Believe in Magic

Ugh! I hate this flight! It is possibly the worst mistake of my life, and here's why:

1. There’s a baby on board who won’t stop bawling.
2. My brother has motion sickness and keeps vomiting.
3. I’m hungry, and peanuts are NOT enough.

I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one complaining. A lot of people describe me as “moody” and “full of attitude”, but this takes it to the next level. Also, I’m like, freakishly skinny. I almost never eat, and my mom says that I “swallow air”. I think it's more like LIVE on air. It’s rare for me to be this hungry. Light bulb! I grab my small unicorn duffel bag from under my seat. After turning it upside down, my phone and Sour Patch candy fall into my hand. I open up my candy and eat a few. My brother sees what I have.

“Can I have one?” he asks exhaustedly. I shrug.

“Sure. If you throw up after eating it, you owe me.” I say. Then I unlock my phone and scroll through MyMusic.

“Downloads only. Why don’t planes have WiFi?!” I groan. Finally, I   select Mayday by Laura Brehm. “A fitting song for a plane ride. Especially since she says she’s lost in space,” I snicker. As the song plays, my eyes drift around the plane, and I notice what it actually looks like. The colors are mostly beige and khaki. The windows are stained from fingerprints of other people. It looks mostly like a normal plane, except for the pegasus flying outside. Wait…PEGASUS?!? What the what?!  I snap my attention to the window again and really focus this time. I gasp. Flying beside the plane is a pegasus. It has a mane the colors of fire, and an exquisite velvety brown coat the color of dark chocolate with mint filling and flecks of caramel.

“OMG!!” I shout. “Everyone! Look out your windows! A pegasus! A PEGASUS!!” I scream. For a split second, the baby stops wailing, my brother stops vomiting, I forget that I'm hungry, and everyone looks out their windows. Even the rich people in first class.

“She’s lying!” a voice screeches.

“YEAH! I don’t see no pegasus!” another person cries.

My parents glare at me. My mom turns to me and hisses,

“Suheera! What has gotten into you?!”  My dad nods in agreement.

“You can’t get up and start yelling! Besides, pegasi aren’t real anyway! What are you, 6!?” he demands.

“Dad! I swear I saw it, I swear I saw it!” I exclaim. My brother starts to cry.

“Guys! What if they throw us off the plane? We’ll die!” he whines. I look at him.

“They can’t throw people off the plane,” I snap. “That’s illegal!”

“Who says?”

“The LAW!”

“Does not!”

“Does too!”

“Does not!”

A flight attendant with red hair and a name tag that says Lindsey comes over and states,

“We do NOT throw people off the plane, young man, so stop your howling. Other passengers are getting quite annoyed.” Right then, I am so blown off by annoyance, I want to stand up in my seat and scream,

“You think THEY’RE annoyed?! I’m so ticked off, hungry, and disgusted by the atrocious quality of what you call a “Luxurious Flight of Paradise!” But I know better than that, so I stay quiet. I guess my brother is so embarrassed, he turns green. Before I can turn away, My brother, The King of Pride, Sumaer, Coolest Dude of All,  spews all over himself.

“Gross,” I mutter. My mom sighs, unclicks her belt, and stands up to help Sumaer clean up. That same flight attendant, Lindsey, sees what my mom is doing and immediately rushes toward us.

“Ma’am, please stay in your seat, we are experiencing some slight turbulence,” she says frustratedly. My mom just stares at her.

“Excuse me, but how old are you?” she asks.

“Well, I-I’m 21,” Lindsey stammers.

“That’s what I thought. Now I don’t suppose you have kids of your own, do you?” my mom says calmly. Everyone is looking at us now.

“I- um, well, no,” Lindsey admits.

“So you don’t know what it’s like to have a son puking on an airplane?” my mom asks, with a slightly cold tone in her voice.

Now Lindsey is afraid.

“Ma’am, just go ahead and clean up your son, but give him tylenol. I don’t want this happening again.” she says quietly.

My mom and dad both take my brother to the bathroom.

“Thank you.” my mom says. When Lindsey looks at me, I smile sweetly. She turns and walks away, and I blow a raspberry at her back. Either she doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.

See you at the airport, Suheera! I look around the plane. Who said that? Everybody is focused on their own problems. It’s me! The voice says again. Melody! Again I look around. Seriously? Look out your window! There it is, that magnificent pegasus. Wait, what?

“I have gone crazy.” I mumble.

No. The pegasus, Melody, says. I’m really there.

“How?!” I whisper. “And why am I the only person who can see you? Confess!” Melody nods, hinting that she will explain in detail.

Because you believe in magic, she says simply. I groan. A memory flows back to me. It was a bright, sunny day and I was in kindergarten.    Ms. Sobreyra had asked us what we believed in. I hadn’t known that she meant for religious purposes, so when it was my turn to share, I strutted to the front of the classroom and said, ‘I believe in magic, fairies, unicorns, and mermaids!’ The whole class laughed at me. But I was proud of what I believed in.

“Look, Melody, you got the wrong girl. I don’t believe in magic anymore. I’m 11!” Melody laughed. I’m surprised how much it sounds like a humans’ laugh. It’s melodic and soft, like a harmless siren song, yet so jolly and gentle, like faint bells on Santa’s sleigh, but altogether beautiful and harmonic. I didn’t even know that horses could laugh. I guess that’s why she’s called Melody. Then Melody flies off. “Wait!” I call. I have so many questions, but I know I should save them. Then the loudspeaker crackles, and I jolt out of my thoughts.

“Alright passengers, this is your pilot speaking. We will be landing shortly at the Willkommen Flughafen und Hotel in Berlin. Estimated time of arrival, 9:43 pm. Thank you.” Click. I check my watch. NO!! It's 3:57 pm. “Another 5 hours on this horrible plane,” I grumble.

When we land at the airport, it’s pitch-dark and a sparkling full moon glints along with thousands of tiny glittering stars. I pull my duffel bag close. The family with the baby went to the hotel to stay for a night. What? I would make an amazing spy. Anyway, they’re not my problem any more. Sumaer finally stopped vomiting once we got off the plane. Now, we sit at an outdoor restaurant and my belly is happy with the food I got. Suddenly, something in the sky catches my eye.

“Um, I have to go to the...bathroom! Be right back!” I say quickly, and before anyone can question my quick departure, I leave my seat and rush to the front of the restaurant. I quietly sneak out the front gate and see Melody grazing in the luscious grass.

Hello! She says. I notice there is a girl standing with her, about my age. She has curly blond hair, icy blue eyes, and is wearing ripped jeans and a pink t-shirt that says Truly, Me. That’s when she sees me.

“Hi.” she says snarkily. “Who are you?” Wow, she’s like a blonde, sassy version of me.

“I’m Suheera. Who are you?” I say, trying to be friendly.

“I’m Ashlin.” She replies a little more kindly.

Oh, good. I don’t need to introduce you. I can tell Ashlin heard Melody, because she looked at her.

“I guess you believe in magic too, huh?” She says softly.

“Yeah,” I reply, gently. Then something occurs to me.

“Is Melody your pegasus?” I ask. Melody snorts, clearly offended.

Nobody owns pegasi, my dear. We are free creatures. Unlike those snot-head fairies. Ashlin laughs.

“I guess you got your answer.” She says. Ashlin seems nice. So I ask her something I never would have asked anyone.

“Do you…” I hesitate. “Want to be my friend?” Ashlin looks surprised, but her shock melts away into happiness.

“Sure!” she says. Then we walk back to the restaurant.

Don’t forget me! Melody cries. I want a burnt souffle! Nobody can see me anyway! I laugh. Maybe this trip wasn’t awful after all.