Beep. Beep. Beep.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Amirah jerked awake and stared at the alarm on the nightstand beside her bed in disbelief for a few seconds before unplugging it. It was only three o’clock in the morning, but she knew it was time to get up, even though it was a bit earlier than what she was accustomed to. She pulled herself out of the bed quickly and went straight to the bathroom to take a steamy, hot shower. When she was finished getting herself together and semi-awake, she put on black skinny jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt, and zipped herself into her favorite black leather jacket before putting on a pair of black, studded combat boots. She grabbed her pre-packed duffle bag, filled with all of her most important belongings, and wrapped it around her body so it would be close to her on her journey, then she covered half of her face with a black ski mask and pulled her hood over her slicked-back ponytail before quietly slipping out of her small, studio apartment.
Glancing down at her wristwatch, she realized she would only have about twenty minutes to make it to her best friend Jayda’s house or she would be too late. She had to make moves now, and she could not drive her Jeep there, so she ran as fast as she could through the city toward the Waterfront, making sure to stay in the shadows so that the night patrols would not notice her. Around fifteen minutes later and completely out of breath, she lightly tapped on Jayda’s front door three times before it opened just enough for a small, but strong hand to grab her by the arm and pull her swiftly into the darkness.
“What the…” Amirah whispered loudly before getting shushed by someone in Jayda’s pitch black living room. Although it was super dark, she could make out Jayda’s face and two more of their friends, Tiffani and Zara. “Where’s Marcus and Nasir?”
“They’re outside getting the boat ready for us. We have to take the boat to get to the airport so we can catch the plane in time,” Jayda whispered. “We’re just waiting on a few more people but they should be here in a few minutes. You make it here okay? Nobody saw you, right?”
“I don’t think so. Definitely gotta thank God for all those years I spent on the track team back in high school. I ran fast and stayed in the shadows most of the way here,” Amirah whispered back. “You sure this is gonna be safe for us, Jay?”
“I can’t make those kinds of promises, Amirah. I just know this is our only chance to get out of here before it’s too late. We have to try,” Jayda said while reassuringly squeezing one of Amirah’s hands. “We have to try.”
A few moments later, there were three light taps on the front door and Jayda pulled two more people inside after looking through the peephole. Once Marcus and Nasir came back into Jayda’s living room, she did a headcount of ten people. Everybody was wearing all black and had their face coverings pulled up, only exposing their eyes.
“The boat is ready now. Before we get on it, we must all be on the same page. We must be totally silent until we get on the plane. Turn off your cellphones completely now, if you haven’t already. If you have an Apple Watch or something similar, turn that off as well. We cannot be tracked or traced. If you need to use the bathroom, use it now. If you are afraid, leave. We must be in this together every step of the way. Do you understand?” Jayda asked.
Amirah looked around the room as everyone nodded in quiet unison. She took a few deep breaths to try to stave off an oncoming anxiety attack before heading downstairs to the basement in a single file line behind the others in order to get outside to where the boat was docked. One-by-one all ten people slid side-by-side into the boat’s small cabin in complete silence. Jayda closed the cabin door as Marcus went upstairs with Nasir to start the boat and steer it in the dark, frigid waters across the Potomac River to the airport. Nobody said a word the whole ride.
After what seemed like an eternity, Marcus and Nasir docked the boat and then helped pull each of its passengers ashore after safely steering it across the river without being noticed. The airport was only a mile or so walk through trees and shrubbery — they would all have to move swiftly and quietly if they didn’t want to get caught. Linking arms and walking side-by-side in pairs of two, Jayda and Marcus led the group through the forest in complete silence. If they heard a noise, they would stop until they felt the coast was clear and then continued on their journey. Eventually, after about twenty or so minutes, the trees began to clear out and the group could see several planes preparing for takeoff. They had successfully made it to the airport unscathed. The only thing blocking their path was a barbed-wire fence. How were they supposed to get over that? Amirah thought to herself.
“Stay down and close to the side of the fence,” Jayda whispered to the group. “Remain silent. Malik will come let us in just a few paces ahead. Do not bring any attention to yourself. Alright?”
Amirah looked on as everybody in the group again nodded their heads in quiet unison. She took a few more deep breaths through her ski mask to avoid another oncoming anxiety attack. They were so close, yet so far away from their final destination, but making it to the airport safely was something she had mulled over in her head for several months while they planned their escape. In a few more minutes, they would be boarding a plane that would take them and hundreds of other Black people out of a country that hated them. In a few hours, they would be joining millions of other Black people who, hopefully, were able to safely make it to the airports in their towns and cities across the country in the middle of the cold, dark night and land in a place that had been preparing for their arrival for several decades. “Just gotta keep the faith. We’re almost there,” Amirah said to herself as she watched Malik, the top security official at the airport, open up a small hole in the gate and let the group in.
“I’m so happy y’all made it safely,” Malik whispered while embracing his brother, Nasir. “Follow me. Y’all’s plane is not too far ahead.”
While the group walked closely and quietly behind Malik toward the plane they would soon board, Amirah noticed other groups of people dressed in all black boarding at least fifty planes in complete silence. Outside of the loud engine and propeller noises from the planes themselves, if there was a pin to drop in that moment, you would’ve heard it. She was in disbelief that they had organized successfully and been able to pull this seemingly unimaginable feat off, especially with this many people involved and so many moving parts across the entire country — but what she ultimately realized and had to embrace early on was that her people were tired and beyond ready to get off of this sinking ship, especially after the most recent shit show of an election. So, while the white supremacists celebrated the re-election of their overtly racist, hateful, and corrupt leader hours before the Inauguration after months of terrorizing Black people and other people of color at a higher rate than ever before in modern times, the people who were stolen from the west coast of Africa over 400 years ago and forced to build this country for free, had finally decided to flee it in droves––without warning.
After a few moments, Amirah and her group waited in line to board the plane that would help them escape from their own personal hell on earth. Jayda, who was now standing beside her, grabbed her hands in hers and squeezed them both. They had no idea what starting over would feel like in a foreign land, so far away from home — but this place no longer felt like home to any of them. Once the plane’s crew began to allow their group and several others to board, Amirah and Jayda sat in a middle row beside Tiffani and Zara, and in front of Nasir, Malik, and the rest of their group members. After buckling themselves into their seats, almost all of the passengers on board pulled down their masks, exhaled, and held hands in silence until the door to the plane was closed and it started to prepare for takeoff.
“You ready for this?” Amirah whispered to Jayda as the plane taxied to the runway.
“I was born ready, friend,” Jayda said while lightly bumping her forehead against her best friend’s. “We gon’ be alright.”
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