It was 4:15 AM and Damon peeled himself out of his blankets as his alarm rang. He texted his neighbor letting them know he’d be leaving soon and to remind them of Kitty Little’s feeding schedule. Besides changing into his travel outfit, everything was taken care of and all he had to wait for was the notification that his ride had arrived.
Dressed and relaxing on the couch, Damon took the time to pet and love on his sweet pet. Not many things worried him about this trip, but the prolonged time away from his constant companion was a little daunting. It was now 4:47 AM and his phone rang with a notification that his ride was on its way.
“Okay Kitty Little, take care of the castle, unleash your fury on any strangers, and don’t be mean to Misses Lanskey. Also, if you don’t destroy my chair, I promise I’ll give you extra treats when I get back!” Kitty Little let Damon finish his goodbye before bouncing off his lap and immediately returned to his office chair to make herself comfortable for the foreseeable future.
“I’ll miss you too.” Damon shook his head as the small creature proceeded to ignore him and his phone began to ring. “Hello?”
“Hi there! I’ll be your ride to the airport this morning and I am driving into your neighborhood now. Will you need help with your luggage?” The perky lady on the other side of the phone had to have been on her 5th cup of coffee with the amount of energy in her voice.
Damon blinked and pulled the phone away from his ear away from the phone as the driver finished her greeting. “I’ll be good, I just have the one carryon. I’ll make my way out and will be waiting for you outside.”
“Ooookie Doooookie! Be there in a jiffy!” Her voice had to have gone up another two octaves but the drive would only be 30 or so minutes.
Everything had been put in its place, anything perishable had been thrown away, and he had checked his suitcase twice since waking up and nothing was missing. There was no a thing left to do but to get on with it. With one last look around his home, he made his way through the front door with a smile on his face. It was now 4:56 am and still dark out, only the brightest of the stars still remained shining as the small vehicle approached.
“HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! Are you Damon?” the bubbly middle aged woman popped her head out to greet him as he walked up.
“I am, thank you for the pick up. I know it really early.” Damon loaded his luggage into the car and wasn’t finished buckling up before they were speeding out of their neighborhood. “Holy shi- You know I’m not in a rush, I scheduled this pickup well before my flight!” He secured the seat belt and braced himself as best he could.
“Hu? What did you say honey?” The lady almost completely turned around in the driver’s seat to face Damon as she listened for his question.
“No! Nothing! Just please keep your eyes on the road!” She giggled as she faced back towards the road and continued racing for their destination. Damon risked looking over at the GPS and realized they’d be getting to the airport in record time.
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22 minutes was all it took for that driver to make a 50 minute drive. Damon all but dove out of the small vehicle when it came to stop, grateful to have made it off that roller coaster of a drive. “Don’t forget to leave me 5 stars, Sweet Pea! Hope ya have fun on ya trip!” There she went, got in the blink of an eye and he was terrified that she would reappear if he did not give her that 5 star rating.
It would have been great if that whirlwind of a drive had been the first and last of the issues Damon ran into getting to his gate this morning but unfortunately, today was not his lucky day. Checking in and getting his boarding ticket went pretty smoothly, but then came time to get through TSA. Even though he’d gone the extra mile and paid to get his TSA pre-check number, the line moved at a snail’s pace thanks to some influence trying to film a travel vlog.
“Can you like, look more official? Like all your doing is sitting there. I mean you could get up and like frisk me even!” The ditzy blond with a sloppy on purpose appearance would not move on even after her passport was scanned.
“Ma’am, if you don’t move along, I will have to call security” The TSA agent was bored beyond measure but the growing annoyance of everyone around him was like really ruining his day. He raised his hand and signaled for a security guard. “Are you freaaaaaken serious? Like just do something. Ugh you are totally going to ruin my video. OMG WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!” Clapping boomed down the precheck line as they were finally able to start moving at the correct speed.
Damon made his way passed and finally began moving towards his gate. He’d checked his app countless times before getting to the airport and had committed it all to memory. As he arrived, he took one of the many seats available, he made himself comfortable for the wait before his flight. That is, until he checked the printed boarding pass he got at check in. His departure had been moved an hour up and to a gate on the complete opposite side of the airport.
“No no no no no no no! Not today!” Damon grabbed his luggage and sprinted away towards the new gate. He still had time, plenty of it but he’d lost an hour in whatever change the airline made and could not risk not being at the gate on time. People around him were quick to move out of his way, this not being the first time most of them have seen a man on a mission in an airport.
“Now boarding Group 5 of flight 115 to Ireland, now boarding Group 5 of flight 115 to Ireland.” As the flight attendants voice came over the speakers, Damon passed her his boarding pass sucking in as much breath as his lungs would allow. “Thank you Mr. Sunton, please make your way on board.”
Luggage overhead, phone on airplane mode, and finally Damon was able to take his seat and catch his breath. This flight was over 10 hours and as the attendants came around to pass out drinks, he gladly took one to take his sleeping aids. A strong one at that, Damon wanted to waste no time with jet lag once he arrived. Swallowing down the pill, he is ready to sleep his frustrations away.
