Her Obsession (by Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 141

To See It Through Innocent Eyes.

Diego

When I wake up, everything feels soft and warm and kind of floaty. There’s a quiet hum, like the world is purring, and when I open my eyes, I don’t see a roof. I see sky. It’s everywhere. Big, bright, and endless, right outside the tiny little window next to my head. The clouds look like giant pillows or fairy floss, all fluffy and twisty and glowing with sunlight. For a second, I just stare, not even blinking. Then I gasp so loud that Connor starts laughing. I grab his shirt with both hands and shake him, eyes wide. “Do you see this?! We’re in the sky!”

He laughs harder, his voice warm and tumbly in his chest. “Yeah, pretty cool, huh, buddy?”

“It’s amazing!” I press my nose to the glass, leaving a little smudge. The clouds look close enough to touch, and I want to open the window and grab a handful, see if it tastes like the fairy floss Naomi told me about once.

“Where are we going?” I ask, still staring out.

“Home,” Connor says softly.

I don’t really know what home means. But if it’s up here in the sky, floating with the clouds and the sunshine, then it must be something really, really good. A little while later, a lady with shiny hair comes down the aisle pushing a cart full of food. It smells delicious, all warm and salty. She bends down and smiles at me. “Are you hungry, sweetheart?”

I think about it. I had nuggets and ice cream before, and that’s usually more than I ever get in a whole day. But my tummy still feels kind of ready for something. I look up at Connor. He nods once, smiling.

“Yes, please!” I say.

She laughs softly. “What would you like?”

“Do you have fairy floss?” I ask hopefully.

She shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry, not on this flight. But we’ve got chips!”

She shows me a tray full of them, golden and crunchy and perfect. My eyes go wide. “Whoa… so many chips!”

Connor chuckles and takes the tray for me, setting it on the little table in front of us. I grab one and it’s crunchy and salty and the best thing ever. The lady gives me a soda too. It fizzes and bubbles and when I take a sip, it makes my tongue tingle and my nose tickle until I burp.

Connor laughs again. “Careful there, champ.”

I giggle and take another sip just to feel it happen again.

Then, out of nowhere, a voice fills the air. A man’s voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere,

I look around fast, my eyes huge. “Connor!” I whisper. “There’s a magic man talking!”

He grins and points up at a little round thing on the roof. “It’s coming from there, buddy. That’s a speaker. He’s the pilot, he’s flying us.”

The magic man says, “We’ll be landing soon. Please fasten your seatbelts.”

Landing. I don’t really know what that means, but it makes my chest feel a little funny, like when you finish a really good dream and you don’t want to wake up. I rest my chin on the window edge, watching the clouds drift by one last time. I like being up here. It feels like the world forgot how to be bad. Still, I can’t help wondering what’s waiting down there, on the ground, where “home” is. Maybe it’s soft like the clouds. Maybe it’s full of fairy floss and chips and people who don’t yell. Maybe it’s the place where I get to stay.

Connor stands up and lifts me out of the seat like I’m light as a feather. He smells like soap and something warm, like the inside of the car earlier. He moves me over to the big seat beside him, right by the aisle, and pats the one I just left by the window.

“Come sit down, buddy,” he says, grinning. “We’ve got to buckle you in.”

My legs are sticking straight out because they don’t reach the floor. Connor pulls the belt across me and clicks it tight. I poke at it and giggle. “It’s squeezing me!”

“That’s the idea,” he says with a little laugh. Then his voice goes soft, like a secret. “Your tummy might feel a little strange on the way down, but if you get scared, you just hold my hand, okay?”

I nod, but the way he says strange makes my tummy start feeling funny already. My fingers twitch toward his hand even though I’m not scared yet. Then I hear a whisper in front of me. Sissy. She’s turned around in the seat in front of me, peeking through the crack between the two chairs. Her eyes are shiny and calm, the kind of calm that makes everything else feel quieter.

“It’s going to be okay, little man,” she says. Her smile looks real, the kind that makes me feel warm inside. Then she sticks her pinky through the gap between the seats.

I reach out and hook mine around hers.

“Pinky promise,” she whispers. “It’ll be okay.”

And just like that, the scary feeling goes away. Because you can’t break a pinky promise. That’s a rule. And Sissy… Sissy wouldn’t ever

break one.

The clouds disappear, and suddenly the ground looks like it’s jumping up to meet us. The plane slows down, the hum gets quieter, and I can finally breathe again. “We landed!” I say, and Connor laughs. “We did, buddy. You’re a natural flyer.”

Everything after that happens really fast. We walk through a big, bright building with shiny floors that squeak under my shoes. There are people everywhere. I try to walk like Connor does, tall and big, but I end up skipping every few steps because there’s just too much to look at. Then we go outside, and there’s another car waiting. It’s sleek and black and shiny.

Connor grins when I stop and stare. “You like it?” he asks.

“It’s so cool!” I say.

He chuckles and ruffles my hair. “Good thing it’s mine then. Actually, I’ve got about fifteen of them.”

My eyes go huge. “Fifteen?! Do you have a red one?”

“Maybe,” he says, and winks. “You’ll see soon enough.”

That makes me bounce in my seat as we drive. The world outside changes fast. Tall buildings turn into trees, fences, and big open spaces.

“Whoa…” I whisper. The driveway goes on forever, lined with green grass that looks soft enough to roll on. The house, or maybe it’s a castle, is so big. It has so many windows, and walls so tall, I have to tilt my head all the way back to see the top. And outside, there are people, lots of them, waving and smiling as our car gets closer. They all look happy. I don’t know who they are yet. I don’t know what “home” is supposed to feel like. But if this is it -green grass, shiny walls, people waiting just to say hello then I think I like it already.