Prologue

A brush of chilly air against her cheeks. A whiff of stale air turned fresh. A gentle whirring that discomforting to some, was her little backing tune within her cocoon. While many struggled with falling asleep on flights, getting on flights, or perhaps, flying in general, she had mastered the art of travelling all together. From lugging her luggage down the many stairs in her home to the taxi ride with the chatty passenger, even the troublesome tiring process of checking in and immigration lines, our girl had it all nailed down to a tee. Everything a person could possibly find wrong with being in an airplane had become an accustomed feature that she was unfazed by. Just like when she had hated wine growing up and her mom had brushed it off by calling it an 'acquired taste', she had learned to appreciate wine, travelling and flying, especially.

It was nothing around her that woke her, not even the sudden drop of the aircraft as the pilot encountered a patch of turbulence. No. That feeling of free falling, the drop of sitting on Universal Studios' Hollywood Tower of Terror, when you feel your insides rise and the hollowness in the space it leaves, brought an odd sense of comfort to her because she could feel her organs and know for a fact that they were there. Out of all the things that could disturb her rest, it was one that came from within. Before, when school started before dawn, it had not been a problem. But as she started to go clubbing and return home just as the sky had a lick of the first light of sun, she would fall asleep only to be woken up by that one thing.

An annoyingly punctual body clock.

As she stirred in her sleep, her eyes began to move under their covers. Like toes dipping into a swimming pool, her eyes opened ever so slightly to find the darkness around her and then finally, she let them fully open. Without even checking the time on her phone or her airplane screen, mostly because she feared the torching of her retinas after a long rest, she knew that it was just after 9 wherever she was flying above. She let her body loll for a bit before stretching. She lifted her arms high up in the air, reaching for the ceiling just right to hear her joints crackle in pleasure. Then, she tapped at her closed window, looking around to decide if it would be rude for her to even consider what she was about to do. The plane cabin was dark, but not silent, as a symphony of snores filled the air.

She pressed her fingers against the window, feeling her fingertips turn cold with the altitude. This was one of the reasons why she loved securing a window seat. Not just because she never got out during the flight, whether it was a 4 hour flight or her current 16 hour journey, but also that she could look out the window. There are few people in the world that stare out a plane window, but an even rarer number of those few people actually treasured the experience. She fell into both categories and then some. Trying to see what she was dealing with, she found the catch and moved it up ever so slightly. A blazing white light so blinding sliced through the cabin's serenity and she quickly shut it with a snap. Her heart rate was up and she looked first at her seat neighbour, who was still fast asleep, and then around her. She would wait just a little longer, she thought to herself, leaning back into her narrow seat as she waited.

This was her least favourite part of travelling. The burden that came with being a socially applaudable flying individual. Always neat, always polite, never loud, and never inconsiderate. In fact, she had a theory that passengers sitting away from the aisle should only be permitted toilet access once every 2 hours on a flight, but they should never ask to go when meals have been served or if their neighbour is at the climax of their movie. There were many unspoken rules of the etiquette a proper passenger should adhere to, and sometimes she wished they were spoken and written down, possibly even enforced.

Babies! Maybe they were her most resented category of flyers now that she thought of it. She used to think they were adorable and always wanted eleven, ten boys and a girl, but after sitting through an 18 hour flight with three infants crying at the top of their lungs the whole time, she decided maybe two would be sufficient in doing her part for Singapore's low birth rate. Never would she want to be the mom who looked like she was close to killing herself as she bounced her bawling baby in her lap, shoving her swollen bosom in its face. Maybe when she had children her flying experience would change, but until then, all she cared about was this damn window.

She would much rather be looking out the window and watching the wing of the plane glide through seemingly dense clouds, or maybe even spot mountains she had missed before. Even when it was dark outside, she wanted to look out. In fact, night time was her preferred time because if she focused real hard she would see the stars beyond. She often recommended star gazing to her friends and family, but she was often told that there were none to see. Which is false, of course. You just had to search the darkness to find one shining star, no matter how dim or small it was, and then, the more you focused on that one star, the brighter it would grow until you realised it was surrounded by all the other stars that had been there all along. All it really took was patience.

Patience she did not have right now to wait for the entire cabin to get up. Alright, she decided. If these passengers had not turned in just as early as she had, choosing instead to do movie marathons or whatever else they did instead of sleeping, then they did not deserve that sleep right now. Especially since it was depriving her of the one thing she wanted to do. Her fingers found the catch once more, but just as she started to lift the window, the cabin lights came on. She squeezed shut her eyes involuntarily and then forced them open once more so they could adjust. The entire cabin began to come to life, and the light from outside matched that of within.

Excited, she looked out the window. Finally. They were in a huge patch of cloud as all she could see was fluffy white and balls of cloud hitting the wing of the plane. She wondered if that collision made a noise, but the whirring of the plane's engine left her question unanswered. Pressing her face against the reenforced glass, she tried to peak beyond the cloud. She spotted blue in the distance and wondered what it could hold. Were they flying over pastures of green or an ocean? As the plane reached the end of the soft cloud tunnel, she leaned in even closer. The destination she had intended exploded into many shades of blue and she first noticed they were above an ocean, before looking ahead to see the city that was dawning upon them.

The speakers in the cabin fizzled with static as a deep male voice came on, the very same one that had introduced their flight in the beginning. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. I hope you have enjoyed your journey with us. As we are about to land, please prepare for our descent. It is currently 9.28am.... Welcome to Los Angeles, California."