Pan Ever After

Chapter Three - All Alone

We take our seats and but our hand luggage above us. My Alex and Laura are sat at either side of me. I help them with their belts and I hold their hands.

Alex has always been afraid of flying and today I am too. We take off and everything is fine, I let go of their hands. I still can't shake this feeling that everything is going to go wrong. I keep thinking about my dream, it plays in my head over and over again.

Alex is twiddling her thumbs, acting as if she doesn't know what to do without her phone. Her battery died on the way here and her charger is in her suitcase.

Laura is looking excitedly out of the window, watching the world shrink beneath us.

I look out the window and see the ocean. Now I can't help but be afraid. In my dream this is when it happened, this is when we crashed. A flight attendant sees the look on my face, the look of fear and panic, she asks me if I'm okay and I say I am even though I know I'm not. A few minutes pass and nothing happens, I think that maybe it's okay. I think that maybe my nightmare wasn't real. That is until I hear thunder.

I look outside the window and see that we're surrounded by grey clouds. We're in a storm. Just like in my dream, just like in my nightmare. I hold onto my younger sisters hands. I look around and realise that I'm the only one even slightly phased by the storm outside, all of the other passengers are going on as if this is normal. Maybe it is normal, maybe I'm just overreacting.

The captain makes an announcement, he says that we're flying through a storm but there is no reason to be scared. He says it's completely normal to encounter a storm in this part of the sky.

I actually start to believe him until I see lightning strike just outside. This time the other passengers acknowledged it too.

''What's going on?'' Alex asks. "Why is there a storm?"

"It's okay," I tell her, "you heard the Captain, this is normal. There's no need to worry." I feel like I'm lying to her, like I know what's going to happen.

The lightning strikes again, this time on the engine. The aircraft starts to fall. I look to each side of me and my sisters are crying. I look around at the other passengers, their faces show terror and panic, almost everyone is either screaming or crying, my sisters faces are stained with tears.

I can see the aircraft being ripped apart by the storm as it plummets to the ground. Everything is so loud, the sounds of the crash, the sounds of the screams, but louder than everything else is the sound of my own heart beat. I can hear it more clearly than anything else. I'm scared, I'm scared that my sisters are going to die. I don't let go of their hands. Why didn't I try harder to stop this? Why did I let them get on this airplane? All of this is my fault. I could've warned these people, I could've saved these people. But I didn't, and they're all going to die because of it. They're all going to die because of me.

Everything is quiet now and I'm on my own. I can't hear anything or see anyone. I can't see my sisters anywhere. Beneath me I can feel damp leaves, above me I can see trees. Am I in a forest? I feel a hand grab my own. I look over and see a dark, faceless, featureless figure. A shadow. A shadow without an owner. Just like in my dream.