J.O.N.A.S. OSG
Chapter three: Falling up
The heat.
"Shit!" I grasped the walls and began to try and pull myself back up. "Allie, I suggest you move."
"I…is everything okay?" There…there it was. The optimism sinking into darkness while fear and mild panic began to overdrive the young girl above me. Not everyone can be that peppy all of the time. "Hello?"
Panic.
"Maneuver yourself down here, come on." At first, I heard nothing. Not a single movement from the girl above. Nothing but the threatening heater system kicking on to heat the vents through out the building of the airport. The fast we get out of here, the safer we are from at least the potential 'frying pan' of the ventilator shaft. Thank you, but I don't wish to be grilled to 'perfection' in the heating system of an airport. The longer I waited, the longer it felt like longer. Yes, longer than longer.
"A-are you down there still?"
"Yeah Kid, come on." That's it, nice and easy. I watched her finally shift around to fit into the drop and she held her arms and back against both the fore wall and the back wall of the drop her feet landing on my shoulders as she finally was settled into the drop. "You ready?"
Hesitation.
"Now or never, I'd rather not have the guilt on my shoulders leaving you behind, literally."
"Ready."
I could feel the temperature begin to rise as I took a deep breath and slowly shuffled down. Only a few times did she almost slip, almost causing both of us to fall, but she caught herself and so did I. Perhaps it was just me, but it was getting warmer and warmer as we finally slid into the lower level and I came in behind Claire who I hadn't realized was still waiting for us. Allie was next, and I let out a sigh of relief as we both continued the crawl down the vent until we slid out with Claire into the darker area of the airport we were aiming for to bypass security.
"So, you gunna share your name now?" I turned my head as Allie jumped down onto the floor after replacing the panel to the vent.
"Yeah, we don't even know Blondie's name." Shay said as Bobbie looked at me intently, wanting an answer.
"Is that any of your business?" I asked sharply, turning my head back to Allie who was now walking up to us and joining our little 'group' in the corner of the restricted airport space.
"You know all of our names." Bobbie's brow rose in anticipation but I wasn't going to give into that. It was no ones business who I was. I was not about to go playing 'spill your guts out' for these…random people.
"Except Blondie." Shay cut in, which caused the boy to roll his eyes.
"Hey, I 'ave a name you know!"
"Yeah, Blondie." Shay added which received her a glare from Blondie.
"Name's Jacob…Smart."
"At least the name fits your personality, is geek your middle name?"
"Hey!"
"Both of you knock it off!" Claire hissed. "Do you want to attracted attention?"
The two shook their heads and shut the holes in their face as Bobbie's eyes fell from my figure and held defeat as it was apparent I was not going to answer her question.
"So, Jake, do you know what we are supposed to do now?" Claire asked after a few moments, breaking the silence.
"Well…how about board a plane?" He looked at us all.
"Well, it is an airport." He continued. I rolled my eyes, as well as Bobbie and Shay.
"He has a point." Allie spoke, finally. "Well think about it, we were sent here, we all found each other, at an airport. Shouldn't that mean at some point we are supposed to find a plane to board?"
"What she said." Jake nodded slowly.
"Uh, yeah, and how exactly are we boarding a plane without tickets?" Shay crossed her arms over her chest.
"Great, back to square one." Bobbie groaned.
"Find the private planes and see which one looks like it could hold someone with answers?" Allie smiled.
"Okay, seriously, how the hell are we going to get out of here NOW!" Shay plopped on the floor in a huff.
"We can take the terminal over here." Jake pointed out.
I raised my brow. "Don't we need a ladder?"
"Don't we need a plane?" Claire looked at the window which was slightly covered by painter's sheets. It was really no use looking, because you couldn't see anything anyway.
"We're climbing out." Jake gave a look of 'duh' and made his way for the terminal entrance, or exit, depending on how you saw it.
"Climbing, out of the terminal?" I asked, just as curious even though I was trying to hide it. "You mean, where the plane is supposed to be?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Dude." Bobbie looked at us all. "Do you really think no one will notice six teens running around airport grounds?"
"Yeah, how are we supposed to explain that if someone sees us?" Claire piped in.
"What if a plane decides to run us over?" Shay asked looking up from the ground.
"Do you wanna sit here and wait?" Jake asked. None of use answered. "That's what I thought."
I watched the boy move behind the empty desk that was covered with a painter's sheet as well, and to the terminal door. My first question was how we were going to get the security code to open the terminal doors without setting off an alarm, but the next thing I know, the door is open and we are all slipping through it and down the hallway of the terminal, Bobbie yanking a complaining Shay off of the airport floor.
"I'm not even going to ask, how you did that." I said as we got to the end of the 'L' shaped hall and to the exit. "Is there supposed to be a plane linked to this thing?"
"What?" Claire was right behind me, looking over my shoulder and her eyes widened along with the rest of the group as they came up behind us. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"I think we should check it out." Allie suggested.
"You're insane." Shay muttered, even though the look on her face showed the curiosity we all held.
"For once, I'm going to go with Allie on this one." I said before stepping forward into the doorway of the plane. It wasn't a huge plane, but it was large enough. It was as if someone put a small house inside of it.
"Where are you going!" Claire hissed as Allie followed behind me, along with Jake, then Bobbie.
"Holy chipmunks' roasting on a dead fire this place is amazing!" Bobbie grinned as we walked a little further into the plane. Something about this seemed familiar…to familiar. The leather seats, the white-carpeted floor of the plane, the familiar kitchen like area with a small bar that held no alcohol.
"I think we should leave." I said as I opened the mini bar. Sugar-free red bull…Starbucks coffee bottles... My breath began to burn as I shut the fridge and stood back, turning to the others who entered the plane. "Let's go."
"Okay…" they nodded, some giving me an odd look as we began to move to the front again, but something stopped me. A hint of red, tucked under one of the seats. I leaned down, my hand reaching out to grasp the material.
"Oh my god…" I breathed, the ratty Led Zeppelin tee I used to wear. I had given it to him…before his first concert. He was nervous…and I told him to wear it for good luck. He was wearing it the night we fought. Never seeing him again since. We haven't talked, haven't hugged…since that night. I felt dry tears wanting to come out, but I knew, I hadn't cried since that night. I haven't been able to cry in so very long, my tears ran dry.
"There is someone coming…"
I turned my head and stood up, the fabric held in my grasp as footsteps came down the terminal hallway and grew louder. I ushered everyone to get behind something, to hide.
"What about you?" Claire looked over at me.
"Just hide dammit!" She ducked behind the bar and I stood my ground, waiting for whatever was coming. Everyone had shuffled so quick I didn't know if everyone was hiding or had turned invisible. Yes, that was sarcastic. I watched as two men stepped forward into the plan and made their way towards the middle of the plane, the first thing that went through my mind when I saw the first man was disbelief. He smiled as he looked at me.
"Hello Bridget. It's nice to see you again."