By the Flutter of a Butterfly's Wing

Normal

Ava Patel was, by her own admission, normal. Nothing particularly amazing had ever happened to her, but, on balance, nothing particularly awful had either. She had left school with grades that were 'good enough', and got a job at a middle-of-the-range advertising firm, where she assigned projects to different people, depending on their specialities.

It all began on a normal Wednesday afternoon. Nothing special had happened that day at work; in fact, the only noteworthy thing to say about the whole affair was that she wanted to go home and catch up on the drama series she was watching, "An Admission of Guilt".

When five o'clock finally rolled around, she escaped as quickly as she could. Ducking through the crowd in the junction by her office block, she set her sights on the Underground station across the road. Her train left at quarter past five. She checked her watch. Seven minutes past the hour. She'd be fine.

She stood on the platform, waiting for her train. Five minutes to go. She looked around at all the busy people, walking briskly to get to wherever they were walking briskly to, talking loudly on their mobile phones, barely looking ahead of themselves. The general hubbub of London was one of the reasons she loved the city, but could also annoy her to no end when she just wasn't in the mood.

Scanning the crowd, she noticed someone she recognised. She studied their face, trying to remember who they were. Just as she remembered, the face looked up. And Julia Harrison from her sixth form English literature class was walking towards her.

*****

"Ava! Its been an age!"
Julia sounded far too enthusiastic for Ava's liking.
"Hi Julia...you...look well?"
Ava never knew what to say in these situations, particularly when she'd never really spoken to the person in the past.
"Aw, thanks, so do you. So what have you been up to since year thirteen? Been to uni? Bought a house? Got a job? Got a boyfriend?"

Waaaay too many questions.

"No, no, yes, and definitely no." responded Ava. "I'm renting a one bedroom flat near to the advertising firm where I'm working. Well, as near as near can be in London."
"Cool. I always knew you'd do something interesting." Julia said in that polite tone of voice employed when you don't care at all.
Ava knew that she was wrong on two counts. Firstly, her job wasn't interesting in the slightest. Secondly, Julia couldn't have 'always known' because they'd never really spoken.
"Anyway, I think that's my train, so I've got to go." Said Julia, already walking away. "I'll look you up on Facebook!" She yelled, in lieu of a goodbye. Ava sighed. She'd never really been one for spontaneous conversation.

A loudspeaker rang out, alerting all the would-be passengers to the departure of a train.

The five fifteen to Bexley is leaving now. That's, the five fifteen to Bexley, leaving now. Thank you.

The five fifteen to Bexley. That was her train. She must have missed it's arrival while she was talking to Julia.

"Excuse me, coming through!" She exclaimed, as she pushed through an unyielding crowd. "Sorry, excuse me, I need to catch that train!"

She reached the front of the platform just as the train left the station.

"No!"

She walked dejectedly back to the ticket booth.
"Hi, do you know when the next train to Bexley leaves?" She asked the man behind the desk.
"The next train to Bexley leaves at... Half past six."
"Half past six!?" She sighed. "Thanks anyway."
She walked to a bench and sat down. She could wait for the next train, in over an hours time...or she could walk. It would probably be quicker, and she didn't feel like staying amongst the crowd for too long, rife as it was with pickpockets and thieves. Decided, she stood up, and walked back out into the London streets.

*****

Fifteen minutes later, Ava was walking down a B road, homeward bound. She heard shouting up ahead and walked quicker to see what was going on, and if she could help. Looking down the alley that was the source of the sounds, she saw two men in heated debate. She hid herself behind the wall, peering round. One man seemed taller and younger than the other, who seemed to be the losing party. The tall man was holding the other by the lapels of his jacket, and appeared to be threatening him as opposed to mugging him, as she'd first thought might be the case. She grabbed her phone, fully prepared to call the emergency services if the situation developed.

But then the shorter man wrenched out of the other's grasp, his momentum spinning him around so she could see his face.

And her phone fell from her hand.