Nana felt herself falling and felt everything, the lightheadedness and the weightlessness that came with a free fall from a very long distance. She screamed and woke up in her bed, sweaty, angry, frustrated, and tired. Would these damned dreams ever stop? It's been months since the plane bound for Caro Islands crashed midway through its journey, leaving many dead, pilot, and crew included. There were only three survivors and Nana was one of them.
She was lucky, she had been told by many people, but she didn't feel lucky. It was hard to feel lucky with second-degree burns in almost half of her body. She spent many painful months in the hospital, had several surgeries, went to rehab, had therapy for quite some time, before finally been certified stable enough to return to normal activities, as long as she took things slow.
It was her first day of resumption back to school, and she wasn't looking forward to it. Her girl squad will be waiting for her, it meant something. She was the leader of a girl squad at school, it consisted of daughters of very rich politicians. She was the daughter of the minister for agriculture herself. They were all snobby, rude, spoilt secondary girls doing the most. Their major goals was to dress in the trendiest items, shop in the classiest places, jump on social media challenges and be the talk of the town.
She was on her way to Caro Islands to do some shopping and upgrade her wardrobe when the flight she was on crashed due to some unexplainable technical errors.
She was supposed to travel with her parents, but couldn't wait, she had to shop for some stuffs before school resumed. How else would she be able to flaunt her new wardrobe?
"Have it your way, just know we are sending two people with you, your security and the maid that would help you with chores." Her mother told her, as a compromise for letting a 17 year old girl travel by herself. She wasn't alone her mother reasoned, she will be fine.
If only her security, Bala and her maid, Ruka had made it, she would have certainly felt better, but they weren't so lucky.
She stood from the bed and limped painfully to the mirror to look at herself. She wanted to throw it away, but would it change anything?She was ugly, uglier than a troll, and that was her new reality now.
Nana sturbbonly refused to have plastic surgery done, she chose to remain that way, with her burnt and shrunken skin. She didn't even care about her face, she was comfortable leaving it like that with about a quarter of it burnt from the plane explosion. She was tired of having from having many reconstructive surgeries, the aftermath was always agonizing. She wouldn't wish the pain on her worst enemy.
"Hi, girls." Nana walked up to her friends in class and smiled at them where they are seated, having a round table conversation. They all stood up to greet her and welcome her one after the other telling her how good it was to have her back at school.
"I missed you girls. What are you discussing?."
"Nothing serious, don't bother yourself." Her best friend, Shindara says, averting her gaze.
"I'm the leader, and I'm back, I deserve to know what's going on." She smiles at them but receives blank stares instead.
"Take it back, you are no longer the leader, I took over and that's all you need to know," Shindara replied again, this time staring into Nana's eyes with a challenging look.
"Are you kidding right now? This must be a joke."
"You can laugh if you find it humorous, it doesn't change the facts."
"I founded this group. Aren't you supposed to be my best friend?"
"What's the big deal if you founded it? You weren't around, I had to step up. I'm not your friend by the way."
The other members of squad looked on in silence and watched the exchange between the two friends.
"Since when have you had your eye on the leadership?" Nana managed to ask, betrayal written all over her face.
"Since it was apparent you couldn't function as the leader anymore even if you tried. Your right hand is bent. You are too ugly to be in."
"What makes you think I can't do what is expected of me because of my hand?"
"It's deformed for one, I don't see anything good coming out of that hand and you even ever again for that matter. You are handicapped."
A well sharpened knife wouldn't have cut so deeply, it might not have hurt that bad if someone else had said it, but her best friend?
Shindara had a lot of reasons to be jealous of Nana. She was the most beautiful girl in school before the accident and the most brilliant student in her class despite her obsession with fashion. Shindara had always hated her guts for being a combination of beauty and brains.
She left their midst, her head bowed in shame and her deformed right hand hidden inside her pocket.
"Promise me you won't let what happened stop you from pursuing your dreams, Nana". Her grandfather and closest pal in the family said, on his death bed, she was his favorite grandchild and everyone knew. He clutched her hands feebly and looked into her eyes searchingly for an answer.
"Okay, I promise, I'll acheive my dreams no matter what."
Satisfied, he heaved a sigh of relief and took his last breath.
Nana stood at the entrance to the academy and looked at her bent hand, it wasn't so bad, her fingers were only slightly bent and crooked. She wasn't sure she could pull it off, but she had to try for her grandfather.
Shindara swallowed for a minute before getting up from her seat as slowly as she could, assisted by her caregivers. That was the scariest flight she ever had.
She had boarded the flight to the Yoga states with her caregivers for an heart surgery, and her fragile heart almost gave out from the severity of the turbulence they experienced.
Thankfully, the pilot was experienced, it was clear from the way the plane was handled. The pilot kept reassuring her from the cockpit through the air hostess' that it was important for her not to panic.
The pilot had obviously been briefed about her condition, so extra care had been taken to make her comfortable.
"Hello, Shindara, it's been a couple of years."
Shindara looked up from her seat at the airport, where she was waiting for one of her caregivers to order a taxi.
The face looked familiar, but it was hard to place. The person standing in front of her had on a pilot's uniform and looked very smart in it. She was a thick, fair skinned woman with a well defined jaw and attention catching facial features. Her long hair was packed in a bun and her cap neatly balanced on her hair without a strand of hair out of place. She was of average height and looked tall enough.
"I'm sorry, I'm not good with faces, how did you know my name?" She asked squeezing her face in a bid to jog her memory.
"I apologize, I didn't introduce myself. I am the pilot of the plane you boarded here. I was given your name and some information about your condition beforehand. I hope you are okay."
You did great, you are the practical example of "what a man can do, a woman can do better". I am okay, thanks to you. You said it's been a couple of years? I feel like we've met but I don't remember, I'm sorry."
"That's understandable, I've had a plastic surgery done, though I ensured my face wasn't altered much."
She stretched out her hand to Shindara, "I'm Nana Ahmed, your classmate and former best friend from Union Secondary School some years back."
Her jaws dropped to the floor, "How did you do it?"
"I attended an aviation academy like everyone else."
"I mean you look drop-dead gorgeous."
"That's thanks to the plastic surgery, I got it done to fix a few other things too, like my deformed hand that made you call me handicapped then, remember? That hand is the one that did most of the piloting today. The hand you said nothing good can ever come out of."
Bowing her head in shame, "I'm so sorry, Nana, I was stupid and young."
"It's all good, I fulfilled my dream, purpose and my promise to my grandfather. Besides, if there are no naysayers, who are we going to prove wrong? Where would the motivation come from?"
"I'm really sorry."
I just wanted to say "hello" to you. I wish you the best in life."
She turned around abruptly and left Shindara staring after her in undescribable shock. She smiled to herself and moved on, life was good.
