You bought your return ticket a few hours ago, the plane has been delayed because of the storm, and you’re getting pretty bored. The other passengers are sat on the seats around you, some couples with whining kids and groups of young holiday makers whose energy was beginning to dissipate.
You?
Well you’re here on a {Business trip, Soul searching, Adventure – you name it} and you are ready to sleep. The bus up to the airport was unpleasant and even these leathery seats are uncomfortable. The rain pounds against the windows, droplets not getting a chance to meander down the glass pane before being consumed by another raindrop, you can barely see the control tower.
After another half hour in this endless state of boredom, a crackling and monotone female voice came from the dusty speakers above the locked boarding doors.
“Sorry for the delay, boarding will commence in a few minutes.”
Just like that a line was forming to the doors, pushing and shoving was evident but honestly – you were too tired to even try. You had assigned tickets anyways, no need to rush to a seat you already own. Shuffling into line, you check you haven’t forgotten anything and pat down where your tickets are, just in case they had disappeared. The line begins to slowly trundle forward and you follow it all the way up to the door, where you hand over your ticket to be checked.
No problems. You’re through and on your way, just a few more metres to the door, if you can withstand the tormenting yelps and joyful screams of the children that are echoing through the metallic walkway between the building and the plane. Walking through the door the Captain welcomes you with a smile and a nod, your altogether pissed off because frankly – he wouldn’t be smiling if he had just waited 3 hours for a plane.
Taking your seat after putting your luggage away, you attempt to get comfy, to no avail. Fortunately the kids are in the front of the plane, and you can no longer hear their excited squeals. You’ve always thought the back of the plane was better, usually quieter. After a few minutes, once everyone has sat down et cetera, the Captain welcomes you to the plane and informs you that seatbelts will be necessary until he breaches the clouds and rises above the storm. With that the engines rumbled into life and you rolled along the line, taking off and sailing through the falling rain, the plane breaks through the clouds after a shaky few minutes, and the seatbelt sign blinks off. You {closed your eyes and fell asleep, read your book, watched a movie – you name it}
Suddenly you jolt forward, looking around you notice everyone is in the same situation – one edge. The Captain comes across the tannoy, his words cresting over the muffled conversations between the passengers.
“Sorry about that ladies and gentlemen, just a little blip. If you could put your seat belts back on as a precaution I’d appreciate it.” He said - a hint of something that wasn’t confidence in his voice. The light for the seatbelts flickers on and everyone complies with its message. Clicking your own seatbelt in, you look across to your neighbour with a faint smile of anxiety.
Once again the tannoy crackles into life.
“We will be reaching the half way point of our journey in around 10 minutes, where we will be flying over the Islands of Elobey Grande and Elobey Nino. After that it’s another 3 hours of cruising and then___”
You jolt to the right as gravity seems to shift forward, your cup falling from its holder and onto the floor, rolling through the chairs in front. A few raised voices and white faces begin to streak across the people around you, and the snack cart rolls down the aisle. You feel a dim light against your face and look out the window to see a fiery glow erupting from the wing.
You’re going down.
Screams erupt all over the plane and you can hear the children once more, their joyful yelps morphed into terrified cries for help. The plane tips further, like a rollercoaster reaching its highest point, your stomach climbs up to your throat and you begin to feel sick. A male voice comes from behind you and you turn your head, they are screaming for help. Just as you see him, hanging from his chair by both arms the plane lurches forward once more, the scream falls past you as he does, ending in a crunch at the bottom of section, followed by more screams.
So much screaming.
You can feel your heart striking your ribcage faster and faster, blood rushing around your body at incredible speed; you’re shaking as you grip as tight as you can to the chair – nails digging in through the pain. The screams, yells, roar of the wind slicing across the burning engine all mix into a static that seems to go on for longer than the flight had so far.
The tannoy comes on, and an incomprehensible sentence is spoken.
Turning on again, the sentence is repeated once more, screamed down the microphone, but still nothing compared to the children’s cries.
Brace yourself.
Shit!
BRACE FOR IMPACT!
Welcome to the Elobey Isles, stranger.
