Tina looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall to see that it was 11:05am, the flight had departed twenty minutes ago. She was gone, Bette was on her way to Paris, where she would accept a new job and a new life, in which Tina played no part. A single tear descended down her pale face and fell onto the paper ticket in front of her.

“If this is the right thing to do then why does my entire body want to scream out that it’s wrong?” Tina questioned.

There was no reply.

“You may love her but she doesn’t love you anymore and that’s why you have to let her go” Tina reminded herself once more. Each time she said it the reason seemed a little more flawed in its logic.. Tina picked up the ticket and carefully tore it in half from top to bottom. She picked up the pieces and threw them in the kitchen trash. Eventually she moved from the table after resolving to take a shower and then call Alice to see if she would be free to meet for lunch. Tina knew better than to allow herself to sit around the apartment alone on a day like this.

It was 12:10pm by the time Tina was dressed and almost ready to leave the apartment. The phone rang as she ran a brush through her hair in an effort to make herself presentable. She walked out to the lounge and picked up the phone off the table.

“Hello”

“Tina, hey” Alice sounded distracted, stressed even.

“Hey, you must have read my mind, I was just about call to see if you wanted to meet for lunch?”

“Tina, do you know what flight Bette was on this morning?” Alice did her best to make the question sound casual

“It’s an Air France flight. Why? What difference does it make?” Tina tried to sound indifferent

‘It makes every bit of difference’ Alice thought but instead she asked “Can you check your ticket to find out the flight number for me?”

“Uh…yeah…just a minute” Tina put the cordless phone down on the kitchen bench before reaching into the trash and retrieving the two halves of the ticket. Reassembling them on the bench she picked up the phone again.

“It’s flight number eighty-five” Tina informed Alice

“Oh Jesus…” Alice whispered, the cold sweat of shock gripping her body

“Alice what’s up?” A look of concern traced it way across Tina’s features.

Alice took a deep, shaky breath and swallowed the sudden urge to be sick. She couldn’t hold back the words that came next.

“Tina…Air France flight eighty-five went down off the coast just after eleven”

There was nothing but silence.

“Tina did you hear me?” Alice struggled to get the words out before breaking into sobs “the plane crashed in to the ***** ocean”

“Yeah I heard you” Tina’s eventual reply was distant “I’ve got to go” With that she disconnected the call.

TBC