Amara

When we got to the desk where the attendant stood smiling, I felt a little more calm. She greeted us with a very warm and kind gesture, she seemed as if the grumpy lady said nothing bad about us at all. "Hello! Can I please borrow your passports for a moment?" "Hi, of course." I handed the lady our passports and she looked through them both thoroughly. "Alrighty! I just need your ticket please." I handed her my ticket and she checked it and handed it back. "Great, you're ready to go! And now your daughters ticket please?" I stood there for a moment confused, and I realized she thought Claire was my daughter and not my sister, which was surprising, considering everyone thinks I look younger than I am. I handed her Claires ticket and she checked it as well and made sure it was okay. "Alrighty y'all are great to go! I hope you two have a great flight!" "Thanks a lot!" Right as we were stepping into the plane tunnel she yelled, "Oh! Excuse me! You two!" I turned my head so fast, I almost broke my neck. "Yes? Is something wrong?" All the other people in line were looking at us all curiously. "I completely forgot to tell you, that a woman named Amara told me to say hi. Hi! I hope you two can chat about it later!" Amara?? My old friend from my very first tiny job in NC! When did she get here?! "Oh thank you so much! Have a good day!" The lady was already back in line doing her job as if she forgot about us already. I was so relieved we got through everything so quickly and easily, even though she thought Claire was my daughter. I couldn't believe my old friend Amara passed by us without us even knowing. Then I thought, oh my gosh! Amara was the rude lady who kept starring at us! How could I not have recognized her??? When I first arrived at NC, I was only 16, and was camping all over the place illegally in Asheville. I didn't have any money, so I looked for free lance gigs to at least feed myself. My first job was helping people move things onto supply trucks, and I would get free rides because of it. I had always taken care of myself, and I exercised a lot, so I was pretty strong. It was hard work, but it was worth it for the money I had to pay for food to feed myself. On our last stop, we picked up another girl who was only two years older than me, and she was my very first best friend when I was 16. I had told her my story, about how I got around, and how I was kicked out. She told me that she ran away when she was 17, and she had made it all the way here, to find someone who she'd been talking to online for a very long time. I asked her if she found that person, and she said yes, and that they were in love. I was very happy for Amara, and I was glad she found someone to keep her company while she was here alone, working hard jobs with me. I didn't have anyone to keep me company other than Amara. One day, I went to Amara's house, and she had a lovely little apartment with her boyfriend, whom she met online. Amara kept interrupting our talking time to use the restroom, and I immediately felt that something wasn't right. When she went to use the restroom for the third time, I followed her after she went inside, and saw that she was throwing up in her bathroom toilet. I laid down next to her to hold her hair back, and I asked her if she was very sick. She said she wasn't sick, but that she was with child. Amara and I were very close friends after that day. I went shopping for baby clothes with her, Took her to fancy restaurants, I even bought her maternity clothing that looked really cute with the ones I bought for her baby. In the last three months of Amara's pregnancy, she started to be weird. She stopped going to church, and went to stripper clubs so often, and she really liked the smell of nail polish. I remember these weird incidents all, and I still don't know what happened to her. One evening In late may, Amara tragically had a miscarriage. For some reason, all this time I have felt like she purposely meant to have a miscarriage. As if she wanted to get rid of the baby. I never knew what had happened to Amara after I heard of her miscarriage. That was when I turned 19, and got a real job in Brevard. I had not seen Amara since, because I was working so hard, and moved a little farther away. So when the flight attendant told me that Amara said hi, my brain flashed with memories of us working together, and I couldn't believe that I had almost forgotten about my first best friend.

Claire and I got seated on the plane, and we put our bags underneath us. I let her have the window seat because she'd never flown on a plane before. She didn't tell me if she was nervous, but she didn't look nervous at all, she looked really excited. "Are you ready for this big flight? Are you ready to come see NC?" She smiled and then looked out the window. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be sis!"