I pressed my crumpled yellow boarding pass into the stewardess’ pale hand. The ruffled white lace of her sleeve brushed my fingers as she tore it in half and handed it back to me. A diaphanous half-veil hid her eyes and nose. But her mouth was visible. Light glinted off the whites of her teeth, shone on her narrow lips, as she motioned me through.
When there had been no one else in line with me to board I had assumed I was merely boarding early. As soon as I took my seat however, I heard a ping and then a muffled voice crackled through the plane’s speakers.
“Arm the doors and cross-check. The cabin lights will be switched off for take-off.”
There was an audible woosh as the doors were pulled shut. The yellow lights in the cabin, dim to start with, turned dark all together. The only illumination now, was the evening glow flooding in from the port-side of the cabin. And I was the only passenger.
The stewardess emerged from the crew areas. Silently, she prowled the aisles. Her veiled gaze shooting back and forth as she walked, glancing at me sharply before swiveling her head in yet some other direction. I shivered each time she brushed past me. The white lace of her dress lingered on my wrist and the back of my hand each time she swept past. Till yet another anodyne ping punctuated the silence and she returned to the galley, drawing close the curtain behind her.
My seat rocked as we began our slow crawl to the tarmac. We reached the runway and came to a complete stop. For five whole minutes silence ruled the cabin.
Suddenly the plane began its rapid sprint down the tarmac. There was no engine roar. Just the hiss of atmosphere sliding past the frame, growing slowly louder as we went faster and faster, while the acceleration pushed me deeper into my seat. Our nose pulled up, and the earth fell away from us.
I rested my head on my shoulder and closed my eyes. When I opened them, the aircraft cabin was dark. Late evening had given way to twilight. In the porthole a narrow line marked the horizon. An orange glow faded into an inky blue above. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Below it, lay the impossible black void of the ocean.
I undid my belt, rose from my seat and turned slowly in a circle. Every seat in every row in the cabin was empty. My only companion in the dark and oppressive silence was the creaking of the airframe and the whoosh of the air parting in its wake.
My attention shifted towards the bow of the plane, to a crack in the curtain separating the cabin from the galley. Behind it a small overhead spotlight cast a round glow, illuminating a pale figure below.
The stewardess reclined in her crew seat, casting her furtive gaze at me. She had removed her veil. Above her mouth was a blank canvas of skin, reflecting the harsh white light above her. Where her eyes should have been, two small pinpricks.
Shaken, I stumbled back into my seat. I shoved a trembling hand into my pocket reaching for the stub of my boarding pass, as I desperately tried to recall.. to remember… what our destination was? What hellish vessel had I boarded?
Desperately I smoothened out the creases on the card-paper ripped in half. Only one word remained legible on it:- “Chattarhe”
--BFG