Stranded

Alone

“A life jacket is in the pocket under your seat. To put it on, place it over your head. Clip on the waistband and pull it tight.” the flight attendant called over the intercom. She was briefing all the usual inflight announcements before take off. I finished putting my bags into the overhead bin and sat in my seat just below. Quickly fastening my safety belt and searching my purse for something to distract me, this was my first flight and I was super nervous so I was trying to do anything to get my mind off of it. As I pulled out my cell phone to send out a final “I can’t believe you’re making me go at this alone” text to my mother the stewardess continued “At this time, we request that all mobile phones, pagers, radios and remote controlled toys be turned off for the full duration of the flight, as these items might interfere with the navigational and communication equipment on this aircraft.” With a sigh, I turned my phone off and returned it to my bag. “Flight attendants, prepare for takeoff please.” The captain called and all crew took their proper positions.

I looked around, for the first time, scanning the other passengers on my flight. Mostly older people, I acknowledged. Just then I noticed one boy in particular who looked about as scared as I. He was sitting towards the front and couldn’t have been but about 20 or so. He was chewing on his fingernails and trying to avoid the older gentlemen next to him who was avidly attempting to get him to look out the window. I pulled at my hair looking at the old couple to my side; they were already fast asleep, wasting no time getting comfortable for take off. I snapped out of my daze when I realized we were no longer on the ground, but quickly flying miles into the clouds. I couldn’t help but feel angry. I was on a ten-hour flight alone from Dallas, my hometown, to London, the home of my estranged father. My mother was suppose to accompany me on this trip, but got cold feet a couple of days before. “I haven’t seen him in years Brighton, not since the divorce..” my mother whined to me “It wouldn’t feel right. Plus you’re 19, old enough to take this on alone.” I tried to reason with her, but like always she didn’t care about what I had to say. So here I was sitting in seat 3C my head low, all by myself.

*BEEP* “Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign. We are now crossing a zone of turbulence. Please return to your seats and keep your seat belts fastened. Thank you.” Waking up, I did as the attendant said, refastening my seat belt, which I had unbuckled for a comfortable position as I slept. The plane shook slowly for a minute, turbulence, I thought. It soon died down and everyone returned to doing what he or she had before. Looking over my shoulder, I realized half the passengers were asleep while the others were no doubt hours deep into movies or books they had brought along. The boy I had been intrigued by earlier was no longer in his seat. He must have gone to the restroom. Curious, I looked back down the aisle towards the door he must be behind. As I did, it opened, emerging the boy I was just thinking of a few seconds before. He started down the aisle when he caught my eye; I quickly looked to the floor, as my cheeks turned pink from embarrassment. I turned back around toward the front and kept my head down. “Well now he’ll think I’m a loon.” I said thinking out loud. Suddenly, a pair of white sneakers came into view. “Shit..” I whispered as I looked up to see the familiar faced boy standing above me. He flashed a beautiful smile before reaching out to shake my hand “Niall.” he said.

As fast as he was there he was gone. I couldn’t see anything. The floor was shaking. All I could hear were blood-curdling screams. All I could smell was the thick musk of gasoline and smoke. My head was spinning. My whole body ached. Everything was black. I was no longer awake.

“HELP ME!” “HELP ME PLEASE!” “I’M GOING TO DIE!” “PLEASE IM STUCK!” I heard shouts. I slowly regained consciousness. I opened my eyes in complete disbelief; the plane I had just been on was in pieces. Around me lay rubble, ashes, and bodies. Legs and torso were trapped underneath heavy pieces of metal, I couldn’t move. I screamed out of terror, and then all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe anymore.

“You need to get up!!” I heard “WAKE UP!” “Come on, please, we have to get out of here.” “ Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead.” My eyes snapped open meeting bright blue ones above. “Thank god” the familiar boy said, tears from his bruised cheeks falling onto mine. He was covered in blood and soot, his right arm looked slightly mangled as he continued helping me out from underneath the debris that lay atop me. “Ouch!” I yelled as my leg was freed, it was complete turned wrong way round, thick shards of metal protruding from all angles. “We need to hurry!” he yelled. I tried pulling myself up, falling back with no success. The boy reached down hastily lifting me with one arm over his shoulder. “Don’t move.” He said as he ran, trying to balance my full weight on him. “Wh..” I started, not even sure of what I was going to say. “PLEASE. PLEASE DON’T TALK RIGHT NOW.” Niall shouted, I vaguely started remembering just before the crash, he had stood above my sit, smiling the prettiest smile I’d ever seen, introducing himself to me “Niall”.

Bouncing on his shoulder, I looked back to where we were hurriedly leaving. The wreckage was indescribable, like nothing I’d ever seen. I wouldn’t have ever believed that what I was looking at was once a plane, if I hadn’t been on it myself.  All I could make out was metal and glass. Everything was on fire as well, I didn’t understand, how was I alive? The plane had crashed into six or seven large trees, pieces of the aircraft dangled in the air. “I can’t carry you any longer, I have to sit you down” Niall said. “Th-that’s ok.” I managed to reply. He set me down, carefully placing my back to a tree. “I can’t believe it..” I started. “I thought you were dead. I thought I was alone..” he interrupted kneeling down over me, grabbing my head, and crying into my charred hair, “When the plane, when it went down, I was standing in your aisle then I couldn’t see anymore or hear. The next thing I knew was I was on the ground an entire chair was on my arm. I looked around and everyone else was dead. I thought I was going to die. I started screaming for someone to help me, that I was stuck. Then you yelled, you yelled so loud, you were behind me stuck under the wing of the plane..” Niall was sobbing harder than I had ever heard someone sob, I could hardly make out what he was saying. I tried backing my head into the tree a little to free his mouth from being muffled by my hair, but he continued speaking, gripping my head closer to him. “Then there was nothing, you made no more noise. I thought you had died… I twisted and pulled the chair off of my arm, I don’t even know how; I just wanted to help you. I lifted the metal off of you as much as I could and you were just laying there, body broken. I was so scared; I didn’t want to be alone. That’s when you woke up.” He fell down then, his knees on either side of my body and his head buried deep into my neck, like a child would lie on their mother. We stayed like that for what felt like hours, just crying with each other, as we watched the fires from the crash die down just a short distance away. As I sniffled into Niall’s hair, it hit me. We were stranded. We were alone.