~~~
Back on the road, traveling through my home state. Not where I was born,
though, that was at my Aunt Jace's down near Mexico. I can't wait to get
home; it will be a matter of days, if that. As I travel, I think of the
dreams I've had the last two times I slept. I'm starting to remember the
first one, and the second I never forgot. I wonder why the airport was
attacked, that is, if my dream was accurate. I don't remember hearing
anything on the news about the airport going down, but then I was pretty
absorbed in my own grief those days. I think I'll look it up in the
library. Shit, haven't been there in a long time, don't even know if I can
remember how to look things up.
~~
I pull up in front of the building. It hasn't changed much. I glance up at
the third floor windows; the lights are off, no one is home. Good. I go
around back to the parking garage, park the bike and set the alarm, then go
upstairs. I had been right; no one is home. I immediately go to the
bathroom and take a long, hot shower. It is the first hot shower I've had
in a long time. After getting dressed, I crash.
~~
Four hours later, I wake up without dreaming. Good. I get up and look
around the room; nothing has changed. I walk out into the hallway, the
pictures on the walls are all the same, and so is the clock at the end. It
says it is twenty after one. Good, I have lots of time. I go back into the
bedroom and get dressed, search for my keys, then grab an apple off the
kitchen table on my way out the door.
~~
I remember coming here with my father when I was a kid, he loved to look at
the old books; they had no pictures in them so at that time I didn't care.
Now I go straight to the old news section and borrow a television for an
hour after finding the newsreels from September 2o26. It is all on one DVD
so I easily find the information from my birthday, then start watching. My
dream was accurate. It showed security camera footage from inside the
airport, there is a camera pointed at the ticket counters. It pans over the
six counters, I can see my mother at one of them, arguing with the man
behind the counter, daddy is beside her, his hand on her arm, trying to
calm her down. It must be from after Cindy and Bling took me to the
terminal. I fast-forward a ways, the newscaster comes back on, talking, so
I stop and listen to what she has to say. She says the police believe it
was a planned attack, and are still looking for the culprits. I fast
forward to the next day's footage. A lot of it is new stuff, but near the
end, I find some more about the airport. The lady comes back on, saying the
police still haven't any suspects in the case, and it shows a picture of
the airport after the attack. It looks terrible, the buildings glass
windows shattered, walls crumbled. It even looks like one airplane was hit.
The lady comes back on saying numbers of people hurt and killed, but I'm
not paying attention. I can't believe the wreckage I saw. I keep fast-
forwarding the DVD until the next days footage, and the next, put there is
nothing more on the airport.
~~
After returning the DVD to the librarian, I have one more place to go
before I return mom's bike to Cindy. Cutting across the city, I easily get
past the sector cops to sector five. I pull up in front of the building. I
look up at the building and take a deep breath, working up my courage.
Finally, I step off the bike and walk into the parking garage, set the
alarm and walk to the elevator. In the elevator, I take another deep
breath, then slide the key pass in the elevator and press the penthouse
button.
~~~
