“He’s not real”, she screamed right before takeoff.
Great, just great; there’s a crazy lady having a melt down. She pleaded with us to get off the plane…..Now I wish I would have listened to her. I had just assumed she was under the influence or had the flight jitters.
The flight Marshall ordered everyone off of the plane while security checked the plane to make sure some how a bomb or something of the likes made it’s way on board. Some folks went to the bar, some went to the bathroom, some called a loved one, and some such as I sat quietly by the terminal and read a book, waiting patiently to get on board.
As security escorted this lady to a back room to talk, she gripped my shoulders, “Please. You gotta listen l. He’s not real. I promise, I know I sound crazy to you”. One of the flight attendants came on the speaker to announce we can board again.
As I sat down, a flight attendant came back and asked me, “Sir. We notice there is a seat available next to you. Do you mind if we let this gentleman sit with you? We are wanting to rope off those seats, just as an added precaution”.
I was annoyed, but I understood. I slid my backpack off and set it by my feet as the man shuffled in. He was wearing a hoodie and his skin was grayish. The plane took off very shortly. I scrolled through the free movie options the airline offered but none of them tickled my fancy. I reached in my bag and pulled out a book.
“Kris Kristofferson”, he said.
“Excuse me”, I muttered.
“Kris Kristofferson”, he said again as he pointed at the book. “Is that a biography on him”?
“Yes”, I said.
“Your wife bought it for you”, he slyly grinned. This made me uneasy, how could he have known? I had my wedding ring on, so I supposed it wasn’t that far of a stretch.
“Yeah, good guess”, I laughed as I returned to my book.
The pilot intercom came on, but rather than the pilot, music came on. A Kris Kristofferson song.
“If you waste your time a talking To the people who don’t listen To the things that you are saying Who do you thinks gonna hear? And if you should die explaining how The things that they complain about Are things they could be changing Who do you thinks gonna care”? He was humming along with it.
“This is your captain speaking. We apologize for that interruption, we must have picked up someone’s device. We’ve got it fixed now though”.
“Yeah, I knew him well”, said my neighbor. “I met him in Nashville when he was down on his luck. I bought him a beer and showed him a song, which he stole”.
He stood up and made his way to the bathroom. I folded my book up and put it back in my bag.
“Excuse me, sir”, I heard. A young flight attendant scooched past me and sat in the adjacent chair. She hushed her voice and with a very solemn face, “Is that man bothering you. He bothered that poor woman earlier. I think something is wrong”.
“Yeah, he’s giving the creeps if I am being honest”, I answered. “I wish it was him escorted from the plane rather than that lady”.
“Well, she was right”, she said.
As I went to ask her what she meant, I saw her face transform back into the man’s face. I quickly attempted to stand up and then the plane lights flashed continuously.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, he said sternly. “Sit back down”.
The pilot came on the speaker and apologized for the sudden surge.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to talk about people behind their backs before they locked her away in the looney bin”, he said sharply. He could obviously see the shock on my face so he dove deeper.
“Your mother was abusive to your brother and you. She would starve you guys, put cigarettes out on you, beat you, and had a rotation of men in and out of the house to fuel her drug habit that led to her psychotic breakdown. You haven’t visited the ward once to see her”.
“How do you know this”, I asked as I fought the urge to vomit.
“I know everyone’s trauma. Example, the pilot has a crippling gambling addiction that caused his wife to leave him. The flight attendant i morphed into his dealing with the grief of her boyfriend sleeping with her best friend. The man sitting in front of us is so guilt stricken from his time overseas where he murdered civilians, that he has to convince himself daily he was just following orders. And the lady, the one who got off this flight, she saw what I really look like. She was lucky, everyone else is going to get it worse”.
Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he chanted.
The plane dropped.
All of the power to the plane cut off and we began descending. Everyone was screaming, crying, praying. All except him. He was laughing his butt off, shaped as my mother.
“Please stop, there are kids on here”, I pleaded.
As we got very close to the ground, the jets kicked on and we began ascending rapidly. The lights came back on. Mothers were hushing their children, people were cheering, and the seat next to me was empty.
The local news channels interviewed the pilots and mechanical crews couldn’t find any fault or reason the plane would just cut off. Nobody knows why, but me. I’m too afraid to leave my house now. Everyone I see, I’ll never fully know if they’re real or not. I’m hoping he is hibernating after feeding on trauma, but that’s probably a pipe dream anyways.
To the lady from my flight, I am so sorry. I should have trusted you.