Speculative Circumstance

It was only 12 o'clock in the morning and Taila Carter still hadn't gotten any sleep. She was on an airplane flying to London, England for a concert she had won free tickets for. But this wasn't just any other concert. This was British singer/songwriter, Ed Sheeran's concert. He was on his UK tour and Taila had sent in her name on a radio station and won a free front row seat ticket to see the show live. Her only problem was, she had no money for a hotel reservation or any money for the flight back home.

"I'm not sure what my game plan is at this point after I land in London," she thought to herself as she lay back in her seat listening to Castle On A Hill as it played on her iPod. "Maybe this trip wasn't such a good idea considering the circumstances of not having money for anything. But I wasn't going to sit at home and do nothing."

And staying at home wasn't on the list of things she wanted to do. Living where she lived, the landlord was just as close to kicking her out as she was to leaving that horrible place. It wouldn't surprise her if she returned home and all her things were on the side of the street. Taila sighed at such a scenario. One of her many weaknesses was overthinking and coming up with depressing scenarios that caused her stress. Even more stress than what she needed at this point.

"Please fasten your seat belts and lift your chairs in their upright positions as we begin our landing. Welcome to London, ladies and gentlemen," the captain spoke over the intercom with excitement in his voice.

At least someone was excited to be in London. Taila couldn't put her mind and thoughts at ease as more horrible scenarios played in her head as the plane began to descend from the sky. She didn't have money for a cab either. So, she had to know how far she would have to walk to get to the concert hall. Where was she going to sleep tonight and the nights that followed. How was she going to get back home? Perhaps finding a job and renting a small apartment would be possible?

She growled at herself for not being responsible enough on her first trip out of the States. Regret was starting to fill her heart once the plane landed and docked for unloading of passengers.

"I can't wait for this concert!" she overheard a couple of teenagers talking as they exited the plane into the airport terminal. "I bet Ed is looking handsome as ever."

"Where's our cab?" the other asked as they stepped on the escalator.

Taila watched the girls look around for their ride, as well as everyone else. If only someone was nice enough to ask if she had a ride herself, but her problems weren't anyone else's concerns. She just went along with the crowd as everyone picked up their bags and walked out the airport.

Taila stopped walking as she stepped into the brisk cool air of London. She pulled out her phone and searched for the concert hall to see how long of a walk.

"Great..." she said under her breath. "It's a three hour walk from here. This should be fun. I need to make sure my battery stays a decent percent. Guess I should start walking."

And walking she did, in the direction her phone told her to go. More scenarios played in her head as she left the airport parking lot. Someone could jump her right now and steal from her, but she knew karate, so she should be fine? Someone could offer her a ride and she could get into serious trouble or worse, and karate wouldn't save her. Especially if they gave her something to make her sleep. She could be kidnapped or killed.

Taila shook her head and crinkled her nose at such thoughts as she came up to a 4-way intersection. The bustling noise of London made her feel a bit at peace as she breathed in the fresh cool air. People chattering around her, cars speeding by and horns blowing, dogs barking and birds chirping sent chills through her body.

"This isn't so bad," she said aloud to herself. "All I have to do now is find my way to the bloody concert hall."

"You're looking for the concert hall, love?" a voice startled Taila from behind.

She turned around to see who startled her. It was one of the teenagers from the airport. Her blonde hair whipped around in her face as she stood there with her friend smiling.

"Yes, I am," Taila said with a nod. "I would get there sooner, but I didn't bring money for a cab. So, it's going to take me at least three hours to walk there if I don't get lost first."

"We are actually heading there ourselves. We've been following Ed's tours and we're from London! We can get there together or take you as far as you want," the blonde said with a grin.

"We have cab money, and we were about to wave one down before we heard what you said," the other girl with brown hair spoke up as her friend waved down a cab.

"That works out just fine," Taila said with a grateful smile. "I was afraid to walk by myself for three hours."

The girls giggled as a cabby stopped on the side of the road and waited for them to climb in. At least one of her scenarios wasn't negative. She was with two teenage girls who grew up in London and knew their way around.

"This is so exciting!" the blonde one said loudly, startling the driver a bit. "I mean, we've been to pretty much all of his concerts but he's performing here in London and that's just so awesome! I can't contain my excitement!"

"This is my first concert of his, actually," Taila said moving hair out of her mouth as the wind created a vacuum from the window being rolled down.

They both looked at her, shocked. She knew what they were thinking just by the looks on their faces. Where Taila lived she could hardly afford food for herself, let alone concert tickets. So, winning a free ticket over the radio was a big deal to her even though she didn't have a game plan at all. But in her mind, she hoped against all hope that this would be worth it, even if she ended up homeless on the streets of London.

"That's okay," the brown-haired girl said easing the awkward silence. "Not a lot of people have even been to his concerts at all. So, the fact that this is your first one will be very exciting and brilliant!"

Taila smiled at the girls' niceness. The fear of being in this country alone was slowly fading as the three continued to laugh and joke and talk about how handsome and awesome Ed Sheeran was and how magical it was to be at his concert.

"I even met Ed once," the blonde, Sara, stated boastfully. "He smelled so good I wanted to just faint in his arms!"

"Why must you bring that up every time we meet new people," Alex, the brunette, stated with a shake of her head. "She always does this because I wasn't able to go that time because I fell ill."

"Not my fault," Sara giggled as she had a far off look on her face as if reminiscing about that time she met Ed.

"Taila, what would you do if you ever got to meet him?" Alex asked, ignoring her friend's gloating.

Taila blinked a few times. "I'm not sure, honestly. I've never really thought about it. Meeting people like him would never happen to someone like me. I'm an unlucky person."

"No, you're not," Sara said waving her finger at Taila. "You said yourself that you won a free ticket to his concert on the radio! That's not bad luck. Your luck is just beginning. Maybe Ed will walk around the halls and go to the merchant tables and talk to fans. You never know."

Taila glanced out the window thinking of that interesting new scenario. A positive one at that. What if that came to be? She would meet Ed Sheeran for the first time. Every bad that ever happened in her life would be outweighed by that one positive happening. But was it really that simple? Could something that full of luck happen to her? Doubtfully possible.

"Don't think so negatively on this, Taila," Sara continued, pulling Taila out of her overthinking thoughts. "If you think negative, negative things happen to you. But if you think positive... well, you get the point."

Perhaps these young girls were right. Perhaps if Taila only thought about the positive things, positive would happen and her whole life could be different.

"Look! We're close to the concert hall!" Alex shouted, making the driver look at her from his rear view. "Stop the cab! We walk from here."

As soon as the cab stopped, Sara paid the fee, and everyone climbed out. The teens were overwhelmingly excited as they sprinted across the street where the concert hall was. Taila watched them and giggled to herself. Who would've thought such kind words would make her feel a little better about herself. It wasn't every day someone was so nice to her. In fact, back home, no one was nice to her. Not her landlord, her boss at work, her old friends who turned their back on her. Maybe London was were Taila's heart belonged.