Death May Disagree

Chapter 21

Ever since I was little, painting has always brought out the perfectionist in me. The art itself sharpened my eyesight and improved my concentration, but I guess that's what happens when anyone finds interest in anything. The downside was the speed in which I spotted imperfections and scrapped nearly-complete pieces in a fit of rage, or cut off corners because of a small splotch of paint.

The letters "DE" were painted on the backside of one of the banners' corners, but I'm less upset about not discovering this sooner instead of right now, and more upset about the letters' existence. Under normal circumstances, I would've planned to wake up early tomorrow and surprised Dominique with a newer, better banner before she left for the airport, but now I'm thinking of how to postpone her flight.

"Can I see that for a second?" I ask Dominique before she disappears into Annie's car. Annie and DJ exchange a perplexed look from where they're seated at the front as Dominique holds the banner out to me. I examine the letters.

" "D-E"? What's that?" she asks, but I can't tell her because I don't even know. There's a yellow line less than a centimeter long right where I made the cut, and judging by the looks of it, a third letter was meant to be seen. Maybe even a fourth to spell out the only word that came to mind - D-E-A-D. Doom was the only one who used the yellow paint last night, so he must have painted this secret message to tell me that Dominique was the friend who was going to die.

If my calculations are correct, the week for the million deaths would end in three days, which means that Dominique can die between now and then. If she manages to survive until she lands in Singapore, I don't know how I could protect her from all the way over here. I needed to think of a way to change her order of events while being sure that at the very least, one of my actions led her away from this unknown way she was going to die. Saving Victoria had taken a lot of actions - coming into the apartment, calling 911, patching her up, and sending her to the hospital - but I saw the cause of her would-be death and took the appropriate steps in preserving her life. How do I go about preventing Dominique's death if I don't know when and how exactly it was going to happen?

"I think someone painted it randomly on the back," I say in explanation.

Dominique laughs. "Oh well. It doesn't change the fact that this was beautifully made."

I smile. "I know you're done with classes but I wish you could stay through the quarter and leave after graduation."

"You're so sweet, Miranda! I just... can't wait to see my family again," she says sweetly.

Dominique's gleaming eyes make my own want to water, as if I can see into those black pools of light all the longing she's kept in her heart. As a mechanical engineer major, Dominique has had to endure five years of being apart from her family, visiting for short periods during the holidays as her internships demanded most of the summer months. Demi told me all this last quarter, as she has for all of our friends with whom I was having difficulty speaking. She learned most everything about everyone in an impossibly short amount of time and hoped to give me an object for conversation with them. Ironically, the conversation I want to have doesn't refer to any of that, and Dominique's run out of time for chatting.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon," she says, getting into the backseat of Annie's car. I watch them drive away and wonder why my words can't roll off my tongue as smooth as their exit. I'm not a quick thinker or a master planner, but I could have asked to see her ticket and ripped it up. That is, assuming her ticket isn't virtual. Instead, I surrendered to a notion that if Dominique does make it to Singapore, then she'll be with her family during her final moments.

But if the plane crashes like I originally thought, then Dominique would die without seeing her family.

Think! I look up at the empty sky and wish for a star to wish upon. Dominique will be spending the night at Annie's apartment so that Annie can drive Dominique to the airport tomorrow. The likelihood of Dominique dying tonight is low, unless there's an armed robber or a fire, at which point, Annie's likelihood of dying would be increased along with her bestfriend's. Ailing said only one friend would die, and Doom's message suggests that the friend is Dominique. Would she die past the boarding gate, at the first second that she'll be by herself? Between then and the eighteen hours she'll be in the sky?