I grabbed the keys to the helicopter.
True, I had no idea how to fly the thing, but I didn't have time to learn. I had to get away. Now.
Obviously, as soon as I started the engine, mom and Kazuma would wake up. So I had a very small window to get off the ground. If they caught me I wouldn't get away. I would have to continue this existence of mine here. And at the moment, I couldn't bear this life.
I sat in the seat of the helicopter. I sat there for a few minutes, gazing at the controls, trying to get a feel for the workings of the thing. My hand shook as I placed the key into the ignition. I knew as soon as I turned it, there could be no going back, and no room for error. After a few seconds, I turned it anyway.
The engine rumbled to life, and the blades of the helicopter began to spin. Luckily, I was rather intuitive with machines, (perhaps I hung out with Kazuma too much?) and I had figured out how to keep the copter in one place as it rose slowly upwards.
I was about 50 feet off the ground when, just as I expected, mom came running from the house. She was yelling something, but I couldn't hear her over the roar of the blades. I'm glad for that. It wasn't something I needed to deal with right now.
Kazuma came out of the house a few moments later, a bit confused as to what was going on. Mom yelled something again and pointed, and Kazuma looked dumbstruck.
I didn't wait around to see anymore. I tilted the controls forward, and the helicopter took off into the skies.
It occurred to me about then that I had no idea in which direction the floating island was. Interestingly, and probably as a result of adrenaline, this fact seemed only a minor setback. One I could easily cope with. It seemed my body already knew where to go anyway. For no apparent reason, I would occasionally change course, somehow inherently sure that I was headed in the right direction.
An hour passed. Then another. I flew over moonlit landscapes, valleys and mountains I had never seen before, yet I pressed on as calmly as if I flew the copter every day and was simply taking it down to run a few errands.
Time continued to go by. Soon, the sun began to come up. I was now flying over a vast forest, when suddenly the location for which I had been searching came into view. There, on the horizon, was the floating island.
Landing was harder than I anticipated. I managed to get the helicopter down safely, but it got a bit dented in the process. I stepped out and stared at the landscape around me.
I was on the balcony, the place where we had first landed when we came here a year ago. Now, for the first time, I considered what I planned to do now that I had arrived. I couldn't face the mimigas; they wouldn't understand, wouldn't recognize the girl who had briefly entered their presence now that she was again a human.
I thought of Quote, but realized that he, Curly, and Balrog had set off for parts unknown. Everyone else I had met on the island was a member of my own family, and obviously, they were at home, enjoying their normal lives, something I could no longer do.
Was I then doomed to wonder the island alone, a nomad searching for meaning? I knew I needed to be here; I had become very sure of that. But if no one was here to help me find the truth I was searching for, then how could I hope to find it?
I sat on the bricks, staring off into the morning sky. My abrupt quest had reached an abrupt end.
Suddenly, it hit me; there was one more person on the island, and that was the person I needed to talk to. There was one person left who might be able to help me find some answers. It would be risky to confront this person. The last time we had met, things had not gone well. But this had no bearing on my decision. I had to find her.
I began to seek out Misery.