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I prefer anonymity, non-descriptiveness. No one should remember me ever. Hence the gray pants and black coat. Nothing too rich and nothing too flashy. She’s the opposite of all I’ve ever done. Why haven’t I killed her yet? Because she fascinates the hell out of me.
ChapterTwo
GEORGIA
“I’m Ryan, by the way.” The man next to me introduces himself. The smell of his cologne is strong, and I know it’s going to give me a headache by the time we land.
He’s dressed up in a fancy suit. I wonder if this is a business trip for him. If I had to guess, he's at least ten years older than me. He’s not terrible looking but a bit too flashy for my taste. Not that I really have a type.
“I’m Georgia.” He takes my hand.
“I would have taken you for a Sophia, Ava, or even Isabella.” He’s not far off the mark. My birth name is Olivia, but my middle name belongs to my grandma. Since she passed, I’ve adopted it. She is, after all, why I’m on this adventure to begin with. I thought if I was going to have a new start why not go with a new name?
“It was my grandma’s name.”
“Was? I’m sorry.” I remove my hand from his. He still hadn’t let it go.
“It’s been almost a year now.” Has it really been that long since I lost her? Sometimes it feels like she passed just yesterday, and others like I haven’t seen or talked to her in forever.
A sadness tries to bubble up inside of me, but I paste a smile on my lips. There’s no need to be sad. She wouldn’t want that for me. Plus, I’m doing what she wanted me to do. I am getting a chance to see the world and go to places she only dreamed of. It wasn’t in the cards for her. My family might have money, but the men keep very tight controlling strings on it.
My parents aren’t too happy about any of this, but for once, they have no choice in the matter. Grams left me a small nest egg along with a ring and necklace that she made me promise I would sell. I refused at first. I didn’t want to get rid of something so sentimental. She wore that ring every day, but like Grams always said,Life isn’t about things. It’s about the experience. So, I finally agreed to her wishes.
That last thing she wanted was for me to get stuck under my family’s thumb for the rest of my life. It happened to her.
One time when I was about ten, we worked on this massive puzzle together. It took us days to complete it. When we were done, the result was a map of the world. Grams started pointing at places and telling me about them like she’d been to them all. She got to go to a few she’d read about, but she never got a chance to experience any of the others. Her eyes would light up when she was talking about them.
I remember each place she pointed to. Wrote them all down so I would never forget. When I sold that ring and necklace, I vowed to her silently that I would go to all of them. What I hadn’t expected was that for some reason, others wanted to come with me.
Not physically but online. I started my Instagram and TikTok as a way to document my journey along with my journals. Before I knew what was happening, my accounts were blowing up. It freaked me out at first, but then I thoughtWhy not show them too? Others might not get a chance to go on a journey like this one day. The least I could do was let them see the world from my lens. It made it even more purposeful for me.
I didn’t do it up like a lot of the other content creators on those platforms. My pictures were real. There were no filters or anything else on them. Some of them are downright terrible, but they were the truth. No fakeness to them. I wanted people to see reality. For so long, I had to live a lie. My family was all about people’s perceptions of them. Appearances were all that mattered to them. I think people want authenticity. I know I do.
“Champagne?” the flight attendant asks, interrupting me from my thoughts.
“Yes, please.” I take the glass from her hand. “Thank you, Julie.” I catch her name on her name tag.
Ryan snags a glass for himself too. I couldn’t believe my luck when I got upgraded. I might have a nest egg and even a few endorsements coming in from people that want me to show off their stuff online, but I want to be careful. I want to make sure that I have enough to visit as many places as possible.
“Why are you heading to Paris?” Ryan asks me.
“I’ve wanted to go for a long time,” I admit.
Paris in my mind is the City of Love, even though I’ll be alone there. I wanted to save it and share it with someone, but that someone hasn’t come along.
The flight takes off, and Julie keeps topping off my champagne. I don’t normally drink much, so I can feel myself getting a little buzz.
“What hotel are you staying at?” Ryan peppers me with what feels like his millionth question.
“La Réserve Paris,” I blurt out without thinking. They have actually paid for my stay.
“Me too.” Ryan smiles. “We should get drinks or dinner after we land and get settled in.” Julie fills my glass of champagne again. I want to tell him no thank you, but I don’t know how to do it without being rude.
Instead, I take another sip of my champagne and ponder how to get out of this. Too bad my mind is a bit too fuzzy to do much. My first-class upgrade might not have been as great as I thought.
ChapterThree
FINN
