xp_logs | With Malice Aforethought

As Alex waits on the plane, one of the stewardess' has a message for him.

"Would you please stop?" Alex started at the annoyed voice of the person in the airline seat behind him. Every few seconds, the teenager had been unbuckling his seat belt and standing up to look out the still open plane door. He hadn't even noticed that he'd been jostling the person behind him every time. Glaring at the stuffy business man, Alex sat back down and buckled his seat belt, glancing over at the window seat next to him, where Lorna's purse was stacked on top of two airline blankets. Where is she?

"Pardon me, sir." The flight attendant, one of the dark eyed island women chosen for these types of flights to give the travellers a taste of the tropics awaiting them, reached across the businessman and touched Alex on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Mr. Summers?" She smiled as he looked at her, "Are you Alex Summers?"

He was so jittery that he started again at the call of his name. Alex looked up dazed for a moment, wondering what she could want, and where the HELL was Lorna? "Yes, I'm Alex Summers. How can I help you?" His voice was distracted as he tried to look past her at the empty plane door.

She held out the folded paper in her hand. "This message was left for you at the gate. They said it was quite urgent so they brought it in." When he'd taken it, she leaned back and began to placate the businessman, asking him if he wanted anything.

Since she began talking to the man behind him, Alex didn't have a chance to ask about whether or not she had seen a green-haired woman at all in the past 20 minutes, preferably running to catch the plane with her worried boyfriend already aboard. Sighing softly, and after checking the door one more time, Alex sat back in the seat and unfolded the piece of paper he'd been handed.

The note had been dashed off quickly in Lorna's distinctive looping scribble.

Hey love,

So sorry to do this to you but I'm going to miss the flight. Mom just got a hold of me and something is wrong with Cammy. I need to talk to her and you know how airlines are about cell phones in the skies. Don’t worry; I'll catch the next one. I'll call you as soon as your plane touches down in Hawaii. I love you.

Alex read it through once, blinked as he processed what it said, then re-read it again to make sure he saw that right. Once his brain caught up with his eyes, he jumped out of his seat. Why is she doing this? She knows I would stay with her! As he turned down the aisle, he saw the stewards closing the airplane door. "Wait!"

The petite flight attendant stepped in front of him easily, "I'm sorry, sir, I need you to sit down now." Her voice was polite but firm. She didn't touch him or make any threatening movements but she made it perfectly clear that he had precisely one option: listen to her and sit back down.

The 'but' died on his lips as he looked passed her one last time at the now closed door, then sat down submissively, or more slumped down. The attendant reminded him to buckle his seatbelt which he did without thinking, his mind racing at what could have happened that would make Lorna miss this. Closing his eyes with a deep sigh, Alex settled in for the most miserable 6 hours of his entire life.