The Butterfly Effect

Bonus Chapter

Sprinting down the stairs of his apartment with his backpack on his back, Joey had his phone pressed to his ear and he said frantically, "Alright, alright! I'm on my way down, Kirsten! Stop terrorizing me!"

When he banged the front door open, his sister shouted from the passenger's seat of Harley's car with her face red out of rage and impatience, "Come on, Joey! What time do you think it is now? For God's sake, we're late!"

But he just ignored her and jumped into the backseat. "I had something to... sort out first," Joey panted as he threw his backpack aside on the backseat.

Craning her neck over her seat to him, Kirsten heaved a bull-like snort. "You'll have six hours to sleep on the plane!"

"I wasn't sleeping!" he retorted. "And just calm down, will you? JFK is only half an hour away, anyway. We'll arrive right on time the plane is boarding. Jesus." He groaned as he rolled his eyes. "Harley, please, just drive." After patting his best friend's shoulder, Joey leaned back against the seat trying to catch his breath and erase the conversations he had had earlier with Ashley and Jessica.

His eyes caught Harley staring at him on the rearview mirror. Harley's gaze clearly asked him, 'So, what happened?' but Joey just shrugged one shoulder and shook his head. Taking a deep breath, Harley commenced to drive to the airport. Alas, only a few miles from the airport entrance, they were ensnared in traffic and it caused delays for about fifteen minutes.

"'Only half an hour away', huh, Joey?" Kirsten mocked after they escaped the traffic jam, turning to Joey.

"Just shut up! You're distracting Harley!" he shouted. "Come on, man! Go faster! Don't let that motherfucker cut our lane!"

"I'm trying!" Harley shouted back. "We're almost going one-eighty!"

Kirsten groaned angrily. "See, now we only got, like, fifteen minutes before our plane takes off!"

Joey didn't respond because down inside he likewise felt anxious whether or not they were going to make it.

"Don't worry, guys," Harley interceded, attempting to subside the tense atmosphere in the car. "We nearly arrive."

As Harley's car started pulling over in front of Terminal Eight, Joey slung his backpack over his shoulders and hopped out of the car as soon as it came to a full stop at the drop-off area. "Go, go, go, Kirsten!"

He was about to dash toward the gate when Kirsten's voice yelled behind him, "Joey, wait! My luggage is still in the trunk!"

Grunting, his feet ceased short and he whipped around to see her standing antsy next to the car while Harley was dragging her cabin luggage out of the trunk. "Come on, guys, hurry up!"

After pulling up the handle, Harley wheeled the luggage toward Joey with Kirsten following at his feet. When they arrived at the gate, Harley slid Kirsten's luggage to her and stroked the top of her head the way he did every time he said goodbye to her.

"Good luck catching your flight, guys," Harley said. "Now, go!"

"Thanks, man," Joey replied, slapping his arm slightly. "I owe you big."

"Thank you so much, Harley." Kirsten gave him a quick one-arm hug. "Bye!"

With that, the stepsiblings ran into the terminal and queued impatiently while the airport securities and X-ray machine did screening tests on them and their belongings. They were back on running to the boarding gate when they were good to go from the checkpoint. It was only ten minutes left or they would be left behind by their flight and there was nothing Joey could think of except to sprint at warp speed his long legs could take him.