The phone rang. She turned it off, rather than answer it. They’d make her turn it off in a minute anyway. A moment later, a box appeared on her screen. “You there?” it read. It sat there, provocatively, next to the Outlook reminder box showing “Wedding anniversary, do something”.

She’d done something. This was why she was in the airport. She’d called in sick from work and said she’d try to get those reports done from home. Then she’d thrown a couple of days’ worth of clothes into her laptop bag and jumped on the airport express train. Modern technology being what it is, she’d managed to book herself a discounted last minute ticket from the train and pretend to be working at the same time. Her work colleagues would probably take until Monday to realise that she wasn’t coming back.

Her husband on the other hand, had a habit of checking up on her. It wasn’t concern, it was control. He couldn’t even give her the full question. “You there?” – it was like a caveman just mastering basic speech. “Where woman? She no working. She no home. You there?”.

She didn’t want a relationship with a Neanderthal anymore. She didn’t remember why she ever wanted a relationship with him. Escape was imminent, though. Cavemen don’t fly.

They called her flight and she turned off the laptop. It would be useful when she got to the other side.