24 Hours

The Day Before - 11:00 p.m.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please return to your seats. The plane will begin its descent. We will land shortly."

I opened my bleary eyes to find myself in a cramped airline seat. Darn it. I'm still stuck in this death trap.

I stretched my arms forward, nearly hitting the seat in front of me. Ugh, there's no space to move or breathe. I was slowly being suffocated with the plastic wall of the plane on my right and a brunette seated on my left. At a bare minimum, the passengers needed to be staggered a little more.

The red seat belt sign lit up overhead. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. We'll be landing soon, and I'll be able to go home. That is, if I survive the landing process.

Claude, we've been over this before. The planes have safety measures in place so that you don't die. Unless, of course, those measures fail...

Adrenaline spiked in my veins. I could feel the plane drop from the air, plummeting to the ground. The velocity sped faster and faster, until it made impact with the ground, crushing my fragile body under its weight. Beads of sweat dripped from my forehead. My eyelids squeezed shut. Stop it. Don't think about it!

I inhaled, holding my breath for five seconds, then slowly releasing the air for seven. My heart rate decelerated. There, all better. Everything is fine.

I didn't reopen my eyes until I was certain the anxiety attack was gone. I glanced around to make sure no one was staring at me. Across the aisle, I saw a woman fastening her seatbelt.

I looked down at my lap. I was pretty sure that I had fastened my seatbelt, in fact, I knew I fastened it. I hadn't dared to unbuckle it during the trip. Flying always made me nervous. You never knew when the plane was about to nose dive from the sky. It was one of the many things 'under my bed.'

Growing up, I had been one of those kids who feared many things, including the bottom of my bed. Everything I was afraid of was tossed there, caged so they could never harm me. Spiders, burning airplanes, monsters, needles, guns, lemons, old chairs, you name it. I tossed all of those things 'under my bed,' a world of my worst nightmares.

Moral of the story, I'm nervous flying. I never get up from my seat, and I try to remain unconscious for most of the flight.

Though I was certain it strapped me in place, it was better to be safe than sorry. I tugged on the sides of my seatbelt. Neither side budged. The buckle was firmly locked. I exhaled and tried to recline in the barely padded seat. Just a few minutes, and then you'll be off this piece of metal that's somehow floating in the sky.

The landing was always the worst. At least when you first get on the plane, you're too terrified to think about how awful the situation is. Once in flight, you can somewhat forget the fact that you're flying by sleeping. At least that's what I always did to pass the time. The only time this strategy fails is when the plane inserts itself into your dream, and you find yourself in a burning cabin, plummeting into the ocean below...

Relax, Claude. Everything is fine. You're not going to your grave today. Maybe some other day, but not today.

"We are now beginning the descent," the pilot announced.

The nose of the plane dipped down. Air dropped beneath me in batches as we descended.

I gripped the leather armrests on either side of me. The engine roared as it flew down, full steam ahead. My heart rate spiked, blood pounding in my head. With one hand firmly planted on the armrest, I grabbed my water bottle and began chugging it. As a child, my mom had always told me to do this. For one thing, the repetition of constant swallowing helped to calm my nerves. But she also said that this was important to ensure that my eardrums didn't burst.