Flight 827 - Part 2

Part 2 of my story Flight 827. There will be one more addition. To my fellow hacks - You've read this story before, but not in this expanded version.

By Matt

Not seeing Annette anymore pained him the most. He longed to see her on a more serious level, but his timidity prevented that. If only he could have brought himself to ask.It was a regret he carried still, one he’d probably always carry.

The downfall was swift. He didn’t qualify for unemployment. “You haven’t worked enough,” the grey-haired woman told him. She seemed truly apologetic. But she couldn’t know what the news meant.

The job market was tight; recession had once again struck the area. A visit to a job fair had been particularly disastrous. He’d gotten lost among the buildings at the Seattle Center and never even made it there.

Once again in tears, he called his parents, told them he was coming come, that he was failure on his own.

Resigned to his fate, he visited the TV station where he’d interned before needing to get a paying job. He said he was leaving town and said his goodbyes. His supervisors had tried to get him hired before, to no avail.

The phone call a few days later had caught him by surprise. Was he interested in a job? The night assignment editor was leaving. Perhaps they could convince the news director he was the right person.

Of course he was interested, this was what he wanted. "We’ll get back to you," they said. When they did, it was the day before he was leaving. He’d made the arrangements to go. The landlord expected him to move out. The utilities were shut off, cable cancelled, train tickets in hand and the airline was coming to pick up his stuff to ship back to New York.

“Too late,” he told them. “If only you’d called yesterday.” He could have said yes, but he was too afraid, again too timid, to change his plans.

He’d still be here if he’d taken a chance, but chances weren’t what he was good at.