But The World Keeps Turning

Chapter 2: Praecipitium

Not being sure how much time had passed, Chloe woke up, finding herself laying against her friend. She was feeling nauseous, but didn't feel like throwing up again, because her stomach had already been emptied. Her friend's head was resting on top of hers, evidently being asleep. Although this was the economy class of a cheap airline, she was laying comfortable, so she didn't bother to change her position. She closed her eyes again. Today had also been tiring for her. She remembered the fight where she got into with her dad, just fifteen minutes before she was picked up by the Bellas.

Just when Chloe started to fall asleep again, a heavy bump made the plane drop a few feet. This was the start sign for the plane to shake vehemently. Just when Beca woke up and she and Chloe sat up on their own chairs again, the seatbelt sign went on.

"What's happening?" Chloe didn't sound very comforted.

Just at that moment, they saw a lightning bolt strike the plane. The plane was flying in the dark clouds and was wet from the rain. Heavy shocks caused a few passengers to scream.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We're having some trouble with the turbulence now, because of the weather, but there is nothing to worry about. Please, return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts immediately."

Chloe fastened her seatbelt and grabbed Beca's hand again. She was forcing herself not to cry. It would probably be over very soon and she and Beca would laugh about it. Beca would call her an adorable fool for freaking out about a situation like this, just like she always did. They were about to have a well-earned holiday on a tropical bounty beach, to party and to have fun. And when the holiday was over, they had to return to Barden, finish their year and to win the Finals at Lincoln Centre. That was what was about to happen. Nothing else.

Lightning struck the plane for the second time, but this time it hit the right wing, just above the running engine. The plane shook and dropped a dozen feet. She closed her eyes. It would all be over very soon. She was here, safe, with Beca, her best friend Aubrey and even all of the Treble Makers were here. She should feel safer than ever before.

"No! Fuck!"

The brunette sounded shocked, so Chloe opened her eyes and looked at Beca, who was staring out of the window. Were that clouds? No, they were too black to be clouds. What was it? Was it smoke? Suddenly, she saw it. She saw the right wing, surrounded by light orange flames, licking the white metal and steadily coming closer to the actual cabin were they were. The engine on the right wing had stopped and this caused the plane to turn on its axis and to lose height extremely fast. The black sea was coming closer than it should be. The sea was rough and the waves were high, because of the storm. It was still raining heavily and you could hear the thunder fulminate above them. Chloe felt her ears pop painfully because of the falling and tried to clear them, but they were falling too fast. The only thing she heard was the dull sound of people screaming and crying. Even while the sudden drop not lasted any longer than a couple minutes, it felt like hours, but at the same time it all happened too fast to think reasonably. The pilot tried to calm the people down, but she was unable to hear him above the screams from the passengers. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, but nobody paid attention to them. She looked, hopelessly lost, to Beca, but Beca only stared outside the window. The waves were now only about a hundred meters away from the falling plane. Beca suddenly turned and pulled Chloe into a tight hug, leaning against the chairs in front of them.

What the hell?

Then the blow came. The plane had suddenly stopped falling and had struck the sea with its front, rapidly sinking. This was when the real chaos began. Due to the blow, the plane had cracked in the middle of the cabin and a wide gap was now separating the front and the rear of the plane. The crack made it easy for the water to flood in. People had unclipped their seatbelts and were fighting and screaming to get close to get out of the sinking plane. Some people hadn't survived the impact and were lying dead in their chairs, not moving a muscle. Others were sitting unconsciousness in their chairs. Others still sat down in their chairs, not realizing what was happening. The largest group of people however, was fighting and trampling over each other towards their freedom.

Chloe still sat down on her chair, confused. Beca however, unclipped her belt and Chloe's and dragged her towards the small path between the chairs. As far as they could see, the Bellas and the Treble Makers were already gone. The plane was still horizontal at last, so it wouldn't be too difficult to walk straight towards the exit. But they were wrong. Very wrong.

Just when they stood in the small pathway, a huge man, dressed in a black tux, pushed them aside, onto two chairs and passed them. Beca cursed loudly. When they stood up and were back in the small pathway, the plane got somewhat more vertical, due to the heavy water that had gathered in the very back of the tail. Beca grabbed Chloe's hand and together they ran for it, the black water only filling the back of the plane more. The plane was getting more vertical each second because of the increasing weight of the tail part. They ran past chairs with unknown people, some dead, some still looking horrified and in shock, but they both knew that they couldn't help them in the little time they had. Chloe ran and ran, but it felt like time had frozen. Like they would run forever, but they would never get near the gap.

Suddenly she felt Beca's hand sliding out of hers. Turned around, she saw Beca falling a couple feet, downwards, because the plane was sinking vertically. Had she had slipped? During the fall, she looked at Chloe, helplessly, before she hit her head hard on the side of one of the luggage racks, which had been opened. When she hit the water that was gathered in the tail part, she had her eyes closed and didn't move. There was a big cut on her forehead that bled severely. Chloe thought fast and ran downwards as quick as she could without slipping. She put her arms around the brunette's waist and started to drag her towards the gap, quickly followed by the dark substance beneath them, as the water filled the cabin more and more. The flames that had formed on the sides of the plane straddled her hair and arms. Because of the combination of Beca's weight, the wet carpet beneath her feet and the plane being vertical, the water soon caught up with her and outpaced her. The whole cabin was now filled with seawater and started to sink completely. The redhead started swimming towards the surface with all the air she had left in her lungs, still holding Beca firmly with one arm.

While she was swimming underwater, trying to reach the surface, there was one thing she was terrified of. It were not even the events she just had been through, neither were it the events that were awaiting her. It was the total silence that had surrounded her, ever since she had gotten below sea level. This silence was in such contrast with the screams and cries she had just witnessed, it scared her. The silence was deafening. Earsplitting. She couldn't bear it and started to swim faster and faster. Her lungs burned and her mind was sending her signals to breath, but she couldn't.

When she reached the surface, the sound of the rain and thunder welcomed her like an old friend. She noticed how high the waves were, while struggling to keep her and Beca's face above the water. She looked around, panicking, hoping she would find something that would save them. The only thing that surrounded them, however, were massive waves, some the size of buildings. No floating objects, no other people and as far as she could see there was no land she could swim to.

In her struggle to prevent them both from drowning, Beca became heavier and harder to hold as they were both pulled down by the strong current. Struck by a huge wave, she felt the body of the freshman slipping out of her arms. She freaked out and grasped for her in desperation, but her body was nowhere to be found. When she looked under water, she could barely see a thing, caused by the darkness. Suddenly, realization struck her like lighting: she had lost Beca. She had lost Aubrey. She was alone.

"BECA?!"