December 31st 1996, 4:55am.

Almost a week after Christmas, and we have to get back on the plane and head to North America.

"I can't believe the first leg of my tour is finished already," says Michael as he's helping me carry my suitcase out of the house and into the car.

"Well time flies when you're having fun. I know I definitely was," I say.

"Me too."

I smile. "Michael, do you know where Francesca is? I haven't seen her ever since we left for Prague."

"I honestly don't know, she was working every other day besides Christmas. Have you checked inside?"

"No, can I real quick?"

"Go ahead, there's still time. But be quick."

"Thank you." I run back inside and call Francesca's name; she's not in the living room. I run upstairs and check in as many of the bedrooms I could, without getting lost and risk being late.

"Francesca?" I call out again.

Well, isn't this fantastic? How am I supposed to find her and warn her – somehow – about what's clearly going to take place here in a month. I'm running out of time and I don't know what I'm going to do about it anymore. I give up and walk back outside.

"Did you find her?" asks Michael.

"No, I didn't."

"I'm sorry. Did you need her for something?"

I shake my head. "No."

"Okay, let's get going then."

As I sit in the limo relaxing myself, I remember something else. "Michael, where's Lola?"

"Oh, she said she couldn't make it. But she told me to tell you goodbye, and good luck."

Somehow I feel weird about Lola not coming. She was a pain in the neck most of the time, but she was my pain in the neck. Basically, I've gotten used to having her around, and having her not here makes me feel kind of empty. I never felt that for her before, I guess this means our bond will soon be getting stronger.

♔

As I shift around in the plane seat to get comfortable, I pull out Michael's book Moonwalk that he got me for Christmas. I begin reading the first page and I'm already into it.

"Hey, you're reading the book I got you," says Michael.

'Oh, yeah, I love it already."

He giggles. "Well, I'm glad."

We then get notified by the captain that the plane is about to take off, so we buckle our seatbelts and prepare for the ride. I gaze out the window and see the purple skyline, feeling the pressure in my ears as I watch us flying over clouds upon clouds upon clouds.

I get back to the book, and after a while I learn something new. Doing as well as you did last time is not good enough. I'll be sure to use that motivation next time.

♔

An hour exactly and it'll be 1997. I never thought that I'd live through something like this. I look over at Michael and he's still sleeping peacefully. I put my book down and gently lay my head on his chest. I can feel his chest slowly rising and falling, and his heart beating like a beautiful drum.

Half an hour later after I dozed off, the green light in front of the plane flashes and the captain lets us know that we're landing. Michael slowly gets up and he sees me. He strokes my hair – which I love – and whispers, "Hi Carmella."

"Michael," I get up, "it's going to be 20-1997 real soon." I sigh forgetting about how it's supposed to be 2010 which unfortunately Michael didn't get to live up to.

"Let's get landing then," he says. We buckle our seat belts and begin descending down, back onto the ground.