The Proposed Prophecies
Chapter 3: WELCOME IN MIAMI

The girl with the mean expression and impatient demeanor had sat next to Liv for the duration of her flight from Stockholm to Miami.

“Are you seriously writing a diary in a notebook? It is 2018, for God’s sakes!” said the girl. The first thing Liv had noticed about the young woman was her dark curly hair; it was nearly everywhere and the mess of curls strangely made her appear more attractive than sloppy.

“I am old-fashioned,” Liv replied politely and pretended to continue writing, adapting an expression that said she wasn’t bothered by what the woman has said. The only problem was she could not help looking slyly at the woman out of the corner of her eyes.

The woman appeared to be in her early twenties and ready for adventure. Liv slightly smiled as the young woman looked at the other occupants of the plane around her. Liv imagined this was because she was searching for a male companion, and the woman’s eyes were a radar, targeting her next victim. Her eyes lit up once she spotted the young muscly guy sitting a couple of rows ahead. She kept staring at him until he moved his body in her direction and they made eye contact. Her seductive smile and a slight bit of her lower lip was a signal that was easy to understand.

Once he smiled back, she slowly got up from her seat. But before she left her spot, she turned to Liv, who instantly felt idiotic for spying on the woman she didn’t even know, but the woman didn’t seem to mind at all. “I am old fashioned too.” She winked at Liv and walked slowly towards the restroom. She brushed against his seat and her short skirt rolled higher as she passed him by.

He seemed to hesitate at first but his friend encouraged him to go after her. It was mostly dark on the airplane and the majority of the passengers were already sleeping. He gradually got up and with slow, unsure moves walked after her. Liv smiled as she observed the situation. It reminded her of a perfect scene from a short movie and deep down it somehow made her jealous. She had always wanted to be one of those free- spirited people that never cared about what others thought of them and just lived their life unconditionally. Yes, she lived the life she wanted, but there was always the fear that she was not being good enough.

She grabbed her laptop from underneath her seat and opened her blog that she had been writing for the past few years, creating a draft to her next post that she titled “Welcome to Miami”.

Her typing was suddenly interrupted by sudden turbulence, shaking the plane from all sides. She put her stuff away and fastened her seatbelt shortly after the sign to “buckle up” lit up.

The guy from the restroom ran back to his seat, and seemed to perceive the usual short wave of unsteady movement of the plane as a complete disaster. He gripped onto the sides of his seat in panic. While his friend was comforting him, Liv noticed the woman walked out from the restroom shortly after. As the plane accelerated to pass the turbulence, she bumped into the stewardess who appeared to quickly realize the reason the two individuals had been in the toilet together. She raised her eyebrow and shook her head while the woman proceeded to her seat, seemingly unfazed by the obvious judgement of the stewardess

“That was fast.” Liv diplomatically smiled. The woman did not seem thrilled by the unexpected interruption.

“Way too fast,” she whispered, looking annoyed at the guy a couple of rows ahead. She turned her lips to the side and exhaled, appearing to leave the disappointment behind.

“I am Carmen,” she said, suddenly turning back to Liv.

“I am Liv. Are you from Miami?”

“No.” She gave her a half smile and placed her eye mask over her face as the plane stabilized itself and the buckle-up sign turned off. She rested her head on the plane seat and appeared to slowly fall asleep.

“Ok then,” Liv quietly mumbled and placed her head against the plastic wall whilst looking outside of the little window. It was dark outside, only the lights of the plane could be seen. She felt a sense of satisfaction and gratitude for making her dreams come true. She travelled the world, worked when and where she wanted. Right now, she felt as if she had it all, despite the occasional worries in her mind about the difficult school year ahead.

Her composed breathing made her feel sleepy. She turned off the light above her head and laid back, before closing her eyes as her mind was slowly overtaken by dreams.

“My life completely changed that year. I loved traveling. Each place, each country had a specific smell and uniqueness about it, leaving me speechless every single time. People used to say traveling gave the possibility of replaceing out who we really were but to me, it was a search hardly ever accomplished. Instead, I played along in the game of life and forgot the desperate hunt to figure out who I was. I learnt to enjoy my existence instead and appreciate the beauty of my surroundings.

But, at that time, it was often the case that simple things in life were forgotten as the responsibilities set by the society we lived in overwhelmed our own self conciseness – a consciousness that was suppressed by these oppressive structures, in order to maintain control over us. Maybe this was the main contributor to the destruction of human kind, and what changed our civilization for good. ”

“Please fasten your seat belts as we are ready to land in beautiful Miami. Florida. It is 7 am, we have about 75 degrees outside, and it is a beautiful, hot, sunny Friday morning. Make sure you have your sunscreen with you at all times and always stay protected from the sun. Enjoy your stay in the state of sunshine and thank you for choosing to fly with us.”

Liv opened her eyes as the pilot announced their arrival. Her eyes blinked as she looked directly into the sun that heated up her face though the little window. As the plane started to approach closer to the ground, her eyes widened when she spotted the crystal clear blue ocean that hugged the white sand shores along the high buildings of the cities. She moved her arm back and forth as it felt numb from being curled up in the small space in the economy section of the plane.

Carmen took off her eye cover and stretched as she looked outside of the window. She stopped stretching and looked as if she had left her mind in the skies for a second. Liv knew that specific type of a stare, it was the look of nostalgia.

“Well, we finally made it,” Liv said, with a relieved voice, as she tried to make a small talk.

“We definitely have,” Carmen mumbled quietly and gathered all her belongings as they were approaching the ground. She was the first person ready to get out as the plane landed the hot surface.

“See you around, Liv,” she smiled as she rushed towards the exit, thrusting people out of her way. Carmen appeared as a tough, perhaps often vulgar person on the outside, but Liv felt like there was more to her underneath her hard exterior.

Liv patiently waited her turn and moved slowly towards the exit. The plane was getting scolded inside but once she walked into the airport building, the wave of cold air conditioning reached her. Her sweaty body suddenly felt cold as she approached the security checkpoint where she turned on her phone while waiting in line and a message popped up from Amy saying they were already in the waiting area.

“Name?” the security guard at the customs asked with a serious expression on his face while his mustache covered his teeth.

“Liv Johansson.”

“What brings you to the U.S?”

“I came to finish my Bachelor degree in Journalism and I also have a family member living here. My aunt, Amy Richardson”

“Amy Richardson is your aunt?” His surprise was nothing new to her. She was used to people’s reaction when she mentioned Amy’s name; Amy was a world famous fashion designer. Her name was carried by a woman well respected in social circles and her success was followed by many jealous people in the fashion industry. Amy’s success and long working hours meant that society often cast her in the role of neglectful mother, with many articles calling her the biggest workaholic amongst designers. But Liv knew that wasn’t true - despite Amy’s busy lifestyle, she always tried to be a devoted mother to her children, Tommy and Ashley. Amy was kind and caring. She never appeared to hesitate, even for a second, about offering for Liv to stay in her house while she finished the last year of school.

“My wife always dreamed of possessing one of Amy Richardson’s pieces. But of course who can afford that, right?” said the man at customs. He appointed Liv to proceed in giving her fingerprints. Liv remained silent, trying to avoid eye contact. Despite her feelings towards Amy, she agreed with about the overpriced accessories and bags tagged by Amy’s name. He looked over Liv’s passport and typed something into his computer.

“Well, Liv Johansson, welcome to Miami”. His look remained firm as Liv thanked him and proceeded to the luggage area.

The people around appeared sleepy and placid that early in the morning. Their moves reminded her of a scene from a zombie movie. Everyone had a dreamy expression, wondering around, patiently waiting for their luggage to arrive on the black moving belt. She felt as if the morning tiredness was somehow contagious. But her body managed to wake up from zombie mode as she spotted her purple luggage. She grabbed it by its handle and started walking towards the sliding glass door, where she saw Amy standing with a big smile on her face and a small board with Liv’s name on it.

“I still remember her joyful face. I often visualize her right in front of me from the day I walked into the waiting area on the airport. My aunt, Amy. She was nothing like my father. Her eyes and voice was always so kind and forgiving.

She was standing with her son Tommy in the crowd. The sun shined around them from the window, which made their blonde hair appear excessively light. That was my first time seeing Amy’s five-year-old son in person. I had seen him on Skype many times but he was even cuter in reality. His eyes were hazel just like Amy’s. He was short, and slightly chunky. His pink cheeks nearly covered his whole eyes when he smiled.

There was only one other couple standing there, a man with a long mustache and a girl on that side of the waiting area. But Amy still waved at me to make sure I saw them. Her smile was bright and somehow contagious.

But every time I see her contented face in my mind, I am reminded of the expression on her face when death took her away. Her slow death was a part of the cruel attempt to kill the ninety percent of the population. She had never done anything bad, never hurt anyone. And yet she still did not belong onto the list of the ten percent of chosen survivors. She was like so many that lost their life in the unfairness of the selection process, leaving the rest of us to live in constant guilt. Her death is a reminder that we never had a choice. We were left only with memories of our loved ones.”

Amy loved to talk so there was not a minute wasted in silence. The sound of her voice kept going on and on as they walked slowly towards her lavish white car in the airport car park. Tommy kept trying to interrupt her stories by requesting she gave him her car keys. She did not appear to be bothered by his constant interruption as she was already used to it, and she eventually let him have them once her car was closer and within eye range. He unlocked the car and sat in the back while Amy put the luggage in to the trunk on top of some of her designer bags and purses as she didn’t seem to care if they got damaged by the heavy weight of the luggage. Liv thought of the man at customs whose wife wished to possess at least one of these classy looking overpriced purses. And there they were, all smashed under the purple luggage that she had bought half price at the Chinese store in Stockholm.

Amy continued to talk even after they got into the car and started to drive off. She was talking like she hadn’t spoken in a very long time, mostly talking about the generous charity events she had been attending for the past few years. In particular, she talked about one coming up that weekend. Liv always just nodded since Amy did not leave much time to react. But Liv didn’t mind since she wasn’t really a talkative person to begin with and she never felt forced to say anything while Amy talked.

“The purpose of the next charity event is to raise money for the families that lost their loved ones in recent fire tragedy in Orlando. It was one of the worst fires in U.S history. The tragedy nearly wiped this city from the map. Can you imagine?”

Amy could be very emotional, which made her one of the most believable speakers and amongst the most generous charity donors.

“There was not one building that was not burned to the ground and there is a lot of money needed for the city to enable it to be rebuilt back to its former beauty.”

“What caused the fire?” asked Liv.

“The news speculated about the possibility of a terrorist attack since the fire had surrounded the city in a perfect circle that made sure no one got out. But who knows what the truth is anymore. News said the case is still under investigation.”

The tragic story made Liv thought of her mom and sister. She could not imagine what would be like if something like this happened to them. They were so far away, across the wide Atlantic Ocean.

Amy seemed very excited about the event, acting as if it was a big party for her. She talked about the decorations and the finest food being served which made Liv to wonder why they would spend so much money on an event that was supposedly a charity event. But that seemed to be a sad reality in rich society.

As Amy drove towards downtown and they slowly left the borders of the airport property, Liv pulled down the window and stuck her hand out. She embraced the power of the morning sun peeking and shining through the high buildings. The palm trees swung with the light wind as she observed the happy-looking people walking, smiling and talking on the streets. As the traffic became more congested and the cars decelerated, Liv overheard many different types of languages spoken in the mass of people standing at the nearby bus stop. Suddenly she felt as the time spent away from traveling that year would not be as bad as she imagined.

As they crossed the bridge leading to Miami Beach, the ocean shined, millions of diamonds reflected the power of the sun. Liv closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Liv, you really need to close the window, The AC is on honey.” Amy’s raised voice interrupted Liv’s virtual getaway. Liv pulled her window back up and expressed an interest in Amy’s organizational plans for the big event, resisting her urge to daydream.