Like everyone around him, Eddie stood looking up at the TV. The mood inside Stornoway Airport was a palpable mix of despair and fear that seeped into the very bones and grew like mold. Even though it was only 4:30pm local time, it had grown dark outside the small terminal, and rain lashed against the windows. Eddie looked around at the passengers who had traveled with him from Glasgow on the short, turbulent flight. A tall man comforted his wife and two small children, three teens with earbuds stared vacantly at up the news reader. The elderly couple who had sat across from him on the plane were locked into a silent debate, pinched mouths making the shapes of words that Eddie couldn’t hear.
AT THE FOOTHILLS OF MADNESS 