Pretense for practice

"Outside the window"

When Mary opened her eyes, she was surprised by the sight before her. The trip through the airport, and onto the plane had been a tense series of nerve rattling waits. Hours on end, anxious about it the entire time. When the plane shook as its wheels finally left the tarmac, she could not bear to open her eyes. She had spent the entire time thinking of all the ways things could go wrong.

Now, with her eyes open, she looked out the window, and saw a beautiful glistening blue ocean, and light fluffy clouds dotting the landscape below. It was a sight she had never seen before, at least, not from this angle.

"The clouds look so different from up here." Mary exclaimed, lost in the moment, having forgotten all her worries after the plane reached cruising altitude. The person sitting next to her smiled, and spoke to her, although he was a stranger.

"Yeah, I remember thinking something like that my first time too. It's amazing to think that we've managed to build things that allow us to see things like the birds do, from high in the air, looking down at the world below. I remember thinking just how... small... we all really are."

Mary managed to pull her gaze from the window. "Well, being small isn't the same as being insignificant. But seeing the world like this does put things in a bit more perspective." She looked back outside. "Now that I see this, I feel almost silly for being worried when the plane took off."

"Oh, yeah, the liftoff and the landing are really the worst parts. Well, that and when there's a line for the bathroom."

Mary chuckled, and realized that she had finally stopped holding her breath. She was now well on her way to the new life she had made for herself. Just a few hours and she would finally be where she was always meant to be.

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This blog post is part of a series of stories associated with Practice makes pretense, in which a collection of writing done in response to prompts is compiled. Then, the reader should answer the following two questions: 1) What was your favorite thing about the writing? 2) What did you feel as you read it?

If you would like to view the original, please visit the Practice makes pretense book on Wattpad, and respond to the writer.