Here One Moment
by Liane Moriarty
Contents
Chapter 58
Overview
Paula, who has been gradually overcoming her anxiety about the psychic's prediction for Timmy, watches a viral video showing a fellow passenger named Kayla dying in a car accident at nineteen—exactly as the plane woman predicted. This devastating confirmation that at least one prediction has come true shatters any sense of safety Paula had regained and reintroduces existential dread about her own son's foretold fate.
Summary
Paula receives a text from her sister forwarding a link from a "weirdo" cousin connected to a clairvoyant enthusiast she met at a wedding. Paula hesitates to open it, worried about falling back into the anxiety she's been working to move past since the flight. She reflects on how the prediction's power over her has been fading: both Timmy and Willow wear evil eye bracelets daily, and Timmy has learned to swim well, able to float and dog-paddle across a pool before he can even walk. Paula thinks about the prediction less and less, finding the whole episode somewhat embarrassing.
While watching a Scandinavian TV series with Matt, who has fallen asleep on the couch, Paula opens the link on her phone. The video shows a young woman named Kayla driving a car while her friend films from the passenger seat. Kayla explains that she recently turned nineteen and is driving extremely cautiously because a psychic on her Hobart-to-Sydney flight predicted she would die in a car accident at age nineteen. Despite the fear, Kayla refuses to stop driving, insisting she needs to live her life. Her friend teases her and also reveals Kayla got a tall boyfriend from the same flight.
The video takes a horrific turn when, as Kayla drives forward at a green light, another car slams into the driver's side of her vehicle without warning. The footage becomes chaotic—flashes of Kayla's hair, the seat, gray material—before cutting to black. Paula is left breathless and unable to speak. The video ends with a memorial message in pink cursive text: "RIP Kayla Halfpenny," confirming that Kayla died at nineteen, exactly as the psychic on the flight had predicted. Matt wakes and asks what's wrong, but Paula cannot respond.
Who Appears
- PaulaMother of Timmy and Willow; watches the viral video of Kayla's death and is left speechless with renewed dread.
- Kayla HalfpennyNineteen-year-old fellow passenger from the flight who was predicted to die in a car accident; dies exactly as foretold.
- MattPaula's partner; falls asleep on the couch and wakes confused as Paula processes the shocking video.
- TimmyPaula's infant son predicted to die by drowning; now wears an evil eye bracelet and has learned to swim.
- WillowPaula's daughter who proudly wears her evil eye bracelet daily.