The Fate of Amelia Earhart

Air screamed past the cockpit as the Electra plummeted towards Earth. Fred Noonan flicked switches and smashed buttons, trying to remain calm. Nothing was working, and Fred's eyes were wide with panic. Beside him Amelia Earhart was frozen, eyes staring straight down at the roiling ocean. Above and around the falling plane a storm raged, rain slamming into them, helping gravity to drag the plane down. Taking his hands from the useless controls, Fred shook Amelia's shoulder.

"Amelia, we're going down! We can't stop it, brace for impact!"

Amelia didn't move, just kept staring at the on rushing water.

"AMELIA!

Slowly, too slowly, Amelia woke from her stupefied state. She began to mirror Fred, placing her hands on her head and bending over. But too late. They hit the water.

Darkness, pain in her head, more darkness.

The Electra crashed.

*

Darkness was soothing, more soothing than any other shade. With darkness comes nothing. And nothing broke through the comfortable silence of Amelia's mind. The darkness rippled and swirled like water, but there was no sound. Blissful silence, beautiful swirling dark. No noise... no... noise... Until there was.

"Amelia? Amelia!"

White light broke through the dark as she forced her eyes open. There was Fred, both Fred's, staring down at her. As she frowned, the two Fred's melded into one Fred. Shaking her head, Amelia tried to sit up but immediately fell down again.

"Ow... That kinda hurt." She groaned.

Fred let out a bark of laughter, "I bet! You must have hit your head when the Electra went down."

Slowly, she managed to raise her head high enough to look around. There was a long white beach, empty of any burning wrecks of planes, but was strewn with rocks and driftwood. The tide crawled lazily up its constant path, the waves no more the bumps. The sky above was bluer than the ocean, crystal clear and beautiful. Where ever they were, it was certainly heaven-like. 

"Where is she?" Amelia gasped, sitting bolt upright despite the spear being driven in to her brain.

Fred looked grim but pointed out to sea. "We went down over the ocean, not too far from here. I had to pull you out and swim you to shore. I didn't think you were breathing, I was so scared. Your head was bleeding all over the place. I managed to stop it but..."

He drifted off, still looking concerned.

Turning on her bottom, Amelia looked behind them. Shaded ground held towering trees in place, green brush sprawled everywhere. Further in, the brush turned to grass and woody plants. Just inside the shaded area, was a pathetic looking shelter constructed of nothing put palm leaves and a few boughs. Looking back at Fred, she saw that he had wrapped his major cuts in thick leaves. His hair was rustled, and had dirty and twigs hanging from it.

"How long have I been out?"

"Three days," Fred said slowly, "I was starting to think that you wouldn't wake up after the second, but you started to move a bit on the third day."