Using a credit card she hoped her father couldn’t track, Melissa booked the flight from Lisbon to EIA. She checked in online and got a boarding pass on her burner phone.
There are advantages to having dual US and UK citizenship.
She would need to move fast once she landed in Lisbon. Her flight from London was late. She checked the airport terminal maps while in the air. She didn’t need that much time because the terminal in Lisbon was small compared with Heathrow, but she had forgotten one detail: customs. As the plane landed, she grabbed her bag from the overhead bin, and then got in front of a large group that were deplaning. She had enough time to scan her passport before being dumped off at the front of the Lisbon airport, and then she went to the restroom.
Time to leave my cell phone behind.
Melissa removed the battery and SIM chip from her phone. With a snap, and a flush the SIM chip was taken care of. Exiting the restroom, Melissa looked at the departures board.
“Flight 3357 to EIA boarding completed, we will close the doors in two minutes,” the announcer said.
“I’m ten gates away!” she said aloud.
Melissa ran, and she made it just as the flight attendant was touching the jet bridge to close the door.
“Hey, I’m here. Don’t close that door!” Melissa yelled.
The flight attendant froze, and then met her at the check-in podium. She scanned her boarding pass on her burner phone.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Glad you could make it,” the flight attendant said.
“Thanks,” Melissa said in a breathless voice.
Melissa entered the plane.
It’s packed—but the seats look big enough.
Melissa hoped she would get some much-needed rest on the flight. She took her window seat and closed her eyes. She was asleep in minutes.
Melissa was standing in front of an open grave. She could see several people dressed in black on either side of her. A priest was reading last rites. Several moments later, six men carried a small coffin toward the open grave. The casket was ornate, and she could see her reflection on its surface as they set it down in front of her. Someone opened the casket. The small, frail body of a little girl was visible. Melissa looked down. She didn’t feel sadness or anything at all. It was April. April sat up, eyes closed. Melissa could see pieces of exposed metal through tears in the girl’s flesh. Then April opened her glowing, red eyes.
“Why did you let them experiment on me, Mummy?”
Melissa awoke to a plane that felt like it was being tossed around like a ball in the back of an empty truck bed. She heard moans, screams, and other unidentifiable sounds.
“This is your captain speaking. We are about an hour away from EIA. We are experiencing a lot of turbulence, so please keep your seat belts fastened for the rest of the flight. Flight attendants, please take your seats, as well.”
An old man got up and started walking to the rear of the aircraft. Another jolt threw the old man into a group of passengers.
Must be an emergency for the old coot!
Despite the pleading from the flight attendants, the old man kept moving back. Melissa noticed that most of the flight attendants had already fastened themselves into their seats. The plane’s nose dipped, and the old man went flying. Melissa looked out the window. She could see the wing of the aircraft bouncing like it was a toy. She could also see a lot of snow flying over the wing.
I wonder if we will land at EIA after all!
As if on cue, there was another message from the captain.
“Hello everyone, I wish I had better news for you, but there is too much snow at EIA to attempt a safe landing. They have diverted us to Newport Airport about a hundred miles to the south. Sorry for any inconvenience.”
Great. I hope Julius is tracking the flight.