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A warm glow emitted from the sky, gently illuminating through the soft velvet clouds that drifted through the winds. The sun could be described as a sweet-tempered candle, shining an incandescent orange in an otherwise dark room.
Nate could feel the engine rumble softly beneath his elbow as he sat up to watch the miniature towns and villages waft away below. In the depths of his imagination, the boy was flying. The wind stroked his hair and stretched back his clothes as he blissfully floated through the atmosphere.
"Nate, you listening?" Sullivan's voice snapped him back to reality, and suddenly Nathan was back in the plane again.
After rolling his eyes, the boy moved his gaze to the front. "Yeah," He responded unenthusiastically.
"So, as I was saying. Christina was her name-- Or was it Chanel?"
"Cheyenne," Nate sighed.
"Ah!" Sullivan shouted with a laugh and a click. "Cheyenne, that’s the one. She was one of the nurses that would take care of me in the war. Heh, let’s just say, I caught a very serious stomach-ache not long after meeting her--"
"Sully, you told me this story already," Nathan groaned, letting his face sink into his palms, "Like, five million times."
The pilot shifted the plane to the left a bit before giving his co-pilot a look. “Everything okay, kid?”
Nate grumbled something under his breath.
“What?”
“I said I’m fine!” The fifteen-year-old repeated, this time with a louder voice. He then let out a guilt-ridden sigh. “Sorry,” He murmured, keeping his eyes fixated on the view outside his window.
Sullivan leaned back in his seat, his face with sorrow.
The truth was, Nate couldn’t stop thinking about his older brother, Sam. He could still remember the day when Sam got arrested. It was because of him. And now he was flying off into the distance with some random old man, leaving his brother in the dust.
Nate’s heart hurt.
“He’ll be okay, boy-o.” Sullivan assured with a gentle voice, almost as if he could hear the thoughts in the kid’s head.
Drake nodded, not believing the man but grateful for his words. “We’ll be back to pick him up, right?”
“The answers still yes,” Sully said with a kind smile. “And I keep my word, kid.”
“Yeah, like you did with Marlowe?” Nate responded with a cocky grin. That’s how Sully knew he was feeling better.
He raised his arms, “Hey, to be fair, I didn’t make any obligations to her.”
“Sure, Sully.” The teen smiled, secretly thankful to have Sullivan on his side.