Escaping Grand Rapids

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words: thread, grass, flew

Escaping Grand Rapids

Something is wrong with my pizza. I know I ordered pepperoni and this one has no – wait a minute. I now see that I have accidentally eaten part of the box. What does that say about the food here at the airport when the box tastes just like the pizza minus the toppings?

Grand Rapids International - home to crop-dusters, ultra-lights and the last of a dwindling fleet of turbo-prop aircraft. It’s bustling place where up to twenty passengers an hour pass through airport security in hopes of finding a flight that someone forgot to cancel.

I look around, ensuring I am not being observed as I toss a half eaten pizza box into the trash. A few minutes later, I am stretched out on the floor trying to find my “happy place.” I imagine myself lying in a field of tall grass. The wind blows lightly across my face. There is the peaceful cadence of meditation drums from somewhere off in the distance.

I’m at peace.

The drumming becomes louder; closer. The beat is irregular now. The wind becomes a gale as my “happy place” spins out of control.

I sit up abruptly; not sure where I am. I look around from where I am sitting on the floor and notice I’m the center of attention. Through a window, I see a thread of light appear against a background of dark clouds.

I consider being embarrassed but decide instead, to lie back on the floor. My hope of getting a flight flew out the window with the weather. In an airport where flights are canceled based on input from a Magic Eight-Ball, I have no hope.

I’m a hostage of the local TSA job site.

Let them watch me. I don’t care. I have a happy place to find.

word count 300