The Crystal by Jones M (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

parking lot. I groaned, dreading about carrying my own suitcase to wherever the car was parked. 

It was a good thing it had wheels. With a shrug, I held the handle, dragging my luggage as I followed Selena.

“Hurry up!” she screamed at me. We were in the hallway where our apartment was located.

“I’m trying!” I yelled back. Even though she had two suitcases, the girl could walk fast. I, on the other hand, was struggling with my only one. 

We soon reached and boarded the elevator. Two minutes later, we were at the building’s parking lot.

My surroundings were filled with white due to snow everywhere. The sky was covered with white clouds, and I found myself thinking about the bed in my apartment. 

A short distance from me was a black limousine. There was a driver who had worn a black suit and a black chauffeur hat, waiting patiently for us. By the time I reached him, Selena had her luggage placed in the trunk and herself in the car. 

The girl was undoubtedly very excited to go on the tour.

The driver helped in loading my luggage into the car's trunk. Then he escorted me to the back seat of the car. Once I had settled in, the driver went to his side. I turned my head to face my home for the last two years.

It was in a tall seven-storey, red-bricked apartment building, luckily with two working elevators. I lived with my mother and Selena on the fourth floor. Currently, snow had covered parts of the side I was facing.

“Are you ready to do this?” Selena asked with a giddy expression. 

I was not willing to do it. In fact, I did not want to do it. However, seeing Selena and Erick’s expressions the previous day made me glad that I had people who cared for me. They were trying to help me. I didn't want to disappoint them, and so I agreed to the tour thing.

“Sure!” I lied through my teeth. The driver started the engine, and we were on our way to wherever we were going. Looking back at the moment, I knew my life would change from then. 

That was, unfortunately, going to be the last time I saw my home.

CHAPTER 22

Emery’s P.O.V

The limousine Selena and I had boarded drove us through the city. We passed by familiar sights and buildings like the Starbucks café we used to work in. 

I sighed when I saw it. Even though I was fired from the job, the place held good memories, mostly considered of the salary payments.

“Isn’t this great? We are going to see the Ordinary Brothers!” Selena said, interrupting my train of thoughts. I had been facing the tinted windows, looking at the buildings we passed through when I turned to face her.

“I swear, only you are excited to go see them.”

“You aren't?” she asked with a frown, earning a shrug of indifference from me. “You get to see them perform on stage, and if possible, go to celebrity parties and meet your favorite celebrities!”

Her statement had me perking up. I had a few people I was interested in meeting. If possible, I would love to see them. That thought alone brought some excitement to my heart. 

It was just that I had to be with my ex-bullies just to go see other celebrities.

My eyebrows furrowed at the sudden thought of our destination.

“Where are we going?” I asked Selena. She looked at me with a look of interest before turning to face the tinted window on her side.

“I don’t know.” 

I blinked at her for a couple of seconds.

“Um, what?” I said, trying so hard to control my cool. “You mean we boarded an unknown vehicle, and we have no idea where we’re going?”

“It’s not a strange vehicle. I know the driver; Liam told me about him and even showed me a picture. It’s just that when he offered to have us join him and his bandmates on their tour, I was so excited that I didn’t even bother to ask where we’re going.”

My eye twitched at her explanation. Before I said anything else, the vehicle suddenly stopped. I heard the driver get out of his side, walk towards us and approach my side of the vehicle.

The door opened, revealing him. Behind him was a highway stretching towards the north with cars moving at a fast pace. If the dude was trying to pull off something, I would not hesitate to use my powers to knock him out.

“We have arrived,” he said, waiting for us to exit the limo.

“You heard the man. We have arrived!” Selena said with a grin as she began pushing me towards the opened car exit.

I sighed, getting out of the vehicle. Selena promptly followed with a giddy smile. I was met with a cold feeling on my face, a reminder that it was still winter in the US.

“Follow me,” the driver had said after taking out our luggage from the trunk. I felt bad for him because he was about to drag three suitcases. That was enough to get rid of any negative thoughts I had of him.

“Let me help,” I offered. His eyes shot up in surprise, and a smile graced his features.

“No, it’s okay. I'm fine,” he said, then Selena and I followed him. I hadn’t taken another glance at our surroundings, and so I took that moment to do so.

On the opposite of the highway was an airport. The driver had stopped the limo in a parking lot, and he was leading us towards the entrance of the building.

The airport uncharacteristically had a few people at the time. Maybe it was because of the winter season or something. If we were about to board a plane, it would make the boarding process easier. 

Unless a snowstorm decided to make an unexpected appearance.

“Are we boarding a plane?” I asked no one in particular but received no answer. I frowned.

“Wait here,” the driver told us after leading us to a set of metallic seats, leaving our luggage with us before heading forwards. Selena and I made ourselves comfortable before launching into a conversation.

“What do you think he has gone to do?” Selena asked, and I shrugged in reply. We continued talking about other stuff. A few minutes later, we spotted the limo driver heading towards us.

Selena and I stood up once he was a few feet from us.

“Okay. I talked to the boys’ bodyguard. He told me to tell you to follow me.” With that, we were following the driver, at the time carrying our own luggage.

I thought he was leading us towards the airport line where most people were. However, he was taking us on another route which had few people. I got concerned, but that was blown away when I found myself staring at a beautiful plane.

  

It was a small white plane. Its exterior seemed to glimmer in the day lighting, and my lower jaw dropped at the beauty. Were we going to board the plane? Why would we not use the normal commercial airlines?

My eyes widened in surprise when I realized something.

It was a private plane.

It could have well been a first class plane.

“Let’s go!” Selena said as she clapped her hands in excitement. I followed her, still amazed by what the boys had done for us.

They got us a freaking private plane!

I didn’t get it. Why go through all the trouble just to get a highly expensive flight?

Selena walked on the plane steps while urging me to hurry up. I couldn’t because we were boarding it with our luggage. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Miss, you’re requested to leave your luggage behind. Our crew will have it delivered once you reach your destination,” an air hostess spoke with a British accent just before Selena and I had fully entered the plane.

My cousin turned towards me with an embarrassed smile, motioning for me to climb down. I sighed, turning to go back to the ground. I was the first to drop my luggage, and Selena dropped hers too. Then we climbed back up to the plane.

Once we were in, my mouth opened in shock. The inside of the plane looked just as beautiful as the outside.

“Oh. My. Goodness,” I said, staring at everything around me.

I felt like I stepped into another world. 

One thing was for sure; the plane was expensive. 

There were tan leather seats around the plane. Every two of them were positioned in a way that they faced each other, and each of every fine dark-brown mahogany table with a glass top was placed in between. Moreover, there was a larger table on the side with a 55 inch TV placed on top of it.

  

“I can’t believe we’re traveling by jet!” Selena gushed in front of me. My eyes widened in shock.

Jet? We were in a jet? We were not on a plane but in a jet? Oh, crap.

“Attention, passengers! Please take your seats. The journey to London will start in five minutes. Also, you are required to switch off your electronic devices before we take off. Thank you and have a great day!” a person announced through an intercom.

Selena and I maneuvered ourselves until we sat a few feet away from the jet’s entrance. We took out our phones and turned them off.

“We’re going to London! Isn’t this exciting?” Selena’s non-stop gushing continued. I soon found myself infected by her cheery mood, and so I found myself gushing about our destination with her.

We then talked about stuff that we might be able to do once we arrived. Then almost abruptly, I found myself missing home, and more importantly, missing my mother.

“Emery!” Selena shouted in my face. I had placed an elbow on the table with my chin on my hand when my cousin's loud voice shocked me. I forgot about the hand under my chin, and so I slipped and hit the table with my chin.

"Ow!" I winced in pain as I began rubbing my injured chin. It just made the ache worse, and so I decided to leave it alone.

“Sorry,” Selena apologized with an uneasy smile. I just glowered at her.

"What I meant to ask was, why the look?"

"What look?" I questioned.

"The one you just had. It looked like you were thinking hard about something."

I remained quiet for a few seconds before sighing.

“I miss home.”

Selena stared at me with a frown.

“Look, Emery. The point of all this is to distract you and for us to have fun. What better distraction is there rather than exploring the world?”

“I will still miss my mother,” I pointed out.

“We all will, but at least you won’t be crying a lot, and I would get a break from worrying about your well-being,” she stated as a fact. I turned my head towards the window, expecting to see that we were still on the ground. However, what met my sight shocked me.

We were on air.

“When did we take off?” I found myself asking.

“I don’t know,” my cousin replied. “I guess we were too busy talking to each other to even notice.”

I blinked as I faced my surroundings again.

“I still can’t believe we are in a jet.”

“Me too! The boys must love us,” Selena said, making me shake my head with a smile on my lips.

“I mean. We are on a freaking jet! By the way, how long will the flight take?”

Selena smiled before turning to ask the air hostess that had received us at the entrance of the plane—I mean jet.

“Six hours,” she replied. My jaw dropped.

Six hours?

I might as well have teleported. But then I didn't know England so well, so...

 What would I do in six hours?

Six hours later

“Attention passengers! We have reached our destination. We are about to land. Please switch off your electronic devices, and thank you for choosing Private Jet Charter.”

I was woken up by the intercom that sounded through the plane. My eyelids fluttered open. At first, I wondered where I was. Then I recalled the events that led me to be on a private jet with Selena.

My cousin and I talked to each other, got bored and then moved seats to get a better view of the TV. We proceeded to watch a movie while we got a wonderful lasagna meal in between. Then we went to our seats, talked and then fell asleep.

I looked towards the outside of the plane. It was dark. I got confused for a moment. Why was it dark? Wasn’t it around ten in the morning when we left New York?

My thoughts were temporarily interrupted by a waking Selena.

“What time is it?” she asked. I turned my attention to an analog clock