“You know me.” Shanna chuckled. “Love my … sausages.”
Something shifted behind Simon’s back. The man got out of his seat. “On the other hand,” he said, “which one is your seat, again?”
Simon directed him toward it, then plopped down next to Shanna.
“Thanks, Chris,” Shanna said. “That was a great idea.”
Chris hmmph-ed. “Never say I don’t do anything for you.” And she put her earbuds back in.
Simon had fallen asleep somewhere after the dinner meal and before the movie Shanna was playing—lots of scenes of a man and woman tramping through a jungle—had ended. He must have been sleeping pretty well, because he was completely disoriented for a few seconds after waking up.
He’d heard aping. Was that his microwave? Wait, was he making breakfast? And then he suddenly dipped, and he realized he wasn’t at home, but on an airplane—in the middle of a turbulence.
He shook his head, trying to get his bearings. The lights were still low, so they must be mid-flight. The plane shook again, and a few passengers yelped. A baby started crying.
Yawning, he looked over at Shanna. “Hey, how many hours till—”
Shanna’s face was pale, and she clutched both armrests, her knuckles gone as white as snow.
“Shanna? Hey.” He waited until she looked at him. “It’s just a little turbulence. It’s gonna be fine. Trust me, I’ve had worse.”
The plane dipped again, like they were dropping down on a roller coaster.
“Oh, no,” Shanna whimpered. “Let me out.”
“What?”
“Let me out!” She unfastened her seatbelt and turned to him. “I have to go out.”
“But we have to stay fastened—”
“Please.”
Did he imagine it, or were her eyes watering? “Okay.” He stood aside. She whizzed past him and to the back of the plane, toward the bathrooms. He kept his gaze in that direction for a few more moments, then sat back down.
“Dude,” Chris said.
“What?”
“She’s clearly unwell.”
“I noticed that.”
“NotI’m-gonna-puketype of unwell. Go after her.”
“I’m not going to …”
Chris kept staring at him with her big blue unblinking eyes, surrounded by dark eyeshadow.
“Oh, for god’s sake,” he muttered, got out of the seat, and headed to where he’d seen Shanna disappear.
She hadn’t locked the bathroom door, so after he knocked and she didn’t respond, Simon entered. Shanna was nudging the cover of the toilet seat with her foot, sniffling and grumbling.
“What are you doing?”
She turned to him. In the warm light of the bathroom, she looked a little less pale, but her eyes were still wide and scared, and her hair was disheveled, hugging her face and shoulders like a puffy golden cloud. “I told you. I need to get out.”
“To where?”
