Sorry it's been so long, thanks for bearing with me and the good (?) news is, is that this isn't the end. I can't get them to keep quiet, so three more after this trio. Enjoy.


Coda

The arrivals hall was hot and stuffy, the queue for non-US citizens had snaked back and forth between ropes and stands. It had been a long wait, standing all the while. Nikki was tired now.

"Just one foot in front of the other," she said out loud to herself, willing her forward momentum to continue. She could sense the blackness around her, dominating her peripheral vision. She knew the signs, could feel the light-headedness. The pinpricks of flashing lights. The darkness closing in. She scanned the crowd desperate to see the one familiar face.

"Harry?" she half whispered, half called.

She wasn't really taking in the people around her. Everything was blurring.

One foot.

Then the next foot.

She pressed forward with the surge of other passengers disgorged through the doors.

She stopped, dipped her head forward to try and get more oxygen to her brain. Breathed in slowly and calmly. The people around her kept bumping into her, the constant jostling made her anxious. She looked into the sea of faces, desperate to find the one she knew.

"Harry!" she called a little louder.

She sensed movement over to her left and took a step in that direction. She saw him then, speeding towards her, half dragging Amira by the hand, after him. Her short legs not keeping up with his long strides, shoes slipping and failing to get a grip on shiny over polished floor.

"Harry!" Nikki sighed. "Get me out of here." She collapsed against him, felt the reassurance of his firm hold on her and the familiar scent of aftershave and then everything went black.

oOo

Harry scooped Nikki into his arms, called for Amira to follow him and strode to the nearest bank of chairs. He arranged Nikki across three of them, pulled up her knees, checked her temperature and that she was still breathing, seemingly all in one fluid movement.

"Amira. Look after Nikki. I'm going to find a wheelchair or something." He gave her a long look, trying to assess her comprehension of all that he had said.

"You. Look after Nikki!" He pointed.

"Me?" she asked.

"I'll be two minutes, I promise."

He didn't like the quivery look she gave him but he had no choice. He watched her perch on a chair level with Nikki's waist, her legs still not quite reaching the floor.

"I stay here. Look after Nikki." She said carefully.

"Yes! Good girl, Amira," he replied and disappeared into the sea of people.

oOo

Amira looked around. She wasn't used to so many people. Her village had been small, quiet, until the fighting and the bombs came. The last time she'd come through the airport, she'd hidden her face in Harry's shoulder and been carried by him. This time it was Nikki being carried and now Harry was gone. She was in charge.

"Look after Nikki," she said to herself. She looked at Nikki, she was very pale. She was fascinated by her springy blond hair and plucked up the courage to touch it, pull it and watch it bounce back. It felt soft. She liked the way it curled round her finger. She'd been so focused on her hair, she hadn't realised that Nikki had opened her eyes.

"Hello Amira," Nikki said.

"Abi Harry gone. Me look after…" she pointed towards Nikki and then rummaged in her backpack. She produced a juice box and after three or four attempts managed to get the straw out of the plastic and into the hole at the top of the box and offered it to Nikki.

"Me, look after. Drink." Amira commanded.

Nikki propped herself up and sucked in the sugar filled drink that had also been thoughtfully crammed with artificial sweeteners. It tasted disgusting but it was just what she needed. Welcome to America she thought. Why was Harry letting Amira drink this neurotoxic rubbish?

"It's nice," she smiled at Amira. "Thanks." Amira was digging into her back pack again and pulled out a small cereal bar. She started to unwrap it and looked back at Nikki and then back to the cereal bar. She snapped the bar in half, looked carefully at the two pieces and gave Nikki the larger bit. Nikki took it, and keeping her head low, swung herself round to a sitting position and took a bite of the bar. They sat side by side, thighs still touching, eating and sharing the juice box between them.

"Abi Harry, get help." Amira said.

Nikki dared to raise her head slightly and looked around. He was nowhere to be seen.

"No frightened." Amira added, taking Nikki's hand in her own. "Amira look after Nikki."

"You are doing a great job. Thank you." Nikki spoke slowly. She guessed that Amira probably understood more than she could say. The poor child must be terrified.

"What else is in the backpack?" Nikki asked pointing as she did so.

Amira opened it up. There was some spare clothes, another juice box and a plastic unicorn.

"I like the unicorn." Nikki said pointing to the multi-coloured animal.

Amira reached in but without taking it out of the bag pressed a button that made the unicorn shine brightly.

"It's a torch!" Nikki exclaimed.

Amira nodded and handed the unicorn over to Nikki, showing her where the button was. Nikki watched as the unicorn lit up, a rainbow of light shining into her hand.

"Amira no like dark."

Nikki put her arm around Amira's shoulder and pulled her close against her. "Nikki no like dark either," she whispered, holding the torch between them and lighting both their faces.

"Bombs bad. House…" Stuck for words Amira gestured a collapse sign.

"All gone."

"Dead."

"Amira stuck."

"Dark, very frightened."

"Abi Harry find, make better."

Nikki couldn't stop the tears from falling, she could see how hard it was for Amira to find the words; she was touched that Amira had shared her story so openly. Had Harry told her what had happened? Was this part of Amira's plan to look after her? It was a strange thing for Harry to have said to her, but maybe he just didn't want her to wander off. Nikki wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands.

Everyone Nikki had met so far had known of her ordeal. She'd not had to explain it to anyone. Even Harry had seemed to know. But now she would have to constantly retell it. Relive it with each retelling, how would she find the words? She didn't even have the same language barrier. And yet here with Amira, she did have someone who could understand.

"I was stuck in a box, under the ground for a long time. It was dark."

"More bombs?" The way Amira held her head, it was clear it was a question.

"No bombs. But I was frightened. I couldn't breathe." Nikki mimed the last one. "I thought I was going to die. I told my friend to go and rescue the others, I made him leave me to die." She slowed up, sure now that Amira would not understand any of what she had said.

"Abi Harry make better?" Amira asked.

Nikki looked up then, the warning alarm of a motorised vehicle reversing, interrupting the question.

"Come on girls!" called a familiar voice. It was Harry sat in the back of an airport transport buggy. Amira giggled, even Nikki almost smiled. "Welcome aboard," Harry continued his arms spread wide.

"Abi Harry make better," Nikki whispered to Amira.

Amira scurried on board and smiled at Harry.

"Great job Amira," he high fived her enthusiastically. "Look at what you did, you made Nikki better!"

She cocked her head to one side sceptically and watched as Nikki slowly got to her feet and sat down heavily in the buggy.

"Amira give Nikki drink." Harry looked at Nikki then wide eyed. Nikki nodded, Harry pulled a comic horrified face behind Amira's head, stuck out his tongue and mimed his low opinion of Amira's favourite drink.

"You's all hold on tight back there," the driver announced and he began to move the vehicle into the sea of people and towards the exit.

Nikki smiled.


You didn't really expect I'd make it easy for them, did you?