A tragic history of an unknown tribe is almost entirely wiped out of extinction 100,000 years ago from our present-day by a devastating creature within the Earth's core known as Calamity. This magnificent tribe who were known as the Novalites contai...
Evan reaches the check-in desk and breathes a sigh of relief as he drops all his bags to look for his passport. He groans as he checks through pocket after pocket until eventually he finds it. He presents it to the person at the desk and begins to pick up his bags as she returns the passport. He staggers to the security line and heaves his many bags onto the conveyor belt. Evan then walks through the metal detector, which buzzes loudly. He sighs as security staff call him over. One security scanner-filled minute later, Evan finally leaves the area with all his baggage. As he sprints up the escalator, he looks at the flight board. One hour until takeoff. As he reaches the top of the escalator, he suddenly trips and falls. Luckily, all his baggage stays on him. He goes to a shop to purchase headphones and a flashlight for the trip and hurries over to a Mexican restaurant near the gate. As he orders and pays, he freezes.
"All passengers heading to Cancun, Mexico. Flight 117. We will be boarding in 5 minutes at gate B17. Once again. Boarding at B17, flight 117 in 5 minutes. Thank you."
"Give me a break..." Evan quickly shovels the burrito down his mouth, picks up his bags, and sprints towards the gate. Out of breath, he reaches the gate, and the boarding attendant waves at him cheerily.
"Welcome aboard Air Mexico!" She quickly looks at his passport and ticket and opens the gate to the airplane. "Have a great flight, sir!" She said with a plastic smile.
Evan looks at her warily. "...Thanks." He then continues to the plane, slightly shaken by the strange lady. As he walks down the aisle of the jet, he squeezes past a few people until he reaches his seat. He crams all his bags as well as he can into the overhead bins, but can't quite shut the compartment. A flight attendant passes by and gestures for him to get to the side. With terrific force, she slams the compartment shut, and it stays. Evan's face turns slightly red as he realizes he couldn't do the task himself. As she walks away, he surveys who he will be sitting with. He is allocated a window seat but is in front of an extremely sleep-deprived mother with two screaming children. His seating arrangement looks like absolute chaos as the kids behind him lay their hands over the top of Evan's seat and jump around everywhere for the soon-to-be longest-felt flight of his life. A couple occupies the other two seats on his side of the aisle. The husband looks like he is about to doze off any second as his wife chatters on, looking through a magazine.
"Oh, as soon as we get there, we will have to check out all the shops down by our hotel! And we need to buy something extraordinary for Clara and her boys! Oh wow, look at all the snacks on board! I might even be naughty and have a little bit of wine on board! Hey, do you think I should eat now or wait for the onboard food to arrive? I mean I ordered a vegetarian meal but... You can never be too sure about these online bookings. Plus of course the quality of airline food. Oh, oh look, honey! We could visit the carpet museum! Wouldn't that be spectacular!!?"
"Uh-huh... yeah, yeah... okay... That's nice, Amanda...Ooh...hm...?" The last exclamation jolts the husband awake. Evan smiles dryly and patiently waits for a break in the conversation. Eventually, he butts into the monologue:
"Um... Excuse me...?" The lady in the aisle seat looks up at Evan.
"OOOOH! Are you sitting here with us? Wonderful! Paul! Let's get up to let this nice young gentleman into his seat." Paul rises lifelessly and walks out to the aisle, bumping into Evan on the way.
"Thank you..." Evan's voice trails off. He quickly slides to take his window seat and takes off his backpack. He removes his cap and places everything below his seat. Once Paul and Amanda sit down again, Evan realizes how little space he has as he is jammed by Paul's bulky body. The other half of the seat belt is slightly under Paul's leg. Evan carefully reaches for it before giving it a very little tug. Nothing. He tries again, this time with more force. Still nothing. Praying that the husband does not exit his zombie-like state, he yanks the seatbelt until he finally gets the half he needs to fasten his seatbelt. In the meantime, the wife has picked up her magazine again and has started up the monologue again. "Anyway, where was I? Ah yes! We should totally do a spa day!"
"I wish I had brought some earbuds..." Evan mutters to himself.
"Trust me, kid..." Paul yawns. Surprised that Paul heard his backhanded comment, Evan looks up at Paul, slightly worried. Paul slowly moves his eyes down to Evan without moving his body at all. "She never shuts up."
Evan returns the empty smile and clicks on his seat belt. Rubbing his forehead, he prepares for the longest and worst flight he has ever experienced. Suddenly, the captain's voice blares through the intercom.
"Hello, and a warm welcome to everyone on board this 9:30 am flight to Cancun! This is your captain speaking. Today's flight is approximately 12 hours and 15 minutes long. All carry-on items should now be stowed in an overhead compartment or securely under the chair in front of you. Looking at a bit of a bumpy journey when nearing our destination. All electronic devices should now be switched off or have the airplane mode switched on."
Wanting as little trouble as possible, Evan reaches for his phone to turn airplane mode on. When he opens his phone, he accidentally taps the "Photos" app. What comes up is an image of him, his mother Carey, and also his dad many years ago. Evan is holding a fossil up high with both hands while his father and mother stand behind him, beaming. A memory long past leaves a bittersweet smile on his face as the pilot's speech fades into the background. Blocking off all his chaotic surroundings, he begins to stare even deeper into the picture with a lot of focus on his father. Slower with every second his bittersweet smile turns to an upsetting frown. Calmly rehearing his own mother's words "He'd be so proud of the man you've grown up to be" makes Evan breathe in slowly and deeply to try confidently stand by those words and pluck up the courage to reach his goals. Evan takes another quick deep breath and turns off the phone which slowly begins to bring him back into reality. The plane slowly begins to taxi to the runway and accelerates until it leaves the ground going at full force. Evan stares out the window as the asphalt begins to blend with the sky. The plane eventually submerges itself within the clouds, hiding like a smoke bomb.
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