Lost in Purgatory

Chapter 1

Felicity pulled the life jacket on with an ever increasing sense of disbelief. How could this be happening? She'd just been flown out to Hong Kong for a job interview, which had gone so well! Her head was still full of the amazing future that could be hers if she was chosen for the job. And now she was on the way home. Except the captain's words were still ringing in her ears.

"This is the captain speaking. Due to a technical problem, we are going to have to make an emergency landing. Please follow the flight attendants' instructions."

Felicity instinctively looked out of the window. It was a bright sunny day, and all she could see was water. Well, yeah, Felicity. Ergo, life jackets. But how the hell could they land here? She tried to follow the instructions she could hear being yelled across the aisle, but it was difficult, through the other passengers' loudly expressed panic. She secured the life-jacket with clumsy fingers, fighting her disbelief and denial. This was just a misunderstanding. These things didn't happen, not to her. The sound of a tone from the cabin speakers snapped her out of the trance, and she relaxed, relieved. She was sure the message was going to be reassuring, the emergency over, a mistake. She'd never been so wrong.

"This is the captain. Brace for impact."

As though the captain's words had flicked a switch in his crew, the flight attendants started yelling.

"Heads down! Brace! Brace! Brace!"

Felicity quickly folded over and wrapped her arms under her seat as far as she could, thanking whoever was looking out for her that she'd watched the in-flight instruction video on the flight to Hong Kong. As the next few seconds passed, the feeling of unreality heightened until she was sure she was living through a really vivid nightmare – only she had the sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to wake up from this one. The whining sound of the engines grew louder and louder, turning into a scream. Felicity felt like she was losing her mind as the sound drowned out the flight attendants, who were still yelling 'Brace!' at the top of their voices, some passengers who were screaming, and the children (oh, the children, she thought later, filled with horror) crying. The plane hit the water with a jarring crash she felt in her bones. Then she knew no more.

Logically, she knew she'd only been out for a few seconds. But she was so completely disoriented, it could have been days. When she came to, she was on the surface of the water, still strapped into her seat. She looked around her, dazed, and couldn't believe how sharp everything looked, how clear and distinct each wave seemed. She raised her hand to her face and realised her glasses were still on. The idea was ludicrous. The whole plane was gone. Everyone except her was dead. But her glasses were fine. A giggle escaped her mouth, and she clapped a hand over it. She couldn't. She couldn't lose it now. She was alone in the middle of an ocean, and she had to hold it together. She inflated her life jacket quickly, and when she realised her seat was sinking, and pulling her down with it, she unbuckled her seatbelt. She looked around her again, her horror increasing. Where was the plane? Here and there she could see some debris floating around, only to sink, as though trying to escape her gaze. The seat which had been under her did the same, and she tried to swim away from it, but she wasn't sure which direction to pick. Then something brightly coloured caught her eye, and she turned in that direction. It was a life raft, or rather, one of the emergency slides. As she tried to pull herself up, a hand clamped onto her arm, and dragged her out of the water. Her relief at finding another survivor was short lived, though. She was face to face with one of the male flight attendants, but he looked badly hurt, his white shirt stiff with dried blood. He seemed to have used the last of his strength to pull her up, and quickly lost consciousness.