Descent

Alice was in Budapest. By the time she read Tyler’s text about the accident their father was in intensive care. So she sold her camera to an American student for the money for the cheapest ticket home. There was supposed to be a connection in Singapore but they bumped her onto a later flight. You should have read the small print, they told her. Alice cried and cried until they found her a seat. She had to run all the way to the gate to make boarding. Thick cloud-cover obscured her old hometown. Descending through it she imagined Tyler looking annoyed—cursing her for not getting a ‘normal’ ticket on a ‘normal’ flight. But when she came through customs she saw he was wearing a different expression. It was one she’d never seen on him before.

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