A Hidden Destiny

My temporary destination

Dammit!

Using a napkin from my earlier meal, I dapped on my clothes to wipe some of the excess water. Better than nothing, I thought to myself. I sighed. Deep breathes, deep breathes, Maddie. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Another sigh left my lips as I tried to keep my cool.. That’s it, it's just water for God’s sake. The lady next to me had woken up and gave me a curious look, probably thinking that I had anger-issues and desperately tried to control myself with the breathing exercises. Truth be told, the breathing techniques usually helped me when the world felt overwhelming and I needed to ground myself again. It was something my grandmother had taught me when I was a child. She was truly a blessing in my life. A smile found its way to my lips as memories of my grandmother filled through my mind. I was going to miss her and my grandfather a lot while I was away.

It can’t be long now. Maybe an hour before we reach solid ground again. With a little smile on my lips, I decided to enjoy the rest of the flight, forget about my little accident and think of the future lying ahead of me. Who knew what I would discover about myself?

Before leaving, well let’s call it home, I made sure to book a hotel room not far from the airport. It was going to be my safe place until I found a more permanent solution. I had already looked at different rentals online and had two appointments the following day. I hoped that one of these places would be my future, albeit temporary home. My own place. A warm feeling rose in my chest. I was excited!

There was a ‘ping’ sound and the display showed that we should fasten our seatbelt and being the obedient citizen I was, I did as instructed. Not more than 20 minutes later we were safely on the ground again. In total chaos of everyone trying to get their luggage down from the overhead compartment at the same time, and then standing in eagerness to exit the plane, I decided to remain in my seat. The crew wouldn’t open the door quicker anyway, even with the impatient crowd waiting to exit. When the line finally thinned out, I took my bag and my trolley from the overhead compartment and went for the exit. Now I just needed my other suitcase and then I was good to go!

I followed the crowd to the luggage claim and waited. And waited. Seriously, why is my bag always the last? I waited for what felt like an eternity and my bag still didn’t appear. Just my freaking luck, I thought to myself. Just as I was turning around to get some help, my grey suitcase with a blue ribbon appeared on the conveyor. Thank God. I grabbed my suitcase, a little violently and lifted it onto the luggage cart with my other bags.

And, of course, one of the front wheels had its own life and made the steering kind of difficult. Because why couldn’t I just get a cart with freshly oiled wheels. No, not me, never me! Feeling a little frustrated with the cart, I glanced around the crowd, trying to locate my name on one of the several signs. The hotel had been kind enough to offer pick-up in the airport. I found an aging man with surprisingly normal clothes on, holding up a sign in front of him. “Miss Williams”, it said. I steered the luggage cart towards the man and he smiled at me.

“Madeleine Williams?” he asked with a deep voice.

“That would be me”, I answered with a small smile and he nodded.

“Let me help you with those”, he said, reaching out for my bags. I thanked him, took my small bag from the cart and draped my sweater over my arm.

“Follow me, Miss. The car is parked just outside”, he said, hurrying towards the exit. We walked through an exit and he headed towards a black sedan parked by the curb. I offered to help him load the bags into the trunk, but he declined and motioned for me to get into the backseat. And again, I did as instructed. A couple of minutes later, he entered the car and told me that the ride would take approximately 40 minutes, depending on traffic. I leaned back into the seat and tried to rest a little before we reached our destination.

Exactly 38 minutes later, we arrived at my destination; The Hill Hotel. From outside it seemed well kept, but old-fashioned. Not that I minded it. It looked cozy and homey. The driver parked in front of the entrance and placed my bags on the pavement. I said that I could handle it from here and thanked him for a pleasant drive, but he insisted that he would help me get my bags to the reception. I thanked him once again and followed him inside.

I didn’t know exactly what I had expected, but this was not it. It was even better!