WATTYS 2022 SHORTLIST
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A body is uncovered in an empty classroom at Lincoln Lane Prep, West Jackson Boulevard, it's ruled an accident. A heroin overdose. The case is closed within a month.
Holly Steinfeld alrea...
She glanced at her watch before making the worst decision of her life.
Holly Steinfeld's steps were slow, hesitant. The screech of her stuffed suitcase was muffled as it crawled behind her.
It wasn't too late to turn back.
To lean over the information booth, a sugary sweet smile smacked on for good measure...
No...
Packing up three years of a new life into whatever luggage she could fit in the overhead compartment was hell in a picnic basket. She couldn't chicken out.
Not yet.
In the five days since her mother, Georgia broke the news that they were moving back, Holly's best friend Iris was in the dark. All she knew was that shortly after the covid uproar subsided, Holly, up and vanished.
And it would stay that way.
Calls went to voicemail and texts were unread for days at a time.
Guilt trickled down her spine.
Holly knew it was only a matter of time before Iris's curiosity would morph into concern.
She would deal with that bridge when she came to it.
Terminal three was busier than usual. It bustled with the kind of activity that thrived beneath the glare of the morning sun. It wasn't the first time a delayed flight left Holly stranded in an airport across the country beneath the cloak of the night.
It was however the first time she weaved through the gates as if she were at a Cubs game.
What the hell?
Her eyes narrowed.
Any other day and under different circumstances, the cluster of skimpily dressed teenage girls recording Tiktok dances by Concourse G11 and raggedy-haired boys practicing trick shots with golf balls and party red plastic cups by G9 would have piqued Holly's interest.
This time was different.
She told herself she wouldn't return. She would avoid the damn place like the bubonic plague.
And yet there she was, another nameless face in the gridlock of bodies in the main central walkway.
It was the middle of April and unless there was a Spring Break festival she was missing out on, there was no reason for O'Hare International Airport to be alive at that time of the night.
Her phone hummed and buzzed in her palm. She didn't need to look at the screen to know a chunk of the messages were from Iris.
Their friendship was as good as buried.
At least until Georgia agreed to see reason. And even then, lightning didn't strike the same place twice.
She hovered her finger over Iris's last message.
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