Grounded

I watched silently as the tickers for the flights out of Kiev one by one turned too delayed. Might as well say permanently delayed. I am one of the unfortunate souls stuck here in this war torn nation. I am a victim of bad timing. My flight to New Delhi , India was forced to land as it flew over Ukraine. The newly elected president had instituted a restricted airspace over the country along with closing its borders. All flights in an out are grounded as the insurgency of Russian separatists escalated. Unhappy with the results of Sunday’s election they decided to move in on the capital, where I now resided.

We huddled around the TV watching the news cast of what was going on only a few miles away. You could hear the explosions like thunder, the bullets rain. We were all stoned faced on the outside while fear gripped us on the inside, our future a mystery. When would we get to leave? Would we live to see our loved ones? We were told to stay in the airport while the civil war waged outside. This was not comforting, we were defenseless, what if the riots came here? All anyone had was their carry on, whether that was computer bag a backpack or a small suit case. I had my messenger bag with my Macbook, writing utensils, some snacks and various other crap I carried around constantly.

The news had started to make me sick so I turned and pushed my way out of the crowd to look around the terminal. It was dark, we only had backup generators for the airport due to someone blowing up the power grid for this area of the city. Most of the staff was gone probably at home or out fighting for their country. I don’t blame them for leaving. But security also left, which is dangerous. Worst case scenarios kept looping in my mind. I could leave and get killed or stay here and wait for some bonehead is going to think it is a good idea to hold foreigners hostage. It wouldn’t take much for them to overpower us. Russia denies giving weapons to the separatists but we all know it’s a lie; this was their plan the entire time. Seem like they are allowing democracy by stepping back but the inability for the east to vote will enrage the separatists to arms against the new government. It makes sense now that it has all happened.

I walked for some time down the terminal looking at the shops hoping for something useful. Each gate had its own little tribe from the flight that it contained, most stared at the news or were off sleeping long flights. I was about to give up as the exhaustion from the 11 hour flight, when I found what I was looking for an unlocked restaurant. I couldn’t read the name in Ukrainian but it seemed fancy. The gate was cracked at the bottom, someone careless enough to leave it unlocked, their loss is my gain. I opened the crack a little more and slid underneath to avoid too much suspicion from other passengers. The restaurant was obviously left in a hurry, the dining area still had a bunch of half eaten food, tables and chairs were knocked over, it wasn’t pretty.

Weaving through the chaos of the restaurant I spied the bar on the opposite side of the restaurant.  I jumped over the bar, pretending to be a bad ass. Choosing some random bottle of vodka I took a couple of swigs. The alcohol calmed the unease I had of the situation.  Nothing like this ever goes right, and to not be prepared is asking for you to get killed. Needing more supplies my next stop was the kitchen, which was mostly spotless, except for meals left cooking on the frying pans. Moving past I head toward storage where I found towels and a kitchen torch, thank you high society. With everything I needed in hand for Molotov cocktails. On my way out of the kitchen I stopped for a knife for emergencies.

The vodka began set in as I reached the bar, I didn’t have much more to do. I prepared the make shift bombs by sticking a towel in as many bottles as I could, totaled to eight. It would do for now. With that peace returned, I did everything I possibly could. Now all I had to do was wait it out until whom ever wins lifts the restrictions, I had plenty of food due to the restaurant. If nothing happens to us I can just put everything back and never worry about it again. I laid down there in the bar, rested my head on my bag and fell asleep.