THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US

CHAPTER TWO

Ann entered the plane as she scanned the seats for where she was supposed to sit. She sat down on her seat and she was quit excited that she got a seat next to the window. She had heard how beautiful it was like sitting there and since it was her first time on a plane in her whole twenty one years of existence. it was quit exciting.

There was a middle aged man seated next to her who seemed like he was going for a business trip. He had his earphones plugged in his ear as he read the newspaper held in his hands. The cabin crew came informing and educating them on what and what not to do in the case of any emergency and also the captain came on informing everyone about how long the flight was going to take. As this announcement were being made, Ann was finding it hard to concentrate as the little boy sitting with his mum behind her wouldn't stop kicking her seat and it was really making her uncomfortable. She thought of facing back and giving him a piece of her mind but she adjusted herself on the chair as she heard the boys mum give him a stern warning about disturbing her.

The plane moved and Ann could have sworn she didn't feel it move but she couldn't ignore the fact that she felt a bit nauseated and hoped she wouldn't throw up all over her seat as she held on tight to her seat belt. After a while, she felt more comfortable having the courage to look out the window and enjoy the fascinating and beautiful sight of the world from up where she was. She looked down from the window and seeing the houses look like small boxes from up and the clouds looked so beautiful and close enough as the pilot flew through them. She puts her phone in Airplane mode after the last message she recieved from Troy wishing her a safe trip and telling her how much he loved her.

After a few minutes, Ann picked up a magazine as she plucked in her earphones to listen to music to keep herself occupied through the Journey. She would have preferred to probably have a conversation with someone but she realized the man who sat next to her probably wasn't one who talked alot. After about an hour and 33 minutes, the plane was about to land. The captain announced to the passengers about the landing in order to prepare everyone for it. The plane landed faster than it ascended. It was similar to the landing of a roller coaster, it was abrupt and felt sudden. Ann got down from the plane after a few minutes of landing then proceeded to get her bags at the baggage claim. She scanned around the place to see if she could locate who had been assigned to pick her at the airport. After few minutes of searching she finally saw a man holding a placard with Ann Walter written on it and then she knew he must have been the one assigned to her. She picked up her bags from the floor as she proceeded to where the man was standing.

"Are you Ann Walter" he asked

"yes, please" she answered.

"The school sent me here to pick you up" he explained.

"Alright, thank you"she said

He then helped her with her bags as he kept it in the boot of the car.

She sat in front next to the man who was going to drive. As the car moves out of the airport and into the city, she could already feel she was in New york. After having spent most of her life in Ohio and even her university education was at Ohio state, she wanted something different, she wanted to leave the city for sometime and experience new things. And now she was here, the famous New york city.

It was still winter as it was still just the beginning of the new year. It was cold, snowy and everywhere still looked like it was Christmas with the lights and decorations. One could guess a lot of people still were in the mood of celebration. She looked out the window admiring how beautiful it was, you could easily tell you were already in a big city. The buildings were really tall and she could see lots of people on the road compared to Ohio. Everyone seemed to have somewhere they were going to, the streets were busy and packed. She looked in awe as they passed by the famous time square. She had always wanted to come here, she only saw it in movies and she always thought about how it was a very beautiful picture spot too.

Few minutes later, they got to where Ann was going to be staying, it was an hostel, it had been given to her by the school too, she kinda had everything already prepared and given to her by the school, that was one big advantage of getting a funded scholarship.

She dragged her bags behind her as she tried locating her room. New york university was beautiful but ohio states wasn't bad either, she thought. She couldn't wait to start her public health masters in one of the best schools in the country. NYC had always been a first choice school for her. She didn't know if it was because she wanted to leave home or because she heard alot of amazing things about NYC but she had always wanted it till her parents insisted on Ohio states and she had no choice but to obliged to their wish, she was that kind of girl. she was excited about a lot of things but also was already missing home. She looked at her phone as it buzzed for what felt like the 100th time, her mother was facetiming her. She had insisted that Ann called immediately she got to New york but she was trying to get settled first before calling her back.