by Mirren Hogan
Walking past the office, she saw her brother at the desk Manny had occupied, working on the computer. She decided not to bother him. He’d be in no mood to talk after the argument they’d had. And he would certainly not be in the mood to see Flynn. Sam was such a racist, even after having been born and raised in an ethnic melting pot.
Flynn loaded all of their stuff into the truck and was defiantly sitting in the passenger seat. His head was leaning against the headrest. His eyes were closed. He looked like he was asleep, but he turned and smiled when she got closer.
“All right, say goodbye to paradise and all the hellish monsters it holds.” Makani slammed the door and turned the key in the ignition. Backing the truck up, she noticed the mound of freshly turned earth under the coffee plants. Apparently, Sam wasn’t going to call the cops about the “human body with costume wings.” That was really nice of him.
“Paradise is in the eye of the beholder,” he remarked. “But it was paradise for a while.” He patted the camera in its case on his lap. “I did get some good shots. Lucky Manny signed off on them, or your brother might sue my ass for selling them.”
“Which he wouldn’t hesitate to do, the cut-throat bastard. I love my family, but seriously. All my brothers can be like that.” That was probably why they were bosses of companies, while she had to make up a job for herself.
“Who knew most of a law degree would come in so handy?” he asked. “That contract is tight enough that Sam would lose the farm fighting it.”
Speeding back onto the highway, Makani watched the scenery go by, the sun painting the landscape orange and red. Everything looked so peaceful, just like the first day they’d come here. It had been so promising, the work and the play. “It’s all going to be better with us gone.” She was counting on that.
“Some parts of it will be,” he agreed. “People will be safer. But anywhere is better where you are.” He leaned over to squeeze her knee. “Thanks for bringing me here.”
“No . . . ” Makani took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But you’ll thank me, one day.” The drive was long and slow, something that didn’t help the impending sense of dread. Makani kept glancing over, hoping Flynn wouldn’t bother to take his phone out.
They pulled into the airport carpark several hours later. Makani paid up for the week on a spot in the long-term parking and texted Sam the stall number, leaving the keys in the glove box. Hoisting her duffel, she started them toward the left side, leading to the Mainland terminal.
The whole place was crowded, the last flights heading to LAX and SFO starting to prepare for boarding. Mixed in, there were a few inter-island DC-10 flights between the larger 747s. It was quiet chaos, people trying to find the proper gate or locate lost children who had wandered to the Space Travel Museum.
Makani, amidst the chaos, took her phone out and checked her messages. Shooting a text back, she pushed Flynn toward the proper check-in kiosk and started pawing at her pockets. “Shit! I must have left my charger in the car. Why don’t you check in, and I’ll be back after I buy a new one, okay?” She pointed to the kiosk out the sliding doors, where a man sold everything a person could possibly have forgotten.
Flynn nodded and hefted his bag higher up his shoulder. “Sure. Don’t be long.” He kissed her mouth and turned to give the old woman behind him a dirty look when she gestured for him to shuffle forward in the queue.
***
Just out of Flynn’s sight and hearing, two people had a conversation:
“So . . . you’re sure about this?”
“Yeah. It’s better this way.” A long pause. “You’ll keep in touch, right? Let me know what happens?”
“Of course! Don’t worry about that.”
“Thanks, man. Now, go! My flights already started to board.”
“Still wish you’d reconsider. You love him, don’t—”
“I’m doing this because I love him. Go on. Take care of him for me.”
Blank look.
“Not like that.”
“Right. I’ll let you know when we touch down at the first stop.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you when you get back.” The woman turned and walked away, headed toward the inter-island terminal and a flight back to HNL.
***
Flynn reached the front of the queue and pulled out his ID to show the check-in clerk. The woman glanced indifferently at it and printed out a boarding pass.
“Thanks.” Flynn took the pass and glanced at it. And frowned.
“I’m sorry, there’s been a mistake. I’m going to Honolulu. This says New York.” Makani had made the booking; she could confirm the mistake. He turned around to look for her. Instead, standing behind him was someone else. Someone all too familiar.
“Charlie?” The gallery owner didn’t look surprised to see him.
“None other.” Charlie rolled his sleeves down and adjusted his man-purse. “We’re headed in the same direction—” He glanced at Flynn’s ticket. “Yeah, we are. Fancy that. And look, you’ve got the window!”
“Yeah. No, I’m not.” Flynn looked around frantically for Makani. “It’s a mistake. They printed out the wrong ticket.” He checked again. It had his name on it, just the wrong destination. He turned back to the check-in clerk, only to see that she was busy with the old woman who had been behind him.
Where’s Makani? He was anxious to have this fixed and be on their way out of here.
“No, it’s not a mistake. Don’t worry. I promised her I’d take care of you when we got to the city.” Charlie looked at Flynn sadly and sighed. “She’s really doing this for your own good, man. Just roll with it.”
Flynn blinked. “Roll with it? Not a mistake? I don’t . . . ” His mind was churning. “You saw her? Where is she?” He looked around again and then stared at Charlie. The penny dropped and his heart went with it. “She’s gone, isn’t she?” He leaned back against the counter, reeling physically, his heart twisting inside his chest.
“She thought I’d be safer . . . ”
Damn her, she should have given him the choice. How could he have not known? Then he realized he had known. All the signs were there. She’d pulled back, gone quiet. Her words. One more time before we have to go. Please. She hadn’t meant one more time, she’d meant one last time.
He grabbed his phone out of his pocket, pressed the email icon and let it download. His e-ticket, to New York, the time stamp on the email. She’d planned all of this hours ago.
He stepped away from the counter. “Is this why you’re here?” he asked, dazed.
“She didn’t want you walking around a strange city alone. I know the area, and I’ve got business contacts you should talk to.” Charlie tried to smile, but it didn’t come out right. He put a long hand on Flynn’s shoulder. “Look, she’s doing this because she cares, all right?”
Flynn snorted. “Yeah, right. Sure.” She’d been suggesting he leave since they’d met. Maybe she just hadn’t been able to tell him to his face that she really wanted him to get lost. He jerked his shoulder away from Charlie. He knew it wasn’t the other man’s fault, but he didn’t want comforting right now.
He considered looking around for Makani, chasing her if need be. But then, she’d made up her mind, that was crystal clear. A glance at the electronic notice board showed that the flight was open and now boarding. Maybe it was for the best.
“We should go then, so we don’t miss the flight.” He sounded cold, even to himself, but he was struggling to hold himself together.
“All right. Come on, man.” Charlie jerked his head toward the gates and laid a companionable arm around Flynn’s shoulders. “So, you ever heard of Fire Island?”
***
On the other end of the airport, Makani sat alone next to the window of the small plane. She wiped tears away, and for the hundredth time, wondered if she was doing the right thing. With her fingers twisted around her phone, Makani knew what she would have to do, to make things final. It was going to be the hardest thing s
he’d done in her entire life.
Slowly, she slid the back of her phone off. Popping the battery out, Makani found the SIM card and let it land in the palm of her hand. She considered putting it back in, but she was made of steely stuff. She dumped it into the pocket on the seat in front, and stuffed the lifeless phone back in her jeans.
Looking out the window, she sighed and wiped more tears away. This was for the best. This was making sure Flynn was safe, even if it broke both of their hearts. Makani could live with that. Broken hearts healed over time. Maybe one day, in the distant future, he would be able to forgive her. She tightened her fingers around the arm rests, and closed her eyes. This was going to be the longest forty-five-minute flight ever.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Erin Yoshikawa is a Scorpio born in the year of the rat. She currently resides on a small rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with one child and plethora of native fauna to aid in the writing process. One-time rock and roll queen, soup seller, grave digger, and world traveler, Erin enjoys a quiet existence working for “the Man” while not giving him the satisfaction of killing her imagination and dreams. She has contributed to a few anthologies, including the upcoming Crossroads in the Dark IV: GHOSTS. Nightmares Rise: The Dark Shores trilogy book 1 was her first full length novel. She hopes to find the time to write more in the future.
Mirren Hogan lives in NSW Australia with her husband, two daughters, a dog, a cat, rabbits, and countless birds. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in English with History as a minor and a Graduate’s Diploma of Arts for writing as well as a few degrees in education. She writes fantasy, urban fantasy and science fiction. Her debut novel, Crimson Fire was released in October 2016, followed up with Night Witches which is a rare foray of historical fiction. She has had several short stories included in charity anthologies, including but not limited to Like a Woman (breast cancer awareness) and the upcoming Crossroads in the Dark IV: GHOSTS (suicide prevention) and Southern Fried Autopsies (TBD). Her ever-growing list of releases can be followed on her Amazon page.
Other titles by Mirren Hogan
Dark Shores
Nightmares Rise (released)
Shadows Deepen (released)
Darkness Fades (coming soon)
Magic of Isskasala
Crimson Fire (released)
Crimson Fury (released)
Crimson Phoenix (coming soon)
Chadanar Cycle (series in development to be released soon)
Daughter of Shadows
Son of Solace
Ashes of Chadanar
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Burning Willow Press is a independent publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror, with genres blended into other formats as well. Located in South Carolina, in the US, BWP has published more than seventy dreams with the interests of the authors at heart since 2015, and that gentle reader will double by 2020.
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With many more to come.
