Voice Within

This story started out as a dream I was having after my husband and I planned to take a vacation to Hawaii, our first vacation for just the two of us. I was always worried about flying, and never flew until now. But, for some reason, every night I was having these thoughts. What could they have in them that I was not seeing?  Williams and I had been married for thirty-six years, but not together. We raised our son and adopted granddaughter. We never planned a vacation for ourselves, because usually the kids took our vacation time for something else.  This time, it was ours; they are all grown up, and moved out. Our nest was empty.

As the days grew closer and closer, my thoughts were more and more to the point that I got sick for a few days. Williams, my husband, blamed it on something I had eaten. Maybe I had food poisoning.  Well, the morning came, and we were up at 3:00 a.m. and ready for the cab to pick us up at 4:30 a.m.  Then, the cab took us to the San Francisco International Airport in South San Francisco.

We did the new self check-in. There were no lines, but we had a problem: my bag was two pounds overweight, so I had to take clothes out of my suitcase and put them in Williams’s carry- on. He made the remark, “Are you sure you got everything?” After that, it was through the check-in station, then, it was time for some coffee and breakfast. We had two hours before flight time, but the time went quickly. Before long, we heard them calling our flight, and we were boarding.

When we boarded the plane, the stewardess asked where we were sitting. I told her 31-H and 31-J, and she pointed to the left of the plane.  We found our seat, stored our carry-on, and we were ready to go. Soon, the plane was taxiing out to the runway. I held Williams’s hand, and I kissed him, and said, “I love you.” I guess it made me feel safe.

He said, “I love you, too, sweetie.” 

We lifted off and got settled in, and Williams fell fast asleep. Not me; I could not sleep. I read the book in front of me, and listened to the music through the headsets, and I watched a movie. But, I kept feeling that someone was watching me.  I got up a few times to go to the restroom, just to look around, to see if there was anyone I knew, but there was no one. 

About three hours into the five-hour flight, I heard a voice inside my head that said,

“Why did you come, why?” I felt it was just me worrying about leaving my birds and fish alone for a week. I knew that I had put enough food out for the birds, and we brought those fourteen-day feeders for my fish, so what was bothering me?  Something was still giving me a bad feeling.

I called the kids, letting them know where the keys to the cars and home were, and promised to call them when we landed in Hawaii. Everything was turned off, so what was it?

Again, the Voice came to me. “You be careful and keep the one you love dearest to you close.”

This was to the point that I could not wait to land. The captain said we were fifteen minutes out. The plane was descending, and Williams woke up.

“Are we there, yet?” he said.

I held his hand, saying, “We will be landing any minute now.”

We could hardly wait; it was our first time to Hawaii. When the plane landed, we got our bags as quickly as we could. We were greeted by the lady who gave us the leis of real flowers. We caught the shuttle to get the rental car. From there, we went to the hotel. 

After we checked in, we went for a walk along the coastline, to look at the beautiful sights. We stopped in a few places and had a few drinks, and then headed back to hotel for a rest. The next morning, we were to get up early. There was so much to see and do, and we did not want to miss a thing.

The next morning, we were up early, and it was a beautiful sunny morning. As we walked out on the deck, there was a cruise ship in the ocean, just out side the hotel rooms. We took pictures of it and the hotel, and then we were off. We decided to have a quick breakfast, and started sightseeing on the island. It was one of the most beautiful plac