Slowly Fading

Pulling into the airports car park, Abigail undid her seat belt. Her glare was still prominently fixed on her face, something which her mother was well aware of.

‘’I’m doing all of this for your own good, pet. Do you think I want to sent you away, especially to your father? Believe me, I don’t. But it’s best for you. Think of it all as an experience!’’ Her mother smiled weakly.

Abigail smiled back coldly, but with just enough emotion to make it a believable smile. She knew all that her mother wanted was to get her out of the way. She had spent seventeen years bringing her up, she had done enough, now it was her father’s turn. Abigail knew that when her mother had gotten pregnant, she had had to give up drinking and partying, and she knew all too well that the minute she had set foot on the plane, her mother would have a dry vodka in hand.

‘’Remember love, it’s only for a year. If you really want to, you can come back then.’’ Her mother said with an almost pained expression, she didn't want her back, and as far as Abigail was concerned, she’d do everything in her power to stay the hell away from England. But staying with her father wasn't something she was too keen to do either, after the year was up, she planned on going her own way.

‘’I’ll see you soon pet, I love you. Remember that.’’ Her mother whispered as Abigail jumped out of the car. She kept her face in an emotionless glare, she didn't want her mother to see how much she had hurt her, she thought that that would only mean her mother had won. She couldn't let that happen.

She to the back of the car, and popping the trunk open she pulled out all three of her suitcases. She had spent the previous week packing up all of her stuff, she had only taken the things that she needed and couldn't be without. Narrowing it down to three cases had been a challenge though. She slung her black studded backpack around her shoulders, steadied her headphones around her neck and dropped her skateboard into a side compartment of her largest case.

She closed the trunk back down and walked to the side of the car, opening her mother's door she reached in and hugged her tightly. No matter how much they disagreed, fought or didn't get along, they were still mother and daughter, and Abigail still loved her, as much as she hated to admit it.

‘’I love you mum. I’ll see you... well I’ll see you sometime.’’ She smiled pulling away. Grabbing her cases she began to walk towards the airport doors. A few brave tears fell from her eyes, she shook away the feelings of regret and worthlessness. It was her fault and there was no point in denying it, she had brought it all on herself, blaming someone else would do nothing, and she knew it too.

As she drew nearer to the entrance she took in the sight of little children skipping happily alongside their parents, obviously about to go on holidays, or coming back from a holiday. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous, she had never gone on a family holiday, in fact the furthest she’d ever gone was to Scotland and back. Her mother could never afford to splurge on a trip to Spain or France like all her friends parents had done, and she had always blatantly refused to let her daughter take up her fathers offers of going to California for a holiday.

Upon entering the building, she was overwhelmed with the smell of disinfectant and sights of sun burned and tanned people wearing shorts walking past her. It was quite amazing how people could be walking around in t-shirts and shorts while she was wearing a jumper and a light coat on top. She thought to herself that she must be sick, she was freezing cold today, yet all the people around her looked to be sweating.

Strolling up to the boarding desk, she handed the lady who was stood behind it her passport and ticket. Having already checked her suitcases in, she had a free bit of time to waste.

‘’Have a lovely flight. You’re in gate seventeen, just around the corner.’’ The lady instructed, handing her back the passport seemingly happy that the facial features of the girl in the picture did indeed match Abigail's.

‘’Thanks.’’ She mumbled stuffing the ticket and passport back into her bag and following the directions the woman had given her. Walking into the room she was supposed to wait for her flight in, her stomach lurched. The room was crowded and smelled or aftershave mixed with even more disinfectant. She hated waiting.

After waiting for what seemed to Abbie to be like a lifetime, but in reality was only around half an hours, she was allowed to board her plane. Walking out of the building and into the harsh British wind she sighed to herself, as much as she was going to miss the United Kingdom, she sure as hell would be only too glad to say goodbye and farewell to the horrible weather she had had to endure day in and day out.

She quickly found her seat, which was near the back of the plane placed beside a window. She had never really flown much, so she was slightly excited about the prospect of being able to look down at the country she had always called home from countless miles up in the air.

‘‘Hello.’’ A boy, around her own age, mumbled as he slid into the seat beside her.

He was tall, but not the kind of tall that intimidated her. He had long dark hair, straightened and covered slightly by a hooded top zipped right up to his neck. His wrists were covered with assorted wrist bands and his feet were clad with converse that looked as if they had seem much better days.

‘’Hey,’’ She found herself smiling back.

Despite the urge to look out the window and sink back into her seat listening to her headphones, she found herself talking to the man for most of her flight. He was a person she could easily have seen herself being friends with, he was easy to talk to, not at all self centered and actually listened to what she had to say.

‘’Wake up,’’ A tired voice sounded as Abigail blinked her eyes open, the brightness around her slinging them quite unexpectedly. She looked around her to see people fishing handbags out from under their seats and waking sleeping family members up.

‘’ We've landed, already?’’ She asked, yawning and stretching herself as well as she could given the tight amount of space she had.

‘’Yeah, you do know you've been asleep for around four hours?’’ He questioned chuckling slightly as he slipped his jumper back on over his head. It was then she noticed the Bullet For My Valentine t-shirt covering his frame. She shrugged and yawned yet again, not trying to mask her exhaustion in front of the stranger she had become so at ease with.

‘’Nice t-shirt.’’ She smirked as she shoved her headphones back into her bag.

‘’Nice CD.’’ He replied back before getting out of his seat and following the rest of the passengers off the plane. She looked down to the CD player in her hands and saw that underneath the clear cover was indeed, her all time favorite CD. Bullet For My Valentine’s The Poison was spinning around inside, black disc flying around.

‘’Hey, what’s your name?’’ She asked as she left her seat, thanking the flight attendants who were waiting for the remaining passengers to leave the plane.

‘’Check your hand, name and number, love.’’ He smirked, she looked down at her hand to see the name Dan and his number scrawled on in black pen, obviously done while she was sleeping. Looking back up though, she sighed realizing that he had disappeared back into the crowd.

She shook her head and followed the masses of people into the airport terminals, maybe if she found a few more people like him, then this year might just be about bearable.