Southern Belles and Northern Stars

chapter 1

I close my eyes, beginning to feel the haze edges of sleep creep behind my eyes. I snuggle into the headrest, and my ears fill with the sound of air rushing against the plane.

"Taking a nap?" The man sitting next to me, asks. I grunt, annoyed that he had disturbed me.

"Trust me, you don't want to do that. Not now." I open my eyes and look at him, but the seat to my right is empty. I sit straight up and look around. I try to think back to his profile, but I come up empty. I shrug, and lean back into my seat.

I have short term memory- what can you do?

I close my eyes again, but the feeling that something bad is going to happen itches at me and I groan, standing up from my seat and stretching. Might as well warn the captain, even though he'll laugh. Atleast I will be able to sleep in peace.

I walk into the aisle and head toward the captain, picking my way through lopsided feet, and blankets spilling into the aisle. I rub at my eyes, trying to make them see more clearly in the dim light of the plane, literally no lights? I pass by the bathroom, which is clearly occupied and I head into the area where the hostess keeps all the snacks and drinks. Ooh, is that a Ree- I suddenly lurch forward with a cry, and so does the rest of the plane's occupants. I tumble head over heels and slam into the counter, and a bunch of snacks and drinks fall unto my vulnerable head.

Ouch. It seems like the plane's nose dipped down suddenly, and now we are flying in a different direction. Fear and adrenaline pump in my blood, showing up out of nowhere.

I ignore the goose egg growing on my skull and stand up and leap for the captain's quarter, nearly tripping over a discarded Sprite. I throw open the door and survey the scene, leaning forward against the door frame.

"Captain? We have a problem." I tell him. Well no shit sherlock, the whole goddamn plane is going in a whole fucking direction.

When he turns to look at me though, his eyes are glassy and unfocused.

Drugged? Poisoned?

I take a horrified step backward, and lose my balance, toppling backwards.

Well this is going great. Maybe I should take that nap now.

I fall backwards, unto the floor and groan, massaging my hurt bum. I look up into sparkling blue eyes. The man was laughing.

"Hey, it wasn't that funny, you fine man." I find myself telling him. Really? REALLY? Did I just say fine man? Oh my god.

He stops laughing immediately.

"I'm good. But are you okay? I saw your last fall, and it looked kind of dangerous." He winced. His northerner accent showed, and it was kind of cute.

NOW IS NOT THE TIME. Right... The plane is going all sorts of crazy.

I give the cute guy a nod, trying to act serious.

"Yes, but we need to tell the rest of these people, the plane is experiencing some problems. Half of them are dead asleep. Oh and also my name is Haven Belle. Not that you care. Do you care? I don't care." I tell him. He smiles. "I'm Ryan Star, but you're right we have more serious matters. And for the record, I do care." That was smooth. Sure we have matters. Do we really? We do, but you can always kiss me, you know? I shake my head, as if to remove the thoughts.

I don't know what is happening, but we need to speak.  In less then 7 minutes or so, we had the whole plane awake, even the hostess asleep in a corner. They all looked frightened, and all the little kids who kind of looked like they crapped their pants. I walk to the microphone thingy and pick it up.

"Er.. hey there. I mean, hello! The plane is experiencing some uh.. stuff, difficulties. Please expect some news. So yeah." The speakers crackle as I finish, and I press my palms over my ears before heading back into the captains cabin, Ryan following me.

"So what are we going to do about the plane? Something is obviously wrong, and we will be in wonderland by morning,." I throw my hands in the air, and sarcastically laugh. "Hooray." He looks at me and stifles a smile spreading across his face.

" A negative mood is not going to help." He reprimands me. I roll my eyes.

"Then what'll help? Oh I know. A sledgehammer will help you." I say, getting angry. He takes a deep breath, and ignores my jab.

"I have a theory." He begins, twiddling his fingers.

"Well, what is it? Magical fairies? Orange trolls?" I say, falling into the chair next to the captain's. I sneak a look at him, and cringe. He still looks out of it, and he kind of seems to be twitching. I look away, back at Ryan. I quickly blink my eyes, trying to remove the image of the captain imprinted into the back of my eyelids.

"I think someone is hijacking the plane." He says it in one big rush, and looks at the ground. The information processes in a second and another piece of information comes racing behind. I gasp, and I feel like someone has kicked me in the gut.

The man sitting next to me. He gave me a warning. I stand up, putting a hand on the handle of the chair to steady myself. My mind whizzes through this new information. Ryan looks at me, a concerned expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asks me, taking me by the shoulder and sitting me down again. Suddenly I lock on a new piece of information. When I was walking to the captain, the bathroom door was occupied. The hacker could be in there! I leap to my feet, take a dizzy step, then rush out the door and into the snacks and drinks area. I peer at the bathroom sign, but it's at unoccupied. I feel like I should sigh of relief, but even more fear rises and a sudden chill runs down my spine.

The hacker is somewhere on the plane.

I run back into the seating area, and get back to my seat but the seat to the right is empty.

I feel the tips of panic curling in my stomach, and I wildly look around at all the people staring at me, terrified yet what I had said earlier.

Sure, the plane isn't falling out of the sky. But at this point we could fly to nowhere, and end up starving.

All these people are going to die.

And I am too.