Victor glanced at the mirror, finding a stranger in his reflection. Dark circles had swallowed the already dark eyes and the expression had gone from sharp to vacant. Stubble darkened his chin and his hair stood every which way. “I look like the night was far more exciting than it really was…”
He sighed and stepped into the shower. The hot water prickled his skin as it first rushed down, but soon the warmth soaked into his bones and relaxed the tense muscles in his shoulders. Victor’s eyes slowly closed and he leaned against the wall, fighting away the images of last night’s nightmare that threatened to overcome him in their second war.
Twenty minutes later, Victor emerged from the bathroom an entirely different man. His usual clean-shaven and proud face had been returned to its natural state, and his hair had been perfectly tamed. The suit he wore was freshly pressed and crisp with a new silk tie. He picked up his briefcase, checked it quickly for the documents he required, and walked out the front door.
Goldman already had the car parked in the driveway. Victor nodded in greeting and climbed into the passenger seat. “Good morning, boss. I have your tickets and the documents you requested there in the dossier on the dashboard. You should have already received the email confirmation for your hotel last week. Was there anything else I’ve forgotten?”
“No, that’s everything.” Victor nodded solemnly and Goldman started the car, leaving the driveway and heading for the airport. They traveled in their usual silence, the sun just beginning to peek out from the horizon to greet them. Victor pulled out his phone and sent a single text message before putting it away and reclining in his seat.
“Didn’t sleep well, boss?” Goldman asked, glancing over at Victor. He didn’t open his eyes, but shook his head. “I see. Well, hopefully you can get some rest on the plane. It’s a really long flight.” Victor didn’t respond.
The sun slowly rose over the landscape, casting it in fiery hues of red and orange as the car pulled into the airport drop off zone. “I will message you when I arrive in New York. I expect that you will let me know if anything happens in the Anohe deal as well while I’m away.”
“Of course,” Goldman replied. He opened the trunk and pulled Victor’s suitcase from inside. “Are you sure you don’t want me to bring this to the gate for you?” The boss shook his head and Goldman nodded. “Alright. Travel safe, boss.”
Victor took the suitcase, briefcase, and dossier and entered the airport proper. He knew exactly which way to go; within minutes he had passed through the first class security and sat on one of the plush chairs just outside the gate. He glanced at his watch and found that he had about fifteen minutes before boarding, so he pulled out his phone and dialed the number at the very top.
“Hello?” The sleepy voice on the other end of the phone brought a smile to the weary CEO’s face. “Victor? Did you make it to the airport alright?”
“Yes, I’m waiting to board now. I just wanted to remind you that your report on last week’s release is due the day I get back and the presentation on your new proposal is the next day.”
There was a sigh on the line, followed by the return of the sleepy voice. “Yes, I remember. They will be ready as always! And you know that. You just called me because you wanted to hear my voice, didn’t you?”
A light flush crossed Victor’s cheeks, tinging them pink. “No, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t conveniently forget your deadlines just because I’m out of the office for the next seven days. I’m hanging up now.”
“No, don’t hang up quite yet! I…I will miss you, even if you don’t miss me while you’re gone. Can’t you just talk to me for a few minutes since you called me anyway?”
“You’re such a dummy.” Victor’s voice was barely above a whisper, tenderness practically dripping from each word. “But I still have ten minutes or so before we board, so I suppose I can indulge you.”
The ten minutes passed in the beat of a heart and Victor begrudgingly hung up the phone. “Yes, I will call you as soon as we land. Yes. I will be careful. They’re calling boarding so I need to go.” He stared for a moment at the picture of the girl on the call screen, eyes swirling with complex emotions. “I’ll miss you too,” he whispered.
Despite the length of the flight and the comfort of the first class cabin, Victor found himself nursing a glass of bourbon and staring out the window rather than giving in to his exhaustion. Every time his eyes closed, images of the recurring nightmare filled him with dread and jolted him awake.
Please fasten your seatbelts. We will be beginning our descent into Paris in a few minutes.
The sound of the captain’s voice broke Victor out of his reverie. He gathered the documents he had been reviewing and put them back in his briefcase while mentally reviewing the list of things he had planned for the six hour stopover.
In a surprisingly short amount of time, Victor stood in the bright Parisian sun with his briefcase in one hand and his suitcase in the other. Flagging down a cab was an easy affair here at the airport, and within a few minutes he was traveling toward the coast and his mother’s house.
The familiar neighborhoods flickered by and imparted their memories to Victor’s exhausted mind. He thought he could see a familiar small, somber boy winding his way through the cobblestone streets with a baguette in one hand and a crepe in the other. His eyes idly followed the little figure until he faded away to nothing. Victor smiled, wondering if the little bakery was still open.
“We’ve arrived,” the cabbie grunted, the car lurching to a stop outside the home where he had spent so much of his youth. Victor nodded and handed over the fare. The car pulled away and he just stood there in the yard, examining the blooming flowers and well-manicured lawn. The landscaper he employed had been taking good care of the land as usual, he mused, stooping to pick a tulip for the vase.
Victor unlocked the door and carefully swung it inward, pulling his feet from his shoes and slipping them into the white slippers near the entry. “Mom, I’m home,” he called to the empty house, somehow hoping that this time he would get a response.
Of course, nobody responded but the sound of his own feet. Victor placed the tulip in the vase on the piano, smiled fondly at the photograph of his mother, and shuffled down the hallway toward his bedroom. “I’m so tired, mom. Nightmares again…but this time, you aren’t here to wipe my brow and watch over me.”
He sighed heavily and dropped his luggage near the bedside table. Weariness weighed down every inch of his body as he slipped out of his suit and climbed into the bed in his underclothes for a desperately-needed nap. Even the early afternoon sun pouring through the window could not keep Victor from drifting off into a fitful sleep.
Victor opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of a sea of blood and chaos. All around him were the screams of men, women, and children alike. He ached to put himself between the horror and the girl at his side, but there was no way he could completely encircle her with the madness occurring on every side.
She stepped out onto the platform in the center of the room and the dread in his gut intensified. Victor knew exactly where this was heading, but every attempt to change the trajectory was to no avail. The dagger in his hand was cold and sent an ache into his skin. The girl, the most important person and light of his existence, begged him to do it. “There’s no other way, Victor,” she explained, her voice calmer than it had any right to be in a situation such as this.
“I won’t do it!” Victor exclaimed, trying to toss away the dagger. However, it had attached itself firmly to his skin as if frozen in place. He felt his arm begin to move and though he fought to regain control, in the end all he could do was watch in horror as the glinting steel passed through her dress and into her perfect, pale chest.
The girl went limp amidst the primal screams of her on the platform. Victor paid the imposter no mind; he simply cradled the ragdoll form of his one and only love, running his fingers through her hair and washing her face with his tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he sobbed, running his hand over her cheek and forehead.
A final shriek from the platform caught Victor’s attention. He looked away for a moment and when he looked back down, the face had changed. Victor found himself looking down into the still eyes of his mother, the first person he had been unable to save. His wails intensified and the room faded away; the only remaining reality was himself and her peaceful face.
Victor jolted awake, finding that tears had soaked his pillow while he slept. His eyes were redder than when he had closed them and sore, a pain only slightly relieved by the back of his hand rubbing the remaining tears away. “Damn that dream,” he muttered, glancing at the time on the digital clock. It read 2 PM and he groaned.
The intermittent flashing of the notification indicator on Victor’s phone caught his attention. He picked it up and found multiple messages from the girl. “Oh…I forgot to call,” he murmured while pulling up her contact information. The phone only rang twice before her concerned voice filled the speaker.
“Victor! Did you make it safely?! You were supposed to arrive hours ago. Was the flight delayed? Did you get stuck in the airport? Did you not have service?”
Her concern sprouted warmly in his heart, spreading and growing until his entire chest was filled with heat. “I’m fine. I got to Mother’s house and took a nap. You worry too much.” Victor sat on the bed and began pulling on his pants, phone held between his ear and shoulder. “Everything has gone just fine, though there seems to be a storm rolling in. I’ll need to return to the airport fairly soon to catch the second flight to New York.”
His thoughts of displeasure in regards to getting to the airport for his 5 PM flight were interrupted by the sound of branches whipping against the bedroom window. Victor frowned and stumbled to the window, finding that the sun had disappeared and left behind a storm-swept estate. “Great. This better not delay my flight…it’s already cutting it close to getting any sleep before leaving for the meeting in Queens.”
The girl made a few displeased sounds on the other end of the phone and Victor could imagine her face scrunching up with worry as it always did. He could picture the little wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and the way her bottom lip slightly protruded, and the searching look in her eyes as she examined his face for any signs of hidden emotions. “Well, you be safe! Or you’re going to owe me ten puddings when you get back!”
“Ten? You better spread those out or you aren’t going to fit in any of your clothing.” The sounds of her indignance broadened the smile on his face and Victor chuckled, putting the phone on speaker so he could finish getting dressed. “Though I suppose there’s no reason to worry about that because I will be perfectly fine. And I will see you when I get back.”
“You better. Or I will hunt you down and bring you home myself.”
Victor chuckled again and finished tying his shoes. “Alright, that’s enough of that. I have to get back to the airport. I will call you tomorrow. And don’t forget again that I’m in New York and call me at two in the morning, or I will have to move up the date of the film proposal.”
Amidst the unhappy noises on the other end of the phone, Victor said his goodbyes and hung up. He took one last look around the room before gathering up his bag and dialing a cab.
The weather grew increasingly dark and windy as the cab conveyed the CEO toward the airport. The wind howled and beat on the car, causing it to sway slightly back and forth. Victor’s face grew more and more grim until he stepped out and his coat was caught up in the storm. No sooner had he closed the cab door and stepped into the airport than the heavens burst open and rain began falling in a deluge.
Victor went straight to the flight board, hoping that he would find good news. Unfortunately he was met by a wall of orange and red. Delayed, delayed, cancelled, cancelled…His eyes ran up and down the board until he located his own.
Cancelled.
If it were possible, Victor’s eyes grew even darker and he made his way toward the swamped customer service counter. In silence he waited in the line as the frantic employees did their best to calm irate and shouting patrons. “We are doing everything we can, ma’am! I have transferred your ticket to the next flight, but I cannot guarantee that the conditions will be safe for takeoff then either. No ma’am, I do not know exactly when the storm is going to end. We have been watching doppler, but- No, I cannot force the pilot to take off anyway! Ma’am. Ma’am. MA’AM. I understand that you need to get to Germany, but you will have to be patient!”
The shouting all around him continued to intensify until security descended to separate the most irate flyers from the more rational ones. This significantly cut down on the number of people ahead of Victor in line and soon he was standing before a haggard and dead-eyed airport employee. “Which flight, sir?” he asked in a voice barely loud enough to be heard over the crowd.
“Five p.m. to New York. First class.” Victor handed over his identification card and leaned against the counter, his own weariness catching up to him. The employee tapped a few keys on the computer and sighed, looking up at the CEO.
He took one look at Victor’s cold face and seemed to decide he was about to get told off yet again. When he spoke his voice was full of regret and caution. “I’m sorry, sir. The next flight to New York with available seats isn’t until nine and there is no guarantee that it will take off on time.”
“That will suffice.”
Relief flooded the man’s face and he nodded, tapping away at his keyboard and picking up the sheet that printed. “Here’s your new ticket, sir. Do you know where the first class lounge is located? You are welcome to rest there until your flight.”
Victor nodded his affirmation and took the sheet of paper, hardly giving it a glance before stuffing it in his briefcase and leaving for the lounge. He paid no attention to the other patrons around him as he walked, tuning them out and focusing on getting to the room where he knew he could attempt to get another nap in.
The day wore on with no sign of the storm relenting. Victor drank no less than three glasses of brandy over the next four hours, attempting to lessen the anger which was boiling low in his gut. He checked the flight board often, though as his new flight time approached it seemed that the news was not getting any better.
Sure enough, Victor again found himself at the customer service desk and then back in the lounge with yet another new ticket. Sleep continued to evade him even with the assistance of the burning beverage, finally driving him to just stare blankly at the wall.
“Now boarding, Flight 374 for New York City. First class passengers may proceed to gate four to board.”
A glance at his watch showed 2AM. Victor pressed send on the email he had been drafting and closed the laptop, stowing it in the briefcase and heading toward the gate. The world around him spun slightly, but he somehow managed to make it to his seat without anyone noticing his slightly intoxicated state. In the darkened cabin, Victor drifted in and out of consciousness until the plane touched down in New York City. By the time he collected his luggage and climbed into the cab, it was 7:30AM. “Straight to the meeting it is.” He sighed, gave the cabbie the address, and slumped back in the seat.
By the time Victor stumbled into his hotel room at 8pm, his eyes were bloodshot and his head throbbed. The only things he wanted in the world were a shower, a painkiller…and to hear the voice of the woman he loved more than his own life itself. He pressed the call button while stripping the wrinkled and sweaty business clothing from his weary body, piling them on a chair in the corner for the time being.
The phone rang and rang with no answer. Victor sighed and ended the call, feeling tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. This has been, without a doubt, the worst trip I’ve had in a very long time, he thought, moodily swallowing a headache pill and chasing it with a glass of water. He warmed the shower and climbed in, eyes closed as the hot water washed away the grime and tears that spilled over despite his efforts to keep his composure.
It was then that the custom ringtone the girl had set for him drifted into the bathroom. “Victor! Answer your phone! Your favorite employee is calling and you know that you want to talk to her!”
The sound of the girl’s voice immediately improved his mood. “Damn straight I do!” Victor yelled, stepping out of the shower and grabbing the phone without even bothering to wrap in a towel. He put it on speaker and set the phone on the counter, stepping back into the stream of water while speaking. “Decided to call me back, did you?”
“Of course I did! I was getting ready for work when you called and didn’t hear the phone ring. Did your flight end up leaving on time? How did your meetings go? And…are you in the shower?” Her chipper tone brought a smile to his weary face, though the questions made his heart heavy.
“Yes, I’m in the shower. No, I didn’t board the plane until two in the morning and arrived just in time for the first meeting. Waste of time it was, too. They are being completely unreasonable with their demands and I don’t know if we will even reach a favorable conclusion.”
While the soap cleansed his body, the conversation cleansed his mind. The girl seemed to sense that his spirits were particularly low and she made sure to tell him about every mundane thing that had brought her a smile since he left. The conversation continued through the shower, dressing, and climbing into bed where Victor curled up with the phone on the pillow next to his head.
“So I told Kiki that if she ate another doughnut she was going to end up with a stomachache, and you know what she did? She ate one anyway and had to go home early! Are you still there, Victor?”
“Mhmm,” he replied, the drowsiness thick in his voice. “Just keep talking to me, okay? I just want to hear your voice…”
And so she continued to talk while Victor’s eyes grew heavier and his heart grew lighter until soft snores could be heard through the speaker. The girl giggled and whispered, “Sleep well, Victor. You light up my life and I cannot wait to see you when you get back.”
