NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: One-Way Flight
Though one of the biggest miracles of all, James managed to make it back to Sydney without crashing the car.
The drive was a blur of frustration and stubborn pride. He kept reliving the events of the past day—Bell looking somehow radiant and full of life, Lily refusing to leave, Zane's thinly veiled contempt. James hadn't been able to make sense of it then, and he still couldn't now. Everything about that place had felt off, like they were all sharing some unspoken joke he wasn't privy to.
He pulled into the airport long-term parking lot, and just sat there for a moment in silence. The ring of the seatbelt warning light kept pinging. James reached for his phone and tried calling Lily. Again.
Straight to message bank.
He tried again. And again.
Each time, the same robotic voice told him she wasn't answering.
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Blocked.
The first time it had happened, he'd brushed it off as a mistake. Maybe her phone had died, maybe there was no reception in that bush shack. But now? Three attempts later, the pattern was undeniable. Lily had blocked his number.
His hands tightened on the steering wheel, knuckles white. Anger boiled under his skin—anger at Lily for shutting him out, at Zane for manipulating the whole situation, at Bell for somehow making it all seem normal. Even anger at himself for not having the words to change anything.
He opened the airline app on his phone and tapped through the screens without hesitating. One-way flight. Sydney to Perth. First available seat. No return.
If she wants me gone, then fine.
There was no hesitation now. No more pretending this was just a bump in the road. Lily had made her choice. James wasn't sure what had happened out there at Zane's place—he was half-convinced something unnatural was going on—but if Lily didn't want to talk to him, then he had no reason to stay.
He moved through the airport like a ghost, eyes hollow. When he reached the boarding gate, he bought two mini bottles of scotch before he even sat down.
By the time the plane lifted into the air, James was on his third drink, staring out the window at the endless darkness beyond the clouds.
He didn't look back.