Chapter 6 - Ellie
I’m boarding my first flight from Nashville to LAX, where I’ll catch another flight to Beijing. From Beijing I’ll pick up my visa and then I can fly to Pyongyang, North Korea. I catch myself glancing around, wondering if Derek will be on the same flight. Stop it, I tell myself. I need to get over him. I walked away from him on Friday night and now I’m embarking on the biggest adventure of my life. Derek Hart is not part of that. He’s no longer part of my reality. We said our goodbyes and now it’s done.
In Los Angeles I’m meeting with Mike, my editor and travel companion. We’ll finalise our plans and make sure we have everything we need for the trip. My stomach flutters at the thought of entering the world’s most isolated nation. I have no idea what to expect. I’ve had dozens of people try to talk me out of this, telling me about how dangerous and stupid it was for me to go. The alternative is staying in Greenville and marrying someone like Chad Baker and living out the rest of my days in a little house just off Main Street, and honestly I’d rather take my chances in North Korea.
I settle into my seat and wait as the planes continues to board its passengers. Then, I hear a ripple of talking and whispers make its way from the front of the plane to the back.
Derek Hart!
He’s on the plane! Sitting up there.
An excited young man points to the first class section, turning to his friend. I saw him! I’m going to go ask him for his autograph.
I close my eyes. He’s on the plane. Suddenly I feel warm, like the temperature in the cabin just skyrocketed. I pull out my headphones and stare out the window at the activities on the ground.
Why does he have such an effect on me?! I hated him for years, and now… he seemed so normal. So nice. But he’s a rock star. He lives in Los Angeles. He tours around the world and has adoring fans. I’m just Ellie Walters from Greenville, Tennessee. What would he want from me?
Who am I kidding, he was probably just wanting someone to sleep with for the weekend while he was back in town. Here I am, imagining we have some special connection when I know he’s used me before for sex. He wouldn’t hesitate to use me again.
The memory from all those years ago flashes through my mind and I try to blink back the tears. I quickly brush one away as it rolls down my cheek, hiding my face in the little round plane window.
Of course he would be on my flight. Don’t rockstars usually have private jets?! This is just my luck. I’m finally leaving Greenville, finally making it out and I just. Can’t. Get. Away.
I’ll just stay here in the back, close my eyes and try to still my thumping heart. He hasn’t seen me and he doesn’t need to see me.
The plane takes off and I breathe a bit easier. Just a few hours and we’ll go our separate ways. He probably has a driver picking him up, and I probably won’t even see him at all. He’s in first class, after all.
The seatbelt sign dings off and people start moving around the cabin. A baby is crying a few rows down and I sigh, closing my eyes and trying to turn the volume on my headphones up a little bit higher.
I pull out my laptop and review the notes that Mike sent me. We need to be authentic and make sure that the North Koreans believe that we are there for a profile on Kim Jong-un. We can’t mention anything about nuclear weapons, war, American interests.. Nothing. The hotel rooms are bugged, the cellular network is under surveillance and any online communications are read and reported. I’ll be leaving my laptop and cell phone at Mike’s office, he’s got a clean tablet for me.
It’s a risky mission, and I’m still wondering how it is I got chosen for it. Mike said they needed someone relatively unknown that wouldn’t trigger anything when the Koreans ran a background check. I guess someone from nowheresville, Tennessee fits that ticket.
I take a deep breath as I read through the notes for the thousandth time. My heart beats a bit faster and I feel a smile creep across my face. I’ve been the talk of the town for months. From calling off the engagement to the decision to pursue this project, I haven’t heard the end of how I’m ruining my life and throwing everything away. Or how I’m ruining my family’s life and reputation, or how devastated my mother is and it’s all my fault. I’ll probably never live it down, but at the end of the day I don’t care.
I want to do this. I want to see what else is out there. I want to make something of myself that’s more than what they expect from me. I close my eyes and lay back in the uncomfortable airplane chair.
I’m leaving Greenville behind me. I’m leaving Derek behind me. I’m leaving it all behind to find out what else this big wide world has to offer. The smile playing on my lips creeps further upwards and I sigh deeply. This is what I’ve always wanted.