Page 27 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

Chapter 6

Alisa finally landed at home, in St. Petersburg, at Pulkovo Airport. The plane had touched down at two fifteen in the morning, and the moment it stopped, people jumped up from their seats and began to swarm insanely like insects, dragging their luggage down from the overhead shelves.

She hated this rush, when the plane landed and everyone immediately got to their feet and began shuffling around. Alisa simply decided to wait until the chaos settled and only then take her things and leave the plane, one of the last.

Her partner sitting to her left did not seem to have woken up yet. She decided not to wake Lev for a few more minutes, he deserved to rest; after all, they had trained so hard to win this championship, although the fact that they had only taken silver still upset them a little, the difference of only one point had proved fatal to their self-esteem.

Lev was sleeping peacefully. Alisa looked at him again, at his blond curls, and smiled, then bent down, pulled out her backpack, took out her phone and headphones, and turned off airplane mode.

Zero notifications.

Well, no wonder…

What was I always waiting for? For my mother to text? Ohhh, has my girl landed? But she was probably already on her way to work by now… We are separated by the time zone.

Alisa sighed, feeling the cold seep into the cabin of the plane, and rain began drumming against the windows, rain again… she hated rain, and yet she lived in one of the rainiest cities on the planet, wasn’t that strange? But there was no choice, the national team was here, and it was here that she had been sent to train for the future Olympics.

She turned on her music and simply let herself sink into the song. It was one of the rap tracks by her favorite artist, his voice always awakened a certain sadness and nostalgia in her, as though he touched the strings of her soul, and she put on:

Markul “Low Temperatures”

Closing her eyes, she tried to listen only to his voice and to the song itself.

But only a moment later she felt a tap on her shoulder and opened her eyes, noticing the stewardess looking at her and Lev with raised eyebrows.

“You’re the last ones, please leave the cabin, everyone else has already gone.”

Alisa nodded and noticed that Lev was still asleep. She gently woke him by patting his knee. He muttered something unintelligible in his sleep and began to unfasten his seat belt.

Alisa stood up from her seat and took the luggage down from the overhead shelf, and Lev followed her with his own, and together they were the last to leave the plane, stepping into the jet bridge that led into the depths of the airport.

Then border control awaited them, and fortunately there was no line anymore. They passed through it and came out into the arrivals hall.

Lev was immediately surrounded by his family and his girlfriend, who greeted him with flowers and nearly jumped into his arms the moment they approached.

Alisa nodded to him and headed toward the taxi area. Calling a car through the app on her phone, she went outside to wait, shivering slightly in her jacket, because she was standing just beneath the edge of the roof where the rain could not reach her, and she did not want to get caught in it.

Alisa unbuttoned her jacket and wrapped her fingers around the warm medal hanging on her chest, squeezing it tightly and staring at the silver.

Second place.

She drew a deep breath, feeling as though she had failed, but that was not the main thing, was it? Really?

Perhaps she was speaking to herself, perhaps even aloud.

Nearby, people stood smoking while they waited for their taxis too, but Alisa did not smoke, she hated the smell of cigarettes because of her grandfather, who had smoked like a steam train… he had always smelled of cigarettes and that smoke…

But he was gone now too.

And every smoking person stirred something vague inside her, as though she missed him, and at the same time knew that nothing could be changed, that the dead could not be brought back.

Alisa took her phone out of her jacket’s pocket again and looked at the time.

Two forty-six.

“The taxi would be here in another five minutes,” she muttered to herself. Her body was already freezing, she was shivering so badly that her teeth nearly chattered against each other, and then suddenly the screen of her phone lit up with a notification.

Alisa looked down and saw a message in the messenger from an unknown number.