Never the Same...

Where do you think you're going?

My iPod is playing Kelly Clarkson while I sit in my seat and stay in the state where you're not awake but still sleeping. I am lulled by the sway of the airplane until after no movement we hit a turbulance and I jolt upright.

        I hold onto my armrest and clamp my eyes shut...we're experiencing some turbulance, please remain seated and fasten your seatbelts. The intercom lady doesn't even sound calm. My breathing hitches and I try so hard to remain calm.

         "Miss, are you alright?" Paul nudges my hand. I just shake my head "no" and we all stay quiet. 

"We will be taking an Emergency Landing in Westport, Ireland."

I keep my death grip on my chair until we finally land safely. It all slows down and when we're at a complete stop I take a deep breath and stand up. I have shaky knees but I need to just keep walking until I get to the terminal.

"People Like Us" by Kelly Clarkson is running through my earbuds. I make my way with a mass of people from my plane towards the Baggage Claim. I'm wearing black yoga pants, and a loose tank top. 

'Just keep going through the people' I tell myself over and over. I kept my head low, until the thunder whips the sides of the room back and forth. I jump and the man on my left grabs my left arm. He looks terrified and he's scrunching his eyes shut so tight.

"Excuse me, sir, are you alright?" I shook him a little. 

He blinked his eyes slowly open and noticed what he was doing. He jumped back a little and smiled curtly towards me. "My apologies miss, the thunder scares me." He responded in a thick Irish accent. 

After just standing there in awkward silence he grabbed my hand and shook it, "I'm Niall. Do you have a name?" .....I laughed at the irony, "My name is Rain." It took Niall a second to think it through, he pointed at the wet windows, I nodded and he laughed loudly. 

We walked to the mobile together and waited for our bags. I had two and Niall had three. We were chatting and every thirty seconds, thunder and lightening would consume the room. I closed my eyes tightly and was trying so hard not to freak out, Niall wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him.

I stiffened and pushed off. "I'm sorry but I don't know you and I get you were just trying to help but...don't." I rubbed my temples and then four noisy guys bounced their way over to us. I looked up and they had surrounded us and one of them, he had long curly hair, grabbed Niall and held him around the neck in a vulnerable position.

I dropped my carry on and shoved this imposter. "Let go of him!" I kept pushing until Paul, from the plane, grabbed me from behind and held me too tightly. An arm across my chest and another around my waist.

"NO PAUL! SHE'S FINE, WE'RE ALL JUST MESSING AROUND!" Niall shouted. I was immediately released and I fixed shirt and hair. Niall stepped towards me and I reversed. He looked hurt by this action. "I'll see you around Niall." I picked up my bags and started to walk away.

All of a sudden the window to my right shattered and a massive gust of wind followed in. I was blown to the ground and my screams were mixed with all of the other yells from the other people. I curled up on the ground into a ball. I was crying and trying to get past the fact that I had shards of glass sticking into me.

It was deafening in the room. I could hear people running, windows smashing, and blood curdling screams. I was there for maybe two minutes until a pair of arms scooped me up and took off. I fought my urge to protest and buried my face in his neck.

A door opened and then slammed. Silence.

The next thing I heard was heaving breathing and I took this time to look up. Paul, Niall, and the four boys from earlier were standing around. Only, I was in Paul's arms. 

He set me down and I scooted far into a wall, the only light was a Emergency Flashing Red Streaks. I was still crying but now the pain in my hand was more evident. I had a shard sticking out about and inch and a half.

There was a thud against the door and cries. I inched towards it but Niall grabbed me. "We can't open that door. If we do, everyone will try to get in here and it'll just cause more of a problem." I was shaking and then the curly guy from earlier grabbed onto my arm.

"How bad is it?" He stared straight into my eyes. I looked at my bloody hand, then I pulled away from both of them. 

"I'll take my chances out there." I took a step towards the door and then the whole room shook and "curly" grabbed my waist and we all huddled onto the floor.

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