Grady sits on the plane and relaxes in first class. Outside Australia goes about its business as always. He sits in his seat and buckles his seatbelt. His brain keeps swimming back to Sharon and the image of her face will not leave his mind. He tried to read a magazine but finds himself staring at the same page and is unable to continue.

He settles back in his seat as the plane starts to pull away from the gate. He barely hears it when the flight attendant reviews the safety instructions. He closes his eyes as the woman with the microphone drones on and on. He listens to the plane’s engines.

He wonders if he should have stayed with Sharon. Could he find himself back here with her? How long before she forgets about him entirely? How long does the human mind take to purge itself? He thinks the answer is never. He knows, because his brain has never purged itself. He has so many memories in his head. He has so much that he just can’t forget.

He wasn’t always ready to accept his destiny, of course. He remembers that time now as he sits in the seat and the engines rev and the captain talks about how soon they will lifting off of the ground. He remembers the look in his father’s face when he told him he didn’t want his power and he wasn’t going to follow in his father’s footsteps. He remembers the look of pain. He understands so much more now but he was seventeen at the time.

He fell in love back then. He remembers her face now as he has on so many occasions since then. Hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t remember her face. He remembers her hair and the way she smelled. He remembers the blue of her eyes and the feel of her lips. He remembers the way she smiled at him when he made some stupid joke or they teased each other while in bed. He remembers the feel of her skin pressed against his own. The power of these memories is almost too much for him and he has to bite against his cheek until the pain blots out everything inside his head.

The plane finally lifts off the ground and heads toward a cruising altitude. He closes his eyes tight. He feels more tired than he ever remembers feeling before. He wonders when the last time he really slept was. He remembers her face and holds that image in his mind the way he once held her face in his hands when he wanted to gaze into those dazzlingly blue eyes. With that image in his head he drifts off to sleep.

Beneath him the earth turns. He has so many miles to cover before he will once again be home. Grady drifts into this past.