The airport was a madhouse. People were running around, yelling and screaming at each other, at least that was how it appeared to sixteen year old twins Bailey and Hailey. The blondes were walking with their parents, hoping to make their flight on time. As usual, they were running behind. Their mother always took forever when they needed to be somewhere.
This was a huge deal to the twins; they were going to Australia on a vacation of a lifetime. They were so excited and even more excited by the chance to see Disney World Australia. They had been to many theme parks in the states, but something about going to one in Australia made it feel so much more important. Even though back at home, doing things like this had been "kid stuff" for at least a couple of years.
“Bae, look at that cute boy…” Hailey whispered in her sister’s ear as they waited in line to board their plane, Flight Eden 13. Everyone at Eden Flights Airport nicknamed number 13 as the “Bad Luck” plane, because of the things that had happened on board over the years. One year, a man had went nuts and tried to beat up the stewardesses, before other passengers restrained him, another year there was a breakout of the flu virus, another year someone passed out and the plane had to land early, and yet another year someone gave birth on flight and the list went on.
“Shut up Leigh,” Bae groaned as she play shoved her sister.
Benji looked out his window, pressing his face against the cool glass. He sighed, wearily running his hand through his wavy brown hair. It felt like the plane ride was taking forever and his friends who were on the flight with him were driving him crazy. His brother Ron and Kristi, his brother’s fiance were doing nothing but make out the whole time. It was nauseating. His two best friends Chad and Amy were across the aisle from him, but still insisted on shouting back at him and talking about everything and nothing.
He just wanted some peace and quiet and he doubted when they got to Kristi's family home in Australia, that he would find any.
Eden 13 did another weird jerky motion, that made it’s passengers exclaim in excited fear. The plane had been doing that ever since the storm started, though the pilot had came over the intercom and said everything was fine.
The storm in question was the worst Benji had seen before. The sky was so dark that it looked like night, the rain was coming down in heavy sheets and then there was the lightning he had seen off in the distance. It worried him. The pilot should turn away from the lightening, and land the plane until the storm passed.
“Don’t worry folks,” the voice of the pilot came over the intercom again. “I’m going to take a detour around the storm and lightning. There will be some turbulence, so I recommend you buckle up.”
Benji quickly put his seat belt on, looking around as others did the same. Nobody looked too scared yet, but there were a few worried faces in the crowd.
The sudden change in the storm took everyone by surprise, even the pilot who kept reassuring them that everything was okay. Cassie squeezed her fingernails into the armrests as the plane violently shook, the harsh winds from the storm pushing Eden 13 around like it was nothing but a ragdoll.
Her seatmate, someone she did not know, but had been talking to for the last 13 hours, grabbed onto her arm and held on in a death grip. The old woman looked like she was going to have a heart attack.
“It’s okay Maud,” she told the woman.
“Cat,” the lady managed to say, even though she was gritting her false teeth together.
“I know, I know,” Cassie whispered. She swallowed her own fright and let the stranger hang onto her. At least she could be a comfort to this person, this stranger. It made her feel guilty that over the years she had never tried to go back to Australia and see her mother, comfort her and try and help her to clean up her act.
Now her mother was dead and Cassie was going to her funeral to say goodbye.
She had seen it. The lightning hit them! The front end of the plane was there one minute and the next minute, it was ripped away. About half of the people on the flight were gone, and that meant the pilot was also gone, nobody was flying this plane. How could you fly the back end of a plane anyway?
They were going down. The blonde looked around for her sister, but could not find her. Hailey had gone to the bathroom just before the chaos had started. Though thank goodness the bathroom was in the back of the plane. What if her sister had been in the front end?
Her eyes widened at the thought and she passed out, knowing nothing that happened until what could have been hours later, she was waking up, covered in water and sand.
She was in so much pain. There was a huge, bleeding gash on her stomach and her left arm felt broken or at least seriously sprained. Bae managed to sit up and look around her. The back end of Eden 13 was only 10 feet away from her, sitting on the beach, smoking as if it had been on fire. The smell that assaulted her nose made her gag and retch into the sand.
Wait a minute? The beach? Where were they? On some sort of island?
“Leigh! Mom! Dad!” She yelled, trying to stand up, but having a hard time doing so. Just a couple feet away, she saw the mangled body of what had once been a man. Her eyes watered and she tried to choke back her tears, knowing that she needed to get a hold of herself and find her family.
Though how could she when she couldn't even stand?
My whole body is just frozen. Am I in shock?
The pitiful mewing sound is what brought her back to reality. It was a cat, in a cat carrier, stuck under debris from the airplane. The poor thing must have been in the cargo department. The blonde managed to crawl over to the animal and pull it's carrier from under the debris. Despite how dented the metal carrier was, the cat inside looked perfectly healthy. She sighed. At least that was something.
"I'll leave you in there for now," she told the cat. "You can help me find my family."
Finding the strength she had lacked before, she was able to stand up. With her good arm, she picked up the cat carrier and with her hurt arm, Bae managed to press her hand against her bleeding stomach though it made her cry out in pain.
She staggered toward the smoking airplane. Maybe they were still inside?
