5 Missed Calls

24.

4 January 2023
One Year and a Half Ago
The next day

Penelope was grabbing the rest of her things, making sure she didn't leave anything in the car. "Eloise, are you sure you're okay with my stuff being at your place for a whole year? I can have Ms. Varley take care of it," Penelope asked.

"It's fine Pen, when you come back, you can stay with me just like before," Eloise closed the trunk after grabbing the last suitcase for Penelope. They were at the drop off area of Heathrow Airport.

"Thank you for giving me a lift Eloise," Penelope put her stuff down so she could hug her best friend goodbye.

"I'm going to miss you,"Eloise frowned. 

"I'll miss you too, we can email each other at least. Texting may be hard, I don't know much about their time frame or connecting to a line internationaly. I'll figure it out," Penelope encouraged.

"That will do, I can't stand you leaving me on voicemail all the time," Eloise scoffed jokingly.

*Bzzzzzzzz Bzzzzzzz*

Penelope looked at her phone and it was Colin, Eloise can see it too. She put her phone away, she did not want to talk to him after last night, it would make things harder than it was. "You're not gonna talk to Colin?" She asked.

"No."

"What happened last night anyway? I forgot to ask about it," Eloise fold her arms.

"We argued."

"I don't think its best this way Penelope, did you tell Colin you were leaving?"

"He found out last night, Marina told him," Penelope disappointed.

"Penelope, he must be upset. You can't be serious," Eloise couldn't believe what her best friend did to her brother.

"I couldn't bring myself to tell him-"

"You're going to be gone for a year Penelope, if it were me I surely would be heart broken too," Eloise explained.

"Did anything else happen last night?" Eloise asked. Penelope kept quiet. "Hello?"

"I can not say," Penelope was turning pink but Eloise wasn't picking up on what may have happened.

"I love you Penelope, but what ever happened between you two isn't worth not saying goodbye," Eloise looked at her in disappointment, giving her another hug.

"Please let me know when you made it, and you better keep in touch," Eloise scolded. Penelope smiled and grabbing both her suitcases.

Eloise watch Penelope walk into the airport, waving bye until she can no longer see her best friend disappearing within the crowd.

"Eloise!" Colin reached her before she can get into the car, "Where is she?"

"Colin, she's already headed in," Eloise pointed torwards the entrance. Colin ran inside to look for Penelope.

He couldn't find her, he made another phone call to try to reach her:

"Hi this is Penelope Featherington, sorry to have missed your call. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you soon!"

*BEEP*

Colin was getting upset. He could not believe she was leaving without a word. He tried one more time:

"Hi this is Penelope Featherington, sorry to have missed your call. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you soon!"

*BEEP

He looked around as far he was allowed to go, he could see Penelope, she was gone.

"Hi this is Penelope Featherington, sorry to have missed your call. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you soon!"

*BEEP

"Pen, please, I'm here at the airport. Let me see you before you leave."

She never picked up her phone.

Colin was angry weeks after she left. She never said goodbye and he would remember that.

Penelope knew that if she did call back, if she did talk to him, if she went back to see Colin before she left, she would never have gone. She would have stayed and she couldn't risk it for her book. She felt selfish and beyond guilty, she can imagine Colin in pain. She could never forgive herself nor she did not think Colin could forgive her either.