I glanced down at my boarding pass. My flight was in 5 minutes and we were no where near the correct gate. We were going to have to run like our lives depended on it if we were going to make it. I peered down at Katarina, her little thumb in her mouth, a habit that she had yet to break by her seventh birthday.

“C’mon, Katarina! We have to run if we’re gonna make it home!”
“Alleeeeeey!” She screeched. I hated when she called me that. Alley was a girl’s name. My name was Al.
“Don’t you want to see mom this Christmas?”
“Yea! But—”
“But nothing! Shutup and run!”

I grabbed my luggage and she pulled her little hello kitty rolling bag and we both ran through the terminal. Every few moments, she began to straggle behind but then she would race to catch up again. We were getting closer by the second. Then, an alarm began to sound. Suddenly, everyone around us became frantic and began to run towards us. No one had any idea what was going on but there was a portentous and frightening feeling in the air.