The Crash

The aircraft stenches of 2 minute noodles and burnt rubber. You know like, when you go to visit your great aunt Bertha in the old people home.

“Ma’am, would you please put away your phone through the duration of the flight!” The flight attendant orders for the fifth time.

“Sorry!” I shout as I point to my headphones, “I can’t hear you!”

She scrunches up her lips and storms off into the cabin. I swing my feet onto the blue leather chair in front of me and start to feel my eyelids shut-

“I-um… excuse me I-I’m sitting n-next to you I mean- I think”

I look up to see a sniffling man with a bright red nose and a figure like a twig.

I roll my eyes and drop my legs down with a sigh.

“Oh erm-hmf-sorry-er” he mumbled as he sidestepped past me and floated down to his seat. He zipped open his backpack and pulled out a puffer.

“Asthma?”

“Uh-yes-well no. A-afraid of flights a-and aeroplanes”

Great. Out of all the people who could have sat next to me, I have a sniffling twit who’s afraid of planes. I could have had brad Pitt, or a really cool guitarist or a secret agent or something. But no, I’m stuck with this guy.

There he goes, huffs the air from his puffer and pulls out- what is that? Oh my god. It’s a hankie and now he’s wiping his snotty nose all over it. Now that is something I didn’t need to see.

“S-sorry. G-got myself a bit of a *sniff* cold”

I pretend not to hear him.

There’s a soft crackle before a voice comes on the loudspeaker.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen I am your captain Michael this is flight 1034 from Ohio to Los Angeles, please prepare for take-off and ask the cabin crew if you have any questions”

The flight attendants start the standard safety instructions. Miss “turn your phone off” glares at me with her evil eyes. She probably would be more than happy if I didn’t know where my lifejacket was. They file to the back of the plane as the seatbelt sign flashes above me.

I quickly buckle my seatbelt together while Mr sniffles fumbles and ends up sneezing all over it. A flight attendant rushes over and helps him, and once again tells me to turn my phone off. I really would have enjoyed the plane to have fallen, taking the flight attendant down with it. While listening to “Nearer My God to Thee” of course.

The plane starts to gain speed; I look out the window, which mind you, is mainly blocked by Mr Sniffle’s bald head. The lane way is a blur and so are the red lights that line the runway. The plane’s engine grows louder and higher in pitch and I feel the whole plane tilt backwards. I glance next to me to see Mr Sniffles having a mini heart attack as he snatches up a vomit bag. Fantastic.

Suddenly the plane lights flicker and I feel its body shudder violently.

“Sorry Folks, nothing to be alarmed about, just a bit of turbulence” Says the loudspeaker. Turbulence? On a clear afternoon, when we’d hardly left the ground? I look over to the man next to me to see his face turn purple.

“You’ll be fine, you heard the loudspeaker, it’s just turbulence” I sigh. I don’t really want an unconscious passenger flopping around next to me.

The plane swerves left and upright again. I hesitantly pull out my phone and turn it off, even though I know one phone wouldn’t make a plane go spaz. I feel my hands shake as I try to hit the off button. Stop it; you’re being stupid, you’ve never been afraid of planes before, I lecture to myself.

I hear the tapping of shoes behind me. I flick my head around to see the flight attendants standing in the row.

“This is your captain speaking. We are taking an emergency landing. Do not panic, this is simply a precaution for your safety. The flight attendants will help you with-“

An ear piercing squeak cuts of the loudspeaker. The Plane starts to growl and the lights fade to nothing. My heart is thumping, my hands gripping the armrests so tight my fingers are blue.

The plane stars to fall rapidly, swinging rapidly in random directions. My head is pushed forward, my head slamming against the seat in front of me.  I hear screams of horror. Oxygen masks fall from the roof above me. I snap one up and put it on the unconscious man beside me.

I reach for mine but my head smashes to the back of my seat. I gasp for air but it’s too heavy to fill my lungs. My mouth tastes of iron. I feel something dripping onto my finger. Blood.

I blink the sweat from my eyes. I can only explain it as chaos. Bodies are swinging everywhere- instruments rolling down the aisle and window shutters flailing open and closed. The plane is almost upside down- the roof is now the side. People’s heads bang against the side of the plane. It’s so dark you can hardly see anything. The planes roaring so loud it almost drowns out the screams. I hear a scream around me- louder than anyone else’s. I realise that my mouth is wide open. The screaming is coming from me.

My vision is a blurr. All I hear is ringing as I feel my body fly into the air. I see is read flickering flames. Like long spindly fingers licking the back of my neck. Figures lie near me, engulfed in the fire and giant columns of thick smoke.

And then I see nothing.

Just black.

***

I feel the thin mattress below me bumping and shaking. My eyelids slid open. The skeleton of the plane is in front of me surrounded with smoke. The scene is getting smaller and smaller as I roll away from it. I hear nothing but blood pumping through my head. It’s almost… relaxing. Like I’m not even part of this world. Like it’s all just a dream and I’m watching from the outside. My heavy eyes close.

The faces stare down at me. I didn’t know angels wore green…nor had stethoscopes. I see a familiar face. I see her mouth some words to me and squeeze me tight. They’re all crying now, smiling uncontrollably. I can’t move anything, or feel anything. I wondered if this was what feeling dead was like, being trapped but being able to see everything around you.

It wasn’t even frustrating… I just felt disconnected. Like I was floating in and endless void, hardly thinking, hardly feeling. Every time the lady smiles I feel my heart warm up. I feel like I am meant to know her well but I don't know who she is. I don't know any of those faces.

She hugs me. I smile, whether I actually did or just inside I do not know. But I just know that it made me feel as if it was all going to be ok.