The airport was going about its usual business — the hum of voices, loudspeaker announcements, the smell of coffee and kerosene. Alex walked quickly, almost on autopilot, trying to catch his connecting flight. He didn’t like airports: too much noise, too many people, too much waiting. But today he was particularly irritated — a conflict with his wife at home, deadlines at work, and a business trip ahead that he had long wanted to cancel.
He turned towards the boarding gate when something soft bumped into his leg. He almost lost his balance and reflexively put out his hands to save himself from falling.
‘Damn it!’ Alex exhaled, regaining his footing. ‘What are you doing sitting here?!’
A girl of about ten was sitting cross-legged on the floor by the wall. She looked ordinary: dark curls, a worn backpack, trainers that had clearly been through many adventures. But there was too much calm in her eyes, as if she were observing the world from the outside.
The girl raised her head and looked at him with an expression that did not suit a child at all.
‘Sorry,’ she said, but without fear. ‘It’s just more comfortable to wait here.’
Alex wanted to mutter something else, but the girl suddenly leaned forward, as if sharing a secret:
‘You shouldn’t be on this flight.’
He blinked.
‘What?’
‘The ticket your wife bought… it’s taking you in the wrong direction,’ the girl said quietly but confidently. ‘Turn back. Go home. You need to be there.’
Alex snorted, waved her away and walked on.
‘Her parents must be nearby. It’s some kind of game,’ he thought, but the feeling of awkwardness stuck inside him like a splinter.
Before boarding, he stopped at a café. As he drank his coffee, the girl’s words kept coming back to him. He even looked around, hoping her parents would explain her strange behaviour, but she was nowhere to be seen.
His phone vibrated. It was his wife, Elena.
‘Alex… where are you?’ Her voice trembled, but it was joyful. ‘Are you on the plane yet?’
‘Not yet, they’re about to start boarding,’ he said.
‘I have news…’ She paused, trying to find the right words. ‘Chloe… is pregnant. You’re going to be a grandfather.’
He froze. Grandfather. The word seemed to turn on a light inside him. His daughter, his little Chloe… would soon be a mother.
And he was far away. As always.
‘Alex? Can you hear me?’
‘Yes,’ he managed. ‘I… congratulations.’
But the joy mixed with anxiety prevented him from breathing deeply.
The girl’s words echoed in his head again: ‘Go home. A gift from fate awaits you there.’
And it was true. Wasn’t the birth of a new generation a gift?
He stood up abruptly and walked over to the airline counter.
‘I want to return my ticket,’ he said.
The girl behind the counter looked surprised, but accepted his request. A few minutes later, Alex was sitting in a taxi on his way home, feeling a strange, pleasant calm for the first time in a long time. It was as if something heavy that had been hanging over him for a long time had finally disappeared.
But twenty minutes later, an alarming voice pierced the radio in the cab:
‘Urgent announcement. Flight 714, en route to Chicago, has disappeared from radar. There were 148 passengers on board…’
Alex gasped sharply. He looked down at the crumpled boarding pass in his hand — flight 714. His flight.
A chill ran down his spine.
‘You’re lucky,’ said the driver, noticing his reaction. ‘A lot of people would love to be late today.’
But Alex couldn’t respond. He heard the girl’s calm voice again. Her warning. Her strange confidence.
The taxi pulled into his neighbourhood, and everything seemed real again. His home. His life. His family. A second chance.
But as he approached the entrance, he saw a police car at the door. Two figures — a man in uniform and a woman in plain clothes — were standing near the door.
Alex’s heart sank.
The taxi stopped. Alex got out.
‘Alexei Kornilov?’ the woman asked.
‘Yes. What’s going on?’
‘We’re looking for your neighbour — a girl, about ten years old,’ she said. ‘Description: dark hair, brown backpack. She disappeared about four hours ago.’
Alex felt the cold intensify.
‘I… saw a girl at the airport. She… said some strange things.’
‘What?’ the officer perked up.
‘That I shouldn’t fly. That… something important was waiting for me at home.’
The police officers exchanged glances.
‘This girl…’ the woman spoke cautiously. “Her name is Ariana. Five years ago, she was in an accident with her father. After that, she stopped talking. Almost completely. Sometimes… she does strange things. She can disappear for hours. She lives in the house next door.
Alex was silent.
‘Her mum said the girl often “senses” bad things. But that…’ The woman shrugged. ‘…the doctors say it’s because of her trauma.’
Alex remembered Ariana’s gaze. Too calm. Too grown-up.
‘We’ll check the airport cameras,’ she added. ‘Maybe she really was there.’
The police left, leaving Alex standing in front of the door, as if between the past and the future.
He went up to the flat. Elena threw her arms around his neck.
‘Why did you come back?’ she asked, though her eyes shone with relief.
He wanted to tell her the truth, but fell silent. What could he say? That a girl he barely knew had saved his life?
They hugged. For the first time in a long time, Alex felt truly at home.
A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Alex went to open it, thinking it might be the police.
But standing on the doorstep was her.
Ariana.
Small, quiet, still carrying the same backpack.
She held out her hand. In her palm lay a small pendant. Silver, shaped like a wing.
‘This is for you,’ said the girl. ‘So you don’t forget that sometimes you have to change course in time.’
Alex carefully took the pendant.
‘Thank you…’ He leaned towards her. ‘Ariana, why did you help me?’
The girl looked up. Her eyes were frighteningly mature.
‘Because you are needed at home now,’ she said. ‘By your daughter. And by one more person.’
‘Another person?’ Alex asked.
Ariana nodded.
‘Your wife is expecting a baby. She’ll find out in two days. If you had left, you would have missed it all.’
The world swayed again.
Elena… pregnant?
Ariana smiled and, without waiting for his reply, turned and walked down the stairs.
Alex stood holding the pendant, trying to comprehend everything he had heard. It was as if fate had taken him by the hand today and simply turned him in a different direction.
Elena came out into the corridor.
‘Who was that?’ she asked.
Alex closed the door, pulled her close and whispered:
‘A gift from fate.’
And for the first time in many months, he knew: he was home at the right moment.
And this time — forever.
