Runway to Survival: 6 Hours at the Airport

Upon seeing my silence, she seemed more anxious. She stared at me in despair.

“Just admit that you did it, for me. Leave with the police and don’t drag us into this!”

The policeman noticed that she seemed too agitated, so he dragged her out of the interrogation room. Even then, she was trying to convince me to give up.

I felt a heavy weight in my chest. A thought formed in my head, but I did not want to believe it.

I met my father after that. Unlike my mother, he was looking at me with a complicated gaze. Finally, but surely, he said, “I believe you won’t kill anyone. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you won’t have to spend your birthday in jail.”

From the moment we entered the airport, my birthday had only been six hours away.

I did not have the usual habit of celebrating my birthday. The sudden accident had also caused me to forget about my birthday. However, I did not expect my father, who usually was not detail-oriented, to remember it.

I looked at my father’s graying hair and finally asked the question that I had long wanted to ask, “Dad, has it really bothered you that I’m not a boy?”

My father froze momentarily after hearing what I said. Very soon, he changed his expression.

“Of course it’s not important. You’re my child, too.”

He still wanted to speak, but I no longer wanted to listen.

Finally, my husband rushed in a little impatiently.

“Claire, you shouldn’t be admitting to the crime. I’ll do anything to prove your innocence. Think about our future. It’ll be all over if you give up.”

His behavior confused me just as much. In my mind, he had always been a self-centered person. Why would he suddenly care about my plight?

I tentatively asked him, “What if I had really killed someone…”

“Impossible! Even if you killed someone, I won’t let anything happen to you.

“We’re still going to live in a mansion and drive luxury cars. We’re going to travel the world. How could I let anything happen to you?”

Before I could finish talking, he immediately denied the possibility of it and started imagining our future lives. He then started talking to himself.

When the police dragged him out, I could even see tears and regret in his gaze.

After I met my family, several of my theories fell apart.

I felt breathless after the string of events. It started with the murder accusation, then the threat of death, and the weird behaviors of my family.

After remaining silent for a while, I decided to admit to the crime and put forth my conditions.

I requested that my family be detained at the police station. After all, they were also possible accomplices to my alleged crime.

I wanted to use this opportunity to prove a theory I had.

The police agreed to my conditions.

A murder case happening in a busy airport that was recorded and posted online had caused a huge commotion.

The higher authorities, netizens, and the airport staff were putting pressure on the police. They could only try their best to find out the truth and work on damage control.

As I predicted, after the police escorted us out of the airport, the numbers on our heads changed drastically.

During the interrogation, my survival time had reduced to three hours.

However, it had changed to seventy years.

Even though the murderer was waiting for me outside the airport, the police were providing me with safe protection.

Just when I thought that I could save my family’s lives by admitting to the crime, I saw my family behind me from my peripheral vision.

The next second, before all the reporters and the police, I retracted my statement.

“I didn’t kill anyone. My mother’s the murderer!”