It was on my first flight to Vegas; city of sin, 24 hour roulette tables, Bacchanal, and the greatest shows on Earth.
I had never flown before, not unless tying a blanket around my neck and jumping from the second floor landing counts. I broke my arm that time, never broke anything else. And never tried climbing so much as a ladder since. Which is why I would have never agreed to fly if someone else wasn’t footing the bill. That someone, or something, being the student lottery on campus. To be honest I had never even heard of a campus lottery system until someone from the administration’s office notified me that I had won an all inclusive trip from Boston to the LAS.
A straight shot, no stops, 30 thousand fucking feet in the air where I’d be dangling my toes inside of what’s essentially an empty Twinkie with wings.
I was expecting to be packed in like ants but was mildly relieved when I arrived at the gate and the rows of pleather black seats were nearly vacant. There were two girls sitting near me, one was chewing gum as the other scrolled through her phone while rubbing her arm.
I overheard the gum smacker chew out, “You alright?”
“Yeah. Fucking TSA man. I swear. Getting handsy for no reason.”
The other girl rolled her eyes, “I don’t get why pat downs are still a thing. They can practically see you naked now in those infrared booths.”
“Don’t remind me,” the blonde groaned. “Hands in the air,” she mocked. “Come on. Let’s just get on this flight.”
The pair looked at each other and in unison gushed, “Vegasss.”
I tried not to be nosey but listening to them talk kept my mind off the butterflies waiting to hatch in my stomach. Still, I felt as if I was going to throw up by the time the gate attendant started calling out the boarding order.
When it was finally my turn, I got in line and fumbled through my bag looking for the semi-crumpled airline ticket. The guy wearing the cornstarch stiffed polo took it out of my hands and held the laser green scanner up to it. He pulled the trigger once or twice before shaking his head.
I wished I had smoothed out the ticket on the side of a vending machine before I got up here. I could almost feel the eyes of the other passengers burning a hole into the back of my neck as I stood there holding up the line. But it was too late for that now, so I tried to ‘air it out’ as my mom liked to call it, “I swear. It’s not fake.”
He didn’t answer me, which only made me wish that I could sink into my shoes.
“Hey, Roger. Can you come over here for a minute,” the gatekeeper hailed.
“Roger that,” a guy near the travel chute came towards us.
“Her ticket won’t scan.”
Roger grabbed the ticket and held it up to the light, “Mmm. No. I don’t know.”
I could feel the butterflies starting to crown as Roger turned the paper in his hands, studying it. “Might have to call a Supervisor,” he said.
If I could have found my tongue hiding in the back of my throat, perhaps I would have said never mind, and that this was all a big misunderstanding; turned on my heels and walked right out of that terminal. If only I did. Roger broke out into a smile, “Just messing with you.” He punched some numbers into the keyboard and an inaudible click caused the scanner to flicker, “You can go on through.”
Into a mostly empty plane heading for blue skies with less than 50 onboard passengers who I didn’t even know. Where I’d sit next to complete strangers as many people do on airlines everyday all over the world. With folks that were less than faces, whom I would never think about again once I landed at my destination. And all of this would have been true, if it weren’t for passenger 29.
It started almost immediately. The shaking. My hands were gripping the steel armrests as the fuselage shook awake. The raspy voice of the intercom overhead didn’t help any as I couldn’t decipher a word that the Captain was saying.
My mind was still reeling by the fact of how little air actually came from the yellow oxygen masks if they were to drop, 5 minutes is what the pamphlet read. Five. Does that mean the airline expected us to be dead after more than 5 minutes or was it really all we needed? Who came up with that number? What were their credentials? I bet people in First Class got more than five minutes.
“Ma’am could you please take your seat.”
“No,” the sound of a young woman’s voice made me turn my head. It’s not everyday I hear the word laced with fear.
“Please,” the stewardess implored. “We’re about to take off.”
“I can’t sit there,” her entire body was shaking. “Let me, change my seat,” she suggested.
“Ma’am. I’ve already informed you. That the Captain has requested for everyone to remain in their original seats until after we get into the air. Once we do, I can request a seating change for you.”
“What’s the difference,” the woman cried. “If we’re in the air or on the ground? Just let me change my seat. There’s plenty of open ones,” her voice started getting louder.
“Hey,” it was Roger. He threw on an easy smile, “Let’s see if we could get you into a different seat,” he told the woman.
She looked extremely relived, “Thank you, so much,” she told him. Grabbing her bag. “I’m sorry,” she told the stewardess. “I just…I can’t sit there.”
Roger moved the woman a few rows up on the left. Where she balled herself up in the corner, the poor thing. I heard the curtain rollers sing as they slid shut between the cabins. I could hear Roger and the stewardess talking from my seat.
“What the hell was that Roger?”
“Did you want to ground us,” he asked.
“You heard what the Captain said.”
“Yeah, but she looked really scared.”
I could hear the stewardess scoffing, “Looked to me like she didn’t want to sit next to the fat guy.”
“She looked scared Amy,” Roger sounded firm.
“Yeah, whatever. Probably wants an upgrade too.” She hissed, “You should have heard what she said to me at first. I nearly had her dragged out right there.”
“What did she say?”
“She said the guy next to her was fake. That he wasn’t real.”
They kept talking as I poked my head out of the aisle and turned it towards the back. My eyes traveling to where the woman had been sitting previously. Second to last row on the right. Aisle 29, seat B, sat a man that was on the heavier end. But it looked as if he had lost a tremendous amount of weight recently. And fast. The other passengers were whispering. I heard the words ‘diabetic drug’ being thrown around. Weight loss. And Ozempic face several times. Which made sense enough. Except now that I had heard what the woman said, my mind was working against me. Looking for something that might not have been there. Things that I couldn’t unsee. Such as the way it looked as if passenger 29 wasn’t just crash dieting and needed a simple face lift.
But how it looked like he was wearing skin.
I turned slowly back towards the front. My arms shaking harder than ever before as the plane started moving forward, rolling slowly as the engine began to roar. Soon I was being pushed into my seat as we began accelerating. Fast. It seems weird to say I felt the wheel leave the ground, but I did. I felt a certain weightlessness as the ground got further and further away from the earth; until things looked like nothing more than toy cars, and people - figurines. Even the skyscrapers looked like small houses up here next to the clouds.
“This is your Captain speaking. We are currently cruising at 30,000 feet of altitude. Heading southwest towards Nevada where we are expecting to land at the Las Vegas International airport on schedule. At this time I’d like to indicate that the seatbelt light has been turned off, and that it is safe to unbuckle your seatbelt. I repeat, it’s safe to stretch your legs if you need to or use the restroom amenities at this time. Drinks and snacks will be available for purchase shortly. Thank you, and please enjoy your flight.”
Several minutes later the curtain opened up again and Amy the stewardess plastered on a fake smile that caused her foundation to crack as she pushed a steel cart down the aisle.
I’m a starving college student whose mainly lived off of top ramen, plain rice, and eggs for the past 6 months. Not to mention the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything this morning because I was afraid of throwing it up. So I was hungry. But the flight was only 5hrs and 52 minutes long, and I had already planned on using every last cent I could afford so that I could take out all of the pent up aggression in the pit of my stomach on buffets when I arrived in Vegas. Plus, the small packet of nuts were $8.99, which was crazy.
“Hey,” the guy across the row leaned into the aisle, “First time flyer?”
“How can you tell,” I somehow managed through gritted teeth.
“I gripped the armrests the exact same way my first time. Hey, you’re already doing better than me. On my first time, I threw up the moment we started climbing. Got it all over the people next to me, and even some on this lady and her baby in front of us. It was a whole thing. People shouting. Baby crying. And the smell. It’s still in my nose whenever I fly. So relax,” he told me. “You’re doing great.” He took out his hand, “My name’s Kellan.” He dangled it. “I know we’re not suppose to make contact with strangers much anymore. But trust me, it helps. It’s like touching grass barefoot after being chronically shut in online.”
“What does?”
“Touching skin. We’re social creatures after all.” He paused. “Come on it helps me too. I never quite got over the fear of flying. I only tolerate it better now. Also. I’ve got a girlfriend.” He showed me a picture of a pretty brunette on his phone.
“Are you sure that’s your girlfriend?”
“Hey,” he laughed. “I’ll have you know she’ll be picking me up at the airport.”
I took a deep breath and unfurled my fingers from their death grips. They peeled back, each fingertip nearly smooth and blind like a worm digging in the dirt as I reached out and shook his hand.
He smiled, “That’s better right?”
I took my hand back, “No.” And I tried to smile but it felt more like a grimace, “Not really. But it is something.” The plane shook and I tried not to scream. “Kellan.” He tilted his head. “Talk to me.”
“Did you know that the flaps on the wings are called ailerons? In order to bank to the left, the left aileron goes up and the right aileron goes down.”
“Reminds me of aglets.”
“What?”
“Something I read on a list once. About uncommon objects that we see or use everyday but don’t know the names of. Oh god I’m blabbering. I’m sorry.”
“No, no. It’s good for you. It’ll help take your mind off the flight.”
“So it never gets better?”
“What?”
“You said you never quite got over it.”
He shrugged, “Some flights are better, some are worse. Really depends, you know? Your mood. The pilot. Even,” he glanced at the woman balled up in her seat to our left. “The atmosphere.”
“So that doesn’t happen on every flight then.”
“No, not any that I’ve been on.”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“Oh, right.” But then his smile disappeared. “But what do you think? Some girl just ups and gets from next to you. And starts telling people that you’re not real? Personally, I’d be a bit offended. Might even do a little talking back, to stand up for myself. You know? But that guy,” he glances over his right shoulder, “He didn’t even say anything.”
“Maybe he’s scared of flying too.”
“Maybe. Maybe she is too, and his fear was rubbing off onto hers.”
“Some people can feel that kind of thing,” I agreed.
“Yeah. It could cause a panic.”
“I know it didn’t help me any.”
“Last thing we need is a bunch of people panicking in a locked up box hurtling through the air.” He paused. “There’s no where to go.”
“You’re not helping,” I sang.
He smiled sheepishly, “Sorry. Jitters still, you know?” He paused again. “You know.”
We both turned our heads as the balled up girl suddenly got to her feet and walked towards the front of the plane. Amy the stewardess stopped her short of the curtain. “Up ahead is for First Class passengers only.”
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
Amy motioned behind us, “There are bathrooms for your cabins in the back.”
The woman shook her head, “I’m not going back there.” She whispered so low that I could barely make out the words, “It’s back there.”
“Then Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to take your seat.”
“I told you I have to pee,” I could hear the urgency in her voice.
“Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to please take your seat.”
“If you don’t let me through. I’ll. I’ll pee right here.”
“Ma’am I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“Why not?”
“The Captain will be forced to put you on the no-fly list if you do. That means you’ll never be allowed to fly anywhere, with any airline, ever again. For the rest of your life.”
“Please,” the woman begged. “I just need to pee.”
Kellan, “Hey come on. Just let the girl go.”
“Sir,” Amy’s tone grew irate, “Please do not interfere. You’re causing a scene.”
“I’m causing a scene?”
“Yes, you are.”
Kellan rolled his eyes, “What’s the cost difference?”
“Excuse me?”
“For First Class. What’s the cost difference? I’ll pay it for her.”
“Sir, it’s not about the cost. These are the rules.”
Roger came out from behind the curtain. “Hey. What’s going on? Everything alright?”
“I. Have. To. Pee.”
Amy looked at Roger as if he had caused this.
“I apologize,” Roger began. “But the First Class amenities are reserved for the First Class passengers.” He motioned to the back. “Please,” he asked of her.
The woman turned towards the back for the first time since she had been moved, and her lip trembled. She scared me because I didn’t expect her to start yelling. “Stop! Stop staring at me!”
If the other passengers aboard had been unaware of the grief between the pair before, everyone now was keenly aware of the situation. The woman raised an accusatory hand and pointed a finger at him, “You’re not fucking real!”
This caused several others to turn their heads to take a look at the man in row 29.
He didn’t even flinch.
I saw a few people chuckling, but some looked concerned. A dad next to his kid told the boy to be respectful, “But she’s crazy,” his son giggled.
“That doesn’t change the fact that she seems genuinely scared.”
And I think most of us heard him. Because this caused several others to stop smiling. An older woman from the back turned to passenger 29 and said, “I know it feels a bit rude. But maybe you could help her by looking away so that she may use the bathroom.”
But he didn’t reply. He didn’t even move.
“Come on,” another guy shouted nearby. “Just let her use the bathroom up front.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t matter if she gets banned if all of us will still have to smell the piss for another 4 hours.”
Amy shot Roger another angry look. “This is on you,” she said as she disappeared behind the curtain.
Roger cracked an uneasy smile and led the woman towards the nose of the plane. They disappeared behind the curtain, and as they did some people started clapping so I never got to hear a second curtain opening to the other side.
Several minutes passed by and I was still working on my own problems when Kellan once again leaned midway across the aisle. “She’s been gone for awhile, hasn’t she?”
I shrugged, “Every minute feels like an hour right now.”
“Yeah but,” he turned to look at the guy in the back to make sure we weren’t being overheard. “Don’t you think there’s something weird going on?”
The blonde from earlier complaining about the TSA leaned in from a row behind us, “I haven’t seen him eat or drink anything either.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” I interjected.
“I haven’t seen him move from his seat either. Not so much as a shift or to stretch his legs,” she continued.
“Stop spreading rumors Chelsea,” the girl chewing gum next to her said. “You’ll freak people out.”
“Why don’t you mind your own business Summer?”
“I’m not the one whose been counting under her breath the seconds for the past 10 minutes to see if he’s blinked yet.”
Kellan looked at the two girls, “Well. Did he?”
On that the four of us turned our heads and as if on cue, passenger 29 blinked. Collectively we let out a sigh of relief.
“What is it about flying,” Kellan asked. “That makes people a little nuts?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “The boredom perhaps?”
Summer, “I think most people on flights are leaving for vacation. There’s a certain freedom to it. Don’t you think? Not having to worry about work or school or whatever’s at home. But right before we get a chance at all of that freedom…we’re essentially locked up with nowhere to go. Nowhere to run if something goes wrong. Can anyone below even hear us if we all started screaming from thirty-thousand feet?”
“Shut up Summer.”
“What?”
“Whose inciting panic now?” The blonde turned to us, “Don’t mind my little sister. She likes to pretend she’s a journalist.”
The plane bumped along and the Captain’s voice came overhead, “We’re coming up on a pocket of dead air. There will be some turbulence.” The seatbelt light overhead grinned on, “At this time I’d like to request that all passengers and crew members return to their seats and buckle in.”
I pulled on the faded blue strap on my seatbelt tighter until the thing cinched my waist. I imagined if we were to really crash, I’d be split neatly in two before my head went crashing into the hard plastic walls, causing me to feel pain moments before I died.
The cabin shook, causing my brain to slosh in my skull. My eyeballs felt like they were in an earthquake as I took a last look ahead before I closed my eyes, making a mental note that the woman had not returned from First Class.
“It looks like there’s a storm up ahead,” the Captain’s voice came through. “Everyone please remain calm. And please remain seated. I may be forced to turn off suspendable auxiliaries momentarily.”
He had no sooner finished his sentence when I felt a crack of thunder go off next to the plane. It was close. And it was loud. Another flash of lightning pierced from below the window cover, and then all of the lights turned off on the plane.
Someone screamed when it happened. I could hear a baby crying as it woke up. Even the breathing in the cabin changed. I could hear deeper stressed breaths from all around as we sat in the near dark. I heard someone slide open their window cover which caused a faint yellow sign to turn on.
Within seconds Amy came rushing out from behind the curtain. I could hardly make out her silhouette as she stumbled down the aisle and shut the window closed. “Please keep your windows down,” she told everyone.
“Why,” the passenger asked. “I want to see the lightning.”
“It could disrupt the pilot’s instrumentation,” she told him. “Or find a path of least resistance and find its way into the cabin. And we wouldn’t want that now? Would we.” She turned to everyone else, “That goes for any electronic devices as well. If anyone has left theirs on. It’s a good time to make sure they’re turned off now. Or it could attract electric discharges. Which could cause bodily harm and damage electronic equipment.”
I could see several screens faintly glow as people pulled out their devices while Amy made her way back to the front. By the time she disappeared behind the curtain. The cabin was dark once again.
But we wouldn’t be alone with our silence for long.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing!” I could hear struggling coming from the back of the plane. “Get off me man. What’s your problem?” I looked back and could make out a few people huddled under the lavatory sign. They looked like they were fighting as they tumbled into aisle. Someone begged for them to stop. My eyes immediately darted toward seat 29. And I screamed myself, when I saw that it was empty.
“Hey,” Kellan shouted at the curtains. “We need some help back here.”
Several more people started shouting. I felt someone brush pass me. And when the lights finally came back on, I noticed that it was the older woman from earlier, now clutching her purse that had rushed to the front. She looked absolutely horrified as Roger side stepped her and made his way towards the men in the back. Three or four of them were still up in arms. One of them was bleeding from the lip and another kept rubbing his eyes. They were obviously extremely angry but amongst them wasn’t a single sign of passenger 29, instead when the lights came back on, he was in his seat as if he had never even moved.
“I’m telling you it was him that started it,” I told Kellan. “His seat was empty during the blackout.”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you. But it was dark. Maybe it was difficult to tell from all the way up here. Or maybe he was scared too, and switched to the window seat when the fighting started.”
“I’m telling you, he wasn’t in his seat Kellan.”
Roger moved past us, the first aid kit packed back in his hands. He had finished attending to the wounded. And Amy was trying to get their story straight. None of the four men could describe exactly what happened. But it was as if someone had spazzed out during the blackout. The first guy who started yelling said someone jumped out at him. Lashing him across the face. He tried grabbing to whoever did it, but instantly felt all sorts of hands start raining down on him. Two of the other men admitted to being brushed up on as well when it first happened. And they grabbed the closest thing to them as well. Which happened to be guy one. And that’s when the fighting started.
Amy eventually chalked it up to confusion, said that it was common in certain restrictive situations, and that no one else should panic. The men all agreed to not pressing any charges and returned to their seats. One by one they sat back down and I couldn’t help but notice how they formed a half circle, all around 29 B.
The old woman who had come running to the front when the fighting started, sat down in one of the empty seats closest to the curtains. She was clutching her purse tightly when I suggested to Kellan that I should probably check up on her. But he reminded me that the seatbelt light was still on so I stayed put.
Nearly another hour goes by before the seatbelt light turned off again. The girl who needed to go pee had even returned to our cabin. She didn’t say a word about her prolonged disappearance. Which was fine since she didn’t talk to anyone in fact. And it was her business. Except instead of walking back to the seat she had been moved to, she walked towards the back of the plane and sat down in row 29.
Several people seemed to have noticed this as well, and I could feel the tension rising as more people stopped minding their own business and more voices started talking about the strange things that have been unfolding ever since we boarded.
When the voices got too loud the seatbelt lights turned back on. But not before Chelsea jumped out of her seat and sat next to the old woman who was sitting alone in the front. I could see the two whispering, the older woman was trembling as she pulled back her sleeve and revealed long thick black marks on her wrist. It was beginning to bruise. I could see the putrid yellow hue spreading on her skin. Which caused me to look back towards passenger 29, to look at his hands. But they were covered under a sweater now as he sat crossed armed in his seat. The girl who had accused him of not being real, sat unblinking next to him.
Besides her demeanor having changed. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what else was different. It wasn’t until Summer leaned in and asked, “Did you notice it too?”
I shook my head.
“Her lipstick color changed.”
Kellan, “Maybe it just looks that way. We’ve all been in the dark for awhile and our eyes could still be adjusting.”
“She could have reapplied,” I added.
Summer turned to us and said, “Sure. But that doesn’t explain how she went from an oil based one to a liquid.”
“Maybe someone loaned her one.”
“Maybe,” Summer said.
I looked down at Kellan’s watch. He tapped it lightly, “Only 2 and a half more hours left to go.”
Chelsea snuck back to her seat, and the three of us grilled her.
“What did she say?”
“How’d she get those bruises,” I asked.
“Spit it out,” Summer nudged her sister.
But before Chelsea could speak. We heard the metallic rings sing as the curtain slid open and Roger stood in the walkway. The Captain’s voice blared over his head. “Everyone, please remain seated.”
Roger walked over to the old woman and whispered something into her ear. The woman looked reluctant but eventually grabbed her bag and stood up. Following Roger behind the curtain.
“What was that all about,” I whispered.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Kellan told us. He unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way towards the front. Disappearing behind the curtain, the velvet red material swaying a bit as he passed through before I heard Amy’s voice.
“Sir, you’re not allowed in the prep room.”
“I want to speak with the pilot.”
“As you know the pilot and his co-captain are incredibly busy at the moment. The lightning storm has caused some slight problems with their equipment, but don’t worry. They’re currently working to resolve these minor issues at this time.”
“Some of the passengers are concerned,” Kellan told her.
“Sir, I assure you. We’ve got things under control.” There was a pause. “So please return to your seat.”
Kellan entered our cabin again and crashed into his seat begrudgingly.
“What happened,” the three of us asked.
“Nothing. Amy stopped me from going any further and Roger came up from behind her.”
“Did you see anything,” Summer asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Anyone up there?”
“No,” he said defeatingly. “I didn’t see a thing.”
“What about you,” I rounded on Chelsea. “What about the woman? How’d she get those bruises on her arm?”
“She doesn’t know,” Chelsea told us. “She said it all happened so fast. And it was dark. But she said that whatever grabbed her. It didn’t feel like a man’s touch at all. Like it was skin. But not entirely warm. It felt like her husband’s hands, when she held them after he had passed away in the hospital. Leaving away is how she described it. Life. Leaving away.”
The four of us sat there in silence as the seatbelt light overhead blinked on and off again before staying on, to remind us all to stay in our seats.
“We’re preparing for a bumpy ride folks,” the Captain’s voice crackled through the intercom.
The cabin shook and the lights went out again. Except this time the aisle strips illuminated. And I don’t know if that helped as I would have rather not been able to see the looks on everyone’s faces when the screaming began, starting from the back.
The plane jerked wildly and I could feel the vinyl biting into my waist. The loose straps at the end whipped around and slapped my leg. I gripped the armrest with both palms as we shook uncontrollably. A sound of thunder echoed and then I started hearing rain pelting us from above. Each drop came down as marching soldiers do, wearing their tear dropped shaped helmets as they jumped from the sky and splat flatly against the roof of the plane.
“What are you doing,” I heard Summer scream as Chelsea unbuckled herself.
I glanced behind me and saw the two sisters start to scream as luggage fell from the overhead compartments. Chelsea was tugging on Summer’s belt as they were being buried alive. There was chaos everywhere as a piece of carryon struck a guy out cold, wheels first. Another had wedged a woman hunched in her seat. I could see her gasping as she tried to breathe. I saw half an empty milk bottle roll across the floor as the plane banked to the left.
Kellan and I tried reaching out to help the girls. But they were too far away for me to reach. Kellan unbuckled himself and started digging through the pieces, tossing them into the aisle. The lights flickered on and then off again. Enough time for me to see both of the sisters. Their backs flat against the thin carpet. Eyes wide opened. Their mouths twisted in half screams as their necks were bent 45 degrees in opposite directions of one another like a tree.
I didn’t have time to scream before another burst sent people flying everywhere. I saw Kellan hit his head on the ceiling but I couldn’t hear it as everything came in various states of levitation. Some who hadn’t properly strapped themselves in were sent crashing into others. It was like watching a car accident in slow motion. Bodies acted as rag dolls in the air. But it would be passenger 29 who stood up amidst all of this chaos. Perfectly balanced. In the middle of the aisle. Staring straight ahead. That scared me the most.
His eyes were glowing. They were white, gray and empty at first. Like a dead computer screen. Before they turned a bright deep blue. Filling his pupils with tiny rows of white lines that started scrolling back into his head.
I screamed as the air grew thin, causing me to black out.
When I woke up. The plane was steady. My face was pressed against the cheap cracked gray vinyl seats. And I could smell the years of body oil permeating through them. My ears were ringing but I could hear several voices talking.
It sounded like Roger and Amy, and the pilot.
“It looks like 6.”
“Six more? Are you counting the fat guy that died before take off?”
“He was on board already wasn’t he? You know the rules.”
“That’s going to be a total of eight then.”
“Where are we going to come up with 6 more?”
“I don’t know but you’ve got another hour and a half to figure it out.”
“It’s not going to be perfect.”
“It’ll have to do. We’ll have to transfer the documents to HR later for the ground team to follow up and make adjustments.”
“What about the rest of them?”
“We’ll have to gas them.”
I tried not to move.
“Buckle them back in and put on the masks.”
“Roger that.”
“Hey,” I think it was Amy. “Some of them are stirring.”
I heard a radio cracking, “Drop us into another dive.” He turned to the attendants. “That’ll give us some time to get them on the canisters.” There was a pause. “Six more huh? Insurance is going to have a field day.”
I felt my stomach lurching into my pelvis again, before the plane dipped forward and the world grew heavy and dark.
When I woke up again, the plane was already on the ground. I felt myself choking on the plastic mask over my face. I tore it off and saw others around me beginning to wake up as well.
Roger stood at the front, he was practically beaming. “Hello everyone! You all did a splendid job and listened to our instructions perfectly when we experienced some heavy turbulence. And because of that. I would like to report that all passengers aboard have made it safe and sound to our destination! Though I would like to inform everyone that concentrated forms of oxygen at those altitudes could cause some people to experience temporary forms of amnesia or in some cases hallucinations. So we have a medical team on standby at the terminal for anyone that would like to be seen. Free of charge! But if everything’s alright, then please quietly exit the plane. And we hope to serve you again next time. Thank you for flying with us!”
I looked around groggily. My head was throbbing as I tried gaining my bearings. Most people had already left. The sister’s waved to me as they nonchalantly grabbed their overhead bags and walked up the aisle. I could even hear them singing, “Vegas!!,” as they exited the plane.
Even Kellan was practically leaving by the time I was able to stand. He shot me a smile before leaving without another word. I glanced back and saw passenger 29 in the back, seemingly unfazed, without a trace of blue light in his eyes. The woman next to him too, looked calm as they waited for others in front of them to get off the plane.
Among the crowd I could see a few confused faces, some had bumps and bruises. But most of them seem unbothered and were actually quite happy that they had finally arrived at their destination. Thankful even.
So numbly I followed. Traveling to the front of the plane. To the adjunct accordion chute that led us into the terminal. Feeling the desert heat soaking into my clothes briefly before arriving at the terminal.
I walked through the sterile halls as we arrived at the reception area. Where I noticed Kellan quietly rolling his bag through the airport, looking up every once in awhile at the cameras in the corners. Before facing a sweet brunette with long legs and a bright smile. She looked exactly like the picture he had shown me. But instead of running up to her, he passed her by without so much as a second look. And it were as if she didn’t recognize him at all either as she got on her tippy toes and craned her neck over the fence. Even though in her hands she was holding a decorated sign with little hearts on them that read Welcome Home KELLAN.