Page 49 of To Hell With It

It wasn’t hard to find the flight screens because they were everywhere. People were stood around them searching for their gate numbers, but luckily for me the screens were high up, which was the point, I suppose, so that everyone could see where they needed to go without pushing into each other. I didn’t know what I’d imagined, some sort of cattle market maybe, everyone squashed together, swaying from left to right as they tried to find their destination.

It wasn’t like that though. Everyone gave each other space, though it wasn’t enough space for me. I needed no one to be there. I needed it to be just me. I should have gone first class. First class had space. I should have hired a private jet and then I could have flown on my own, had my own toilet, my own everything.

I stared up at the screen. Gate 2. I was flying from gate2. I was going to die. I was going to die a horrible death.

I still had time. I reached for my phone from my back pocket and dialled Una’s number.

‘Pearl? Are you OK? What’s wrong?’

‘It’s gate two.’

‘What is?’

‘I’m flying from gate two.’

‘OK great, you’ve found your gate, have you ticked it off your list?’

‘Two is death.’

‘What?’

‘Two. It means death. I’m going to die. Something is going to happen.’

‘Nothing is going to happen, Pearl.’

‘You need to come back.’

‘I’m on the motorway.’

‘Turn around.’

‘You can’t turn around on a motorway.’

‘You have to.’

‘Pearl, take a breath, think of?—’

‘Don’t fucking say it.’

‘You say it, I’ll just breathe with you.’

‘Number two is on the raft.’

‘That’s great, Pearl.’ She soothed down the phone at me.

‘It’s floating by on the river.’

‘Good.’

‘The river is red.’

‘OK.’

‘It’s blood.’

‘It’s not blood, Pearl, it’s just your fear, it’s being washed away. Where are you?’

‘I’m on the riverbank.’

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