Here One Moment
by Liane Moriarty
Contents
Chapter 98
Overview
A fourth death linked to the Death Lady's predictions is confirmed: Simon Gallea, a twenty-seven-year-old YouTube kindness influencer, died of an acute respiratory infection as predicted. Public obsession with the Death Lady intensifies, with people desperately trying to locate her. Eve's mother calls with the news and, gripped by fear, asks about Eve's own predicted death, but Eve firmly refuses to engage.
Summary
Eve arrives home from her waitressing job and receives a call from her mother about the fourth death connected to the Death Lady's predictions. The victim is Simon Gallea, a twenty-seven-year-old YouTube personality known as "Simon Says Be Kind," who performed random acts of kindness for his followers. Eve's mother describes his public persona with characteristic skepticism, questioning how pleasant it would actually be to receive an unsolicited potted plant from a stranger.
Eve looks up Simon on Dom's laptop while talking to her mother but does not recognize him from the flight. Simon died of an acute respiratory infection, exactly as the Death Lady had predicted. He had kept the prediction mostly private, sharing it only with one close friend and never mentioning it to his followers, who now praise this silence as typical of his selfless nature. His fans are organizing a commemorative march and hoping to turn his legacy into a global kindness movement.
Interest in the Death Lady has now reached fever pitch online. Eve watches as comments flood in from people desperate to find her, book appointments, or even give sessions with her as birthday gifts. The public frenzy to locate the Death Lady is intensifying rapidly.
The conversation takes a darker turn when Eve's mother, clearly frightened, asks Eve to remind her of the Death Lady's prediction about when she would lose her daughter—a reference to Eve's own predicted death. Eve refuses firmly, saying simply "No. I will not," shutting down her mother's fear and refusing to engage with the prediction's hold over their lives.
Who Appears
- EveWaitress and Death Lady Facebook page co-runner who firmly refuses to engage with her mother's fear about her predicted death.
- Eve's motherCalls Eve about the fourth death; skeptical of Simon's persona but fearful about her daughter's predicted death.
- Simon GalleaTwenty-seven-year-old YouTube kindness influencer ('Simon Says Be Kind') who becomes the fourth confirmed death from the plane predictions.
- DomEve's partner, mentioned only as the owner of the laptop Eve uses to look up Simon.