Novel Squares
26
I mulled over all the fresh information I’d gained from Amanda regarding my father and siblings while I waited for the plane to taxi onto the runway, hoping to keep my mind off the impending take off which had my nerves on edge. I wasn’t afraid of flying-since I’d never done it before-but the thought of hurtling down a runway and then lifting into the air in a steel tube was both terrifying and exciting at the same time. I just hoped I could keep my breakfast down during take-off.
I fastened my seat belt when the stewardess came by and pulled my headphones out of my bag. Once I was comfortable, I pulled out my MP3 player-I hadn’t gone to smart phones yet-and pressed the shuffle button. The blasting double-kick intro filled my ears and I felt myself relax immediately as the dissonant, distorted guitar riffs filled my ears and the growling howls of the vocalist take me away to another world, a world of my own.
My taste in music was mostly influenced by my mother, but it had evolved over the years as I’d found darker, heavier bands. Whilst she listened to bands such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Wasp and Metallica which were bands I enjoyed, I had grown accustomed to music far heavier from bands such as Lamb of God, Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir to name a few. My mother used to refer to my music as “cookie monster” metal since she could never understand the lyrics, but she never once tried to convince me to like anything else and unlike some of my friends, she knew it wasn’t just a phase.
I skipped my train of thought to the friends I was leaving behind in London, mostly to keep my mind off the plane since it had stopped on the designated runway and was bound to hurtle forward, propelling me into the air. I didn’t have a great deal of friends here, but the ones I had I trusted and would miss. Trevor and Nathan were my best mates and we’d even been planning on starting a band together, but we rarely got passed the jamming in Nathan’s dad’s garage and drinking beer. I’d miss them, but they understood my need to go to Australia and find my family. I’d sold the apartment I’d inherited, and I had plenty of expendable money I could use to come home if things didn’t work out. I might even be able to convince them to come to the land of Oz to visit me and my siblings. Although I’d have to warn them to stay away from my sisters.
It felt a little strange having that line of thought towards people I’d never met before. I grew up thinking I was an only child, and suddenly I was the eldest brother in a family of four siblings, step siblings, but still siblings. I’d have a lot to learn about being a brother, but I would put in the time if they did. They had offered to let me stay with them after all. I just wondered if they were as nervous about meeting me as I was about meeting them. I hoped they didn’t think I was a freak.
Freak was a word used to describe me plenty of times during high school and even after. Most football loving chavs around London didn’t have a lot of tolerance for anyone who wasn’t exactly like them. If you dressed in black, had long hair-as a guy-and didn’t follow the same football team as them, you were weird. Some would even take it so far as to go out of their way to start fights with people they didn’t accept into their narrow-minded little world. I’d heard Australians were more accepting, I just hoped my sisters were.
In my head they were three gorgeous blonde haired, tanned, surfer girls who spent their days down at the beach among the perfect white sand and ocean waves crashing in the background. It wouldn’t really be a place for my pasty arse, but I’d accept them no matter what.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
Thoughts of my estranged siblings shot out of my mind as the force of the planes take off pushed me into my seat, taking me by surprise. I gripped the armrest on my chair tightly as my heart started slamming in my chest. I knew this was normal for a take-off, but my body didn’t, and it was freaking out just a little. The moment the front of the plane lifted I felt my stomach drop and my body went cold, then we were lifting off the ground.
“First time?” the older man beside me asked.
“Yeah, can you tell?” I asked with a laugh.
“It gets easier,” he replied with a smile. “The names Scott.”
“Nick,” I said, shaking his offered hand.
“What’s got you flying today Nick?” he asked with a friendly smile.
“Going to visit family,” I answered vaguely.
“First time flying, but going to see family in Australia, with an Australian accent,” he mused.
I’d been told many times when I was growing up that I sounded like a foreigner, even to the point of being told to go home. It had gotten me in trouble more than a few times when I was in school. My mother’s accent was the same and I guessed I just never picked up the local London accent. Which I was thankful for. For a place where the English language came from, they definitely enjoyed butchering their own language.
“My mother lived in Australia her whole life, I guess I picked up her accent,” I said finally.
“Beautiful country it is, just be careful of the drop bears,” he replied with an amused smile.
I chuckled at his obvious jest. My mother had told me about the tale of drop bears when I was a kid. Then years later told me the truth when I made an idiot of myself telling tales of vicious Koala’s that would drop from low hanging tree branches and latch onto hikers, tearing them to pieces. I was ten.
“I’ll be sure to keep some Vegemite on me at all times,” I replied with a knowing grin.
Scott chuckled, then turned back to his laptop. The discussion was obviously over for now, but I was glad to be seated beside someone who seemed friendly. The long flight would be a little more bearable knowing I had someone to talk to and not some screaming child or old fart. I put my headphones back on and settled into my seat, letting the blasting metal sooth my nerves as I hurtled through earth’s atmosphere towards my new life with my new family.