It's been a long time since Nina last saw anyone from Anubis house. To be fair it was her own damn fault, her own decision, but that somehow didn't make it hurt less. Self-imposed isolation is still isolation. And loneliness can hurt worse if you're the reason you're alone.
She might have left on her own, and early, but Mr. Sweet had sent her an invitation to the class reunion anyway. She considered turning it down for a long time. She knew that was the coward's way out, but she wasn't sure she wasn't a coward anyway. In the end, at the RSVP deadline, while more drunk than she'd care to admit, Nina had said yes. And not only booked the flight and everything.
She was in England now, on the train from the airport. It wasn't too late to turn back, get out at the next stop, take the next train back to the airport, get a last-minute flight back home. Well, maybe not home per say, but back to America. Ever since leaving Anubis and her gran's death nowhere had truly felt like home. Nina stayed on the train until her intended stop.
She walked away from the station, and called a cab to take her to the house before she could change her mind, again. Every day since she'd RSVPed, she almost messaged Mr. Sweet to cancel, at least once. She'd almost ordered her Uber to turn around and not leave her at the airport in the states. She'd almost not left the British airport, and she'd stood up at every stop to get off before this one on the train. When the taxi arrived, she almost told them to forget it, she almost boarded a new train.
She had had every day since the day she'd RSVP to prepare for seeing everyone she had left. She had had the plane ride, and the train ride, and now the taxi ride. And Nina knew she had wasted that time almost going back. The taxi arrived outside of Anubis House, and she wasn't ready.
Ready or not, the driver was shooing her out of his cab and handing her, her luggage. With a pit in her stomach, Nina slowly approached the front door. Before she could knock, or turn and run, the door opened. Resigned to her fate, Nina entered.