Chapter One

Paul had never been to Portugal before, in fact in all his 22 years he had never even stepped foot out of London before. He had the feeling now though that he had to do something different, anything. When he had been offered the story he had wanted to reject it, but when he was later informed that it would give him the chance to have a long awaited vacation in a five star hotel, all expenses paid for, he jumped at it. And he had to take his cameraman along, his life long friend Jason, this was destined to be a great vacation.

The more he had investigated the story, the more interesting  he had found it, even though he felt it must be just that; a story. It couldn't be real, not this day and age. We were talking pagan rituals and mass hysteria, in the centre of Europe. It could be so easy to fake something like that these days. The videos he had seen were pretty convincing though. There were certainly enough of them. Youtube was full of them, and they did not stray too far from all the other conspiracy videos, with aliens, New World Order plans to dominate the world, levitating gurus and haunted houses.

Conspiracy theories were not Paul’s domain, that was Jason’s department. Although Jason was the person with the most sober conspiracy theories he had ever known. He believed that the the real conspiracies were out in the open for all to see. Often hidden in a way that was visible to all but not perceivable.


“Here’s your coffee” Jason held out the plastic cup, and Paul peered over the top into the murky liquid

“It tastes better than it looks” Said Jason reassuringly  as he drank the last dregs of his own ‘plastic’ coffee. Paul watched him to see if he winced even slightly, but he didn't.

They sat in the terminal waiting to board, some technical difficulties had delayed the flight somewhat, and they would be leaving an hour later that scheduled. Jason played with his iphone, and Paul observed the redhead as she passed by in a frenzy again.

“She is well out of your league” said Jason

“Who?” asked Paul astonished at Jason's ability to see everything which goes on around him at all times, even when he was focused on updating his Facebook status.

“Ha ha, you know who” Jason laughed ironically “and she is American, you hate Americans”

“No I don’t!” Protested Paul. “I only hate one American, and that is Jim from the office, but every body hates him so I am not the only one”

They both laughed out loud, and Paul quickly pulled himself together as the redhead made her way towards him.

“She is coming over” he said in a panic tugging at Jason’s shirtsleeve, and spilling his coffee on his trousers.

“Excuse me, I was wondering if you are on the same flight as me, as I can’t seem to find any information, I know the flight was delayed but I am not sure which gate it is boarding from, here is my boarding pass”

She took a deep breath and held her hand out displaying her boarding pass. Paul only noticed her name, Silvia Rodrigues. He stood up and held out his hand.

“Hi Silvia, I am Paul and this is my colleague Jason”

Silvia shook his hand reluctantly and looked at Jason in the hope that he would provide her with the information she so desperately needed. Jason had noticed the flight number.

“Flight number BA345, yes, looks like you are with us”

Silvia sighed a great sigh of relief and sat next to Jason.

“I can finally relax a little before we board”

Paul got a text message from Jason.

>did you notice how she looked at me when she shook your hand?...lol<

He gave him a dig in the ribs.

“So what brings you to Portugal Silvia?” asked Jason.

“Ermm...family. I was born here and I have decided to leave the rat race and go back to my roots”

Paul squirmed about uncomfortably in his chair as Jason made polite conversation with Silvia, the girl Paul had got dibs on. He knew what Jason was doing the same thing he always did, digging for information. He was not doing it because he was a budding journalist at heart but because he know Paul was too shy to do it himself. He knew that any moment would come his cue to join in on the conversation.

“Hey Paul is a journalist, we are here to do a story.”

Silvia's eyes shifted to Paul and widened a little.

"You're a journalist?"

The enthusiasm soon passed and she began to look around at the flight information screens. Paul felt that Silvia was anxious about something. Maybe she was nervous about the flight.

"Yes" Paul answered, "we are both here to do a story on the recent..."

The loud speaker interrupted him and called all passengers to board

Silvia walked with them towards the gate, and onto the plane, without saying another word. Paul was hoping that she would be sitting next to them, but she wasn't. Her seat was at the back a few rows down from his, she sat down and he waved at her awkwardly.

"Well, there goes that opportunity" he said quietly to himself as he placed his hand luggage overhead.

"Hey, did you bring your charger for your laptop? He asked Jason, not sure if had had brought his own.

"Of course, I would have to be stupid not to" Jason sniggered.

They were finally on the plane, it had felt like they had been waiting in the airport forever. It suddenly struck Paul that he had never flown before and he started to feel a little anxious. He watched the other passengers settling down into their seats and looked around, he was dying to look behind him at Silvia. He didn't think he had ever seen such a good looking redhead before. Her hair was long and her skin pale, but a kind of pale. She had a great figure too...

"She is out of your league" laughed Jason

Sometimes Paul found it scary the way Jason could tell what he was thinking. He had always been able to do it, since they were kids. He would always finish his phrases off for him too, it was like they were connected somehow, yet Paul never had any idea what was on Jason's mind.

"Anyway, she is a complete wacko" Jason added "take it from one who knows, she is a girl with lots of baggage".

The stewardess told the passenger to fasten their seat belts and the jet engines started up, making Paul suddenly feel very apprehensive about the whole deal, Silvia included.

"How can you tell?"

Jason placed his lap top on the pull down tray in front of him and then turned to Paul.

"Did you see how stressed she was when she first approached us?"

Paul had to admit that he had noticed.

"and the way she lit up when I said you were a journalist?"

Paul held onto his seat as the plane started to taxi down the runway.

"Yes, it was almost like she had something to tell me, but then backed down".

The plane started to gain velocity and Paul could feel the g-force on his face, and body. He could no longer talk, he felt clammy and the palms of his hands began to sweat. The plane lifted and he felt like he did in his dreams when he was flying or running and the ground would disappear from underneath him.

"This is the worst part" said Jason calmly 
"because we can't use our laptops until we are totally airborne"

They both laughed.