coming by with drinks and snacks.

"Perfect timing, I could use a Coke right now."

I nod. "Yeah sure, Sophia. Whatever you say."

I turn my eyes to the TV screens, watching the little tiny white airplane icon move steadily and slowly toward its destination – Chicago. I hear the rustling of plastic, and I look as Sophia takes out her Entertainment Weekly magazine she'd purchased back in McCarran Airport. She opens the magazine to the first page and starts reading. I stare at the cover of the magazine, thinking about any summer movies playing in theaters this summer.

"Hey, Sophia?" I ask.

"Yes, Mel?"

"What movies are they gonna be showing this summer?"

"Hm." She turns a few pages to the movies section. "There's Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Pixar's Brave, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Amazing Spider-Man, Ice Age: Continental Drift, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Expendables 2 among others. Those are the ones that interest me the most."

"Looks like 2011 is up with some competition with 2012 for the best movies shown," I say.

Just then one of the flight attendants comes by us. "Would you care for anything to drink?" she asks.

"Coke," Sophia answers.

"Make that two please," I say.

Sophia and I fold down the little fold-up tables, so we can put our drinks there. The attendant gives us each a small plastic cup with a little bit of ice in them and hands Sophia a can of Coke, which she opens and pours a small amount in the cup. The attendant does the same to me.

"Thank you," Sophia and I echo each other.

"You're very welcome," the attendant smiles and turns her attention to other people in front of us who are waiting for a drink.

I take a sip of my Coke, and look at the TV screen again. The little white airplane icon seems to be barely moving, it only moves if you look at it long enough. The screen also shows the current time in Las Vegas, the current time in Chicago, and the time left until we reach our destination. Less than five hours to go on this plane. Sigh!

I'd like to take a nap, knowing it'd be a bit more comfortable than in Anna's Lexus. But I can't, I can feel the sugars from the Coke rushing through my veins, making me be alert more.

I look at Sophia again; she's so intrigued in that magazine. I hope she'll let me read it when she's done. Or at least she'll let me sleep when I'm reading it.

Sophia, are you gonna let me read the magazine when you're done with it?" I ask her.

"Sure, Mel."

"And do me a favor, Sophia."

"What?"

"Please let me sleep if I take a nap! I know it's tempting cause you want to talk to me, but I'm still tired from the trip to come see you in Las Vegas. And I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." I explain.

"I didn't get a good enough sleep either. And I'm planning to take a nap as well. How long do we have of boredom until we get to Chicago?"

"Less than five hours." I answer.

"Dang."

"Well, we did just take off."

She nods. "I know that." She looks at the TV screens, at the little airplane as it moves into Utah, heading into Colorado. "Can that plane move any slower?"

"Maybe if you ask it, it'll slow down for our pleasure," I say that with sarcasm.

She ignores my comment.

I look down at the magazine in her hands, reading whatever is on that page. Something about Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

I can't help but wonder if the fourth Transformers movie will be any good. I didn't like the fact that Michael Bay is returning as director, I'd wanted someone else to do it. See it from someone else's point of view. Hasn't Bay already messed up the series enough?

I'd watched Revenge of The Fallen and Dark of the Moon in theaters when they first came out. But Sophia never did. Not even the first one. When the first one came out, she'd said she was too young to watch such violence, the commercials had even said that some material in the movie might be inappropriate for children under 13.

Sophia had told me that she might watch the fourth one. And she doesn't want to know of any spoilers or news for the movie, the only "spoiler/news" she wants to know is that the movie is in production and filming.

Sophia turns the page. I want to say to turn back cause I didn't read the whole page but decide against it. I'll read it when it's my turn to.

Another Transformers movie, hm? I take another sip of my Coke, thinking about it some more. I'd love to see another movie with the Transformers having more screen time. Maybe they could focus it more on the Transformers and the military. More on their point-of-view instead of Sam's. It was Steven Spielberg's idea for the "A boy and his car" route.

Though it broke Sophia's heart and many other fans' hearts as well when he died, we'd love to see Ironhide make a comeback in TF4 if plausible. They could always give him a new body with a new alt-mode, since the Topkick is out of commission.

Sophia loves Ironhide. She has this huge crush on him. It isn't because of his guns…well particularly his new guns that were introduced in DotM. But that's the only weapons she'll like besides his arm cannons.

Hm, I wonder if we'll find any merchandise of transformers that's worth buying in Chicago. If there's one, I hope to get something of Ratchet or of Arcee. It'll have to be of Ratchet, they never have anything but toys of Arcee and her sisters, Chromia and Elita-One. I frown at that.

Sophia always says and thinks that Arcee and her sisters are components of Arcee's whole body, that they're three bodies driven by a single mind – Arcee. To better explain, she says that Arcee controls all three of them, kind of like Perceptor from G1. And that they only identified Arcee as one of the bikes and characterizing the other two, Chromia and Elita-One.

But I like to think of them as being sisters, having separate minds.

I close my eyes, leaning back against my seat. So many….complicated things….in the….Transformers film series…..hard to think on it…..sometimes. I block out all sound, even the airplane's humming engines, I even ignore Sophia as she turns the pages of her magazine. I just concentrate on my mind, calming myself. I soon fall into a soothing nap.

….

When I awake next, I notice Sophia's fold-up table is folded up, the Entertainment Weekly is gone, or rather out of sight, and she now has her 3DS in her hands, playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I glance at the TV screens, surprised to see how close the little airplane is to Chicago. I notice the time, less than an hour till the plane lands. Yes! … Wait; was I really asleep for that long?

"Hey, Mel. Did you have a nice nap? I didn't bother you like you wanted."

Well, can argue with that can't I? I just didn't expect to sleep for so long."

She smiles. "Surprised me too. After I was done reading, I noticed you were asleep, and so I decided to take a nap as well. I woke up about 30 minutes ago. I quickly finished my Coke after waking up though." She looks at me. No not exactly me, she's looking at my little cup of Coke.

"What?"

"Do you want your Coke, Mel?"

"Yes, I do, Sophia! You already drank yours, this is mine. Besides, I'm thirsty."

"Then drink it, if you're so thirsty." She sounded calm when she said that. She isn't angry. Guess I sounded a little angry at her. No, not angry – annoyed. She wants to drink my soda!

I take my cup, and drink all of the Coke fairly quickly.

"Dang, you are really thirsty."

"Hey, if I'm thirsty, then I'm thirsty." I smile at her. I fold up the fold-up table.

"Do you want to read my magazine now?"

"Is there anything interesting in it?"

"Yes, there is. I really want to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter even though it's a horror movie. Or so they say it is."

I take the magazine out of the bag, open it to the movies section and start reading about this summer's upcoming movies. I was half-way through the rest of the magazine when I feel pressure on the plane. I look out the window, wanting to know what's going on. I see that we're moving down, down through some clouds. The clouds disappear and I see land below. Streets, cars, buses, houses, buildings. I continue to watch outside the window. Finally, I see the cars up closer, the ground coming up, and I feel a thud, and then another thud. The plane has landed! We have arrived in Chicago!

XXX

What summer movie do you guys want to see in theaters? And I'm curious, who's your favorite Transformer and why?