CHAPTER 2

‘Point A’

November 2nd, 2020

The Clove, Pent Central Airport

-

Eitri hated airports.

Like many things, there was a bad memory tied to it. There always was, always. It was an inescapable black hole, with every new space just waiting to ruin her day even more. Everyone told her, ‘move on.’

How was she meant to? Avoiding everything that made the shitshow that was her before she came here was near impossible. Every small detail was a reminder, every television show and radio station threatened to bring them up.

…What a joke.

“Excuse me, do you need a hand?”

An airport employee had since walked up to her, presumably from the helpdesk only a stone’s throw away.

“I’m fine.”

It came out as a strained grumble, coupled with a scathing glare.

Whether she wanted it or not, the man gave a polite nod before hurriedly retreating. Her expression was caught in a perpetual state of neutrality, only shifting to different kinds of anger. It was a product of her own failures, a mix of medication to set her own issues at bay entangled with Life’s insistence on keeping her mind lingering on every failure that’d led up to this very point.

Her, probably, final case.

Robin said she’d been improving.

But not fast enough it seems.

How was she even meant to show she was worthy, despite everything? She wasn’t about to deny she’d been a horrible person throughout her time at Pent’s Police Department. Her employment was only thanks to pity, and her recovery was only stipulated by how much effort she could throw into a case before her body started to deteriorate.

Something needed to change- anything needed to change.

But she didn’t know how.

Nervously, she fumbled into a jacket pocket, pulling out a small container of pills and spinning it open. A jumble of white, pills stared back at her and with a trained hand, she pulled one out, swallowing it dry.

It was disgusting, but it kept her mood in check.

Sighing, she closed the pill bottle, sliding it back into her pocket-

And just in time too.

“Eitri, you’re early.”

Her eyes snapped to the voice that had addressed her.

The annoyingly familiar dreaded hair, pulled into a ponytail, his sepia skin addled with moles all along the side of his face. His familiar peer, Corben, tagging along next to him, running a hand through his ginger hair- as if it’d do anything to fix his mess of hair.

A part of him seemed to know this too, his pale, freckled face pulling into disappointment. Seemingly he was struggling more with the early wake up than her and Omar were.

“I went to bed early, figured I wouldn’t want to miss my first case with a flight.”

Or miss her last case entirely.

“Have you flown much?”

His question was innocent, but there wasn’t much washing out the bad taste in her mouth that was her first meeting with Omar and subsequently Corben.

“I’ve gotten around enough.”

“Fair.”

They all fell silent.

Eitri gritted her teeth. How… Awkward. Talking with these two was like dragging her nails across a chalkboard. It wasn’t hard to tell these two were close, she felt weirdly wedged in, it was almost natural to take a step back and simply spectate these two bantering. But painfully, there was none.

It was easy to simply default, walk towards their destination. So that’s what she did, hoping they’d follow along.

There was little comment from the other two men aside from an exchange of glances and the clatter of their bags’ wheels against the ceramic tiling of the airport floors.

Her hopes fulfilled, she drew herself over to the departures board, quickly scanning it for their flight. Checking in apparently hadn’t even opened, and her expression could only harden. The other two men had caught up with her too, sharing the same uneasy expressions.

And then the same disappointment, it seemed.

“U-Uhm. Coffee?”

Corben erred, looking to Omar, and then Eitri.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

It was a branch, an attempt to break the icy atmosphere.

“Sure, why not.”

Her voice was stagnant. Devoid of much of the expected vibrance which came with agreement.

Strangely unsettling, but her compatriots had since learnt that it was simply… normal for her. It wasn’t something that was hard to pick up on, a strange lethargy that never seemed to sway.

“Well, let's uh, try to find a spot, yeah?”

Corben continued, Omar silently nodding his agreement.

“I’ll follow you.”

Eitri’s muted agreement was just barely audible over the general chatter of Pent Central Airport. She wasn’t one to really fuss with coffee, the last thing she wanted to think of was getting hooked on another poison. Not to mention it didn’t even taste nice, at this point that was the only thing going for alcohol.

The two men ahead of her walked ahead aimlessly, both heads searching the perimeter eagerly for their morning fix.

As per usual, she simply lagged behind, the droning sounds of airport ambience going in one ear and out the other. Caring any more about what she was hearing would result in nothing good. Small reminders of the past lay everywhere, whether it was a song blaring out through the speakers of a nearby establishment or a person who looked just a bit too much like someone she knew.

Even TVs were off-limits, her eyes cast to the ground as they passed by one stationed in a rest area.

It’s just what she had to deal with. Her own personal hell.

…Her brows scrunched up, her head shaking in a futile attempt to rid herself of the thoughts.

“Ah, here’s a good spot.”

Corben had happily given her a reason to think of anything else, his declaration accompanied with a raised finger, pointing through the crowd to a small, open plan cafe. Adorned with wooden panelling and steel fencing separating it from the general movement of the crowd, it looked… strangely sleek.

“Good find Corb,”

Omar stretched a hand forwards, letting slip a yawn.

“Looks nicer than that chain place we passed.”

“I can’t believe you actually suggested that shithole.”

They’d passed another coffee place? God, she hadn’t even noticed. A small lick of dread wore away at her temporary contentment, her ears still keyed into their conversation.

“Can you blame me for being desperate?”

“Eyyup.”

“Fuck you Corben.”

“Ho ho, let's get some latte in yah. Clearly the lack of caffeine is souring your mood.”

You could almost hear the eyeroll, Omar’s hefty sigh cutting through the various sounds Eitri had been tuning out of, before he sauntered forward at a picked up pace. Holding back a sigh of her own, she picked up her pace- as much as her tired body allowed.

It’d be a lie to say it wasn’t a struggle to keep up with their chipper pace.

If the bitter taste of coffee was going to keep her co-worker’s senses snappy, it was the near suffocatingly rustic smell of last night’s rum that kept her awake. The amount of mints she’d downed in the morning was enough to make her mouth sting, the amount of deodorant being the third thing to keep her senses swirling.

But hey.

She was awake.

That was enough of a win for her today, even if it wasn’t quite the way she wanted it to be.

Small steps or… Something.

…

Who was she kidding anyways. She was keeping herself awake with the same thing she was trying to run from.

It was a hollow attempt at placation, something she’d never been good at.

As her two companions sat down, she warily took a spot of her own, reaching out for one of the paper menus and scanning her eyes over it, as if she was going to get anything.

…

That chocolate pastry looks good.

An annoying little thought quipped in the back of her mind.

And as expected, her expression hardened, just a tad, as her mind tempted her into spending what little money she had.

“Presuming you’re going to want your latte, as per usual.”

“I will be wanting that latte, Corben, as per usual. What about you?”

“Might grab the mochaccino.”

“Hm, branching out?”

“Macchiatos getting boring?”

“Meh, it stopped being trendy to drink.”

Once again, she found herself spectator to the conversation of two, aggravatingly close friends, chuckling away at their dry humor.

But then, unexpectedly, Omar looked over to her, green eyes inquisitively trying to gauge… Something from her.

“Are you getting anything?

Eitri paused, thought for a moment, and then-

“Yes.”

…

“And uhm, what are you getting?”

…

Eitri looked down at the menu in her hand, then looked up.

“...A chocolate pastry.”

Wordlessly, Omar pulled himself up, counting something on his fingers before nodding and walking off.

“Hm..? Where’s he headed?”

“Getting the drinks n’ your pastry?”

Hesitantly, Eitri fished out her wallet, tugging out the final 5 dollar note she had and setting it on the table. It felt odd that they were suddenly so… Accommodating. Had something happened after she left that office? Maybe- Maybe Robin said something.

Who was she kidding, of course he did. That blonde know-it-all always had something to say.

It was a blessing and a curse that he owed her in the way that he did.

“...Just pay later, don’t sweat it.”

The ginger-haired man in front of her offered a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, his hand pushing the note back in her direction.

“I want to pay now.”

“Just do a payment onli-”

“Let me reiterate, I’m paying,”

Her hand near-slammed down on the note, aggressively shoving it back in Corben’s direction. Eitri’s expression twisted into a sneer, mouth prepped to sling an insult before-

…

She took a moment.

Pulled out a pill from the pottle.

Then, swallowed it dry.

The chalky taste dragged against her throat, her body involuntarily shivering before she settled. Even if it wasn’t instant, the feeling alone was humbling, calming even.

A sigh, then, she continued.

“I don’t like debts.”

A long silence, then-

“...Right. Then can you handle being in it for just a little bit?”

“Not comfortably.”

Eitri set a single finger on the note, slowly pushing it in Corben’s direction.

“Omar doesn’t have room in his wallet for notes, it’ll just annoy him.”

“Does he have pockets?”

“Yea-”

“Then he can use his pockets.”

Even if Eitri didn’t always have the best read on people, it wasn’t hard to tell he was struggling to… Handle this. But what was Eitri meant to do? Omar went and got the food without even considering that she may want to pay for herself?

The man opposite her… Was clearly annoyed at this point.

She thought so at least.

Naturally, she met the ire with some of her own.

Then, whatever ‘conversation’ they were having, fell silent.

…

“You two playing nice?”

Eitri wasn’t sure whether to be happy Omar had returned, or scorn his belittling words.

“...For the most part.”

Corben grabbed the 5 dollars, holding it up to Omar who looked… Positively confused, but hesitantly took the note.

So much for being annoyed; Omar looked incredibly indifferent about the whole thing.

“And why are you giving me 5 bucks? Did I win a bet or something?”

“Eitri doesn’t want to pay online.”

“No, I just said I don’t like being in debt. Not that I don’t want to pay online.”

“Could you use your phone to pay me instead?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t have my bank account linked to my phone.”

Omar narrowed his eyes, before setting the pastry down on the table.

“Suit yourself then.”

So, he sat down.

And the table… Fell deathly silent. The only thing just barely mitigating the silence was the multitude of conversations around them.

…

Eitri looked down at her pastry, her stomach churning, but her appetite, gone.

…

I’ll finish this case quickly.

It was a thought to distract herself as she reluctantly took a bite.

Then I’ll never have to deal with these two again.

And with that resolution in mind, she leaned back.

The first day of this long journey, and it already felt way too bloody long.