Everything Personal

Do You Want Me Dead?

I woke up gasping repeatedly for air; however not loudly. I thought nothing of it. I must have been asleep for three or four hours. My breathing was getting heavier.

“Alice, are you okay?” Alex asked looking at me with concern. I couldn’t reply. I was getting breathless easily. My gasping became more rapid.

“Alice?” Alex’s voice raised and he was beginning to squirm in his seat. People on the plane were staring. I hate attention! The seat belt sign was off and Zack came to Alex’s side. 

“Alice?!” He exclaimed. “Is anyone here a doctor?” Zack called out desperately through the plane.

“Alice, darling, baby, please hold on,” Alex was crying “Please,”

“IS ANYONE ON HERE A DOCTOR?!” Jack and Rian started calling throughout the plane. 

“Alice? Alice? Alice?” Zack’s voice, it was fading but Alex’s was getting louder; his crying louder, fiercer hot tears pouring from his face and onto my hand he clasped in his hands and was against his face. A nervous hand raised.

“I’m a doctor.” Jack pulled the man to where I was. More people were looking.The next few hours or minutes are blurred; an unclear memory I have still got to recover. All I know is that slowly after a while my gasping became less frequent the got slowly back to normal. I was lying on the floor when my vision was clear. 

Alex was in tears hugging the man. Zack was also in tears, when he was aware that I was beginning to regain consciousness he hugged me then got up and hugged the man. Alex hugged me; tightly, lovingly. He held me close and tight; now he was gasping for words.

“Don’t leave me again,” he whispered, he was still crying. I only noticed that the whole plane was cheering for the doctor. I got up and then held out my hand for Alex to take whilst he got up and calmed down.

“Thank you so much! How could I ever repay you?” I thanked the man.

“Well,” the man lowered his voice “my granddaughter is a huge fan of All Time Low and she has tickets to see them at the Corn Exchange and I was wondering if you could let her meet All Time Low?”

“If it’s what you want then sure!” I replied smiling “Whats your granddaughter’s name?” I grabbed a piece of paper from my bag and a pen so that I could write a note for the man to give his granddaughter.

“Autumn Chapman,” he replied. 

“Okay let me just write a note for you to give her.” The note said:

Autumn Chapman,

please may you come to the front entrance of the corn exchange at 7:00pm for a surprise. Make sure you have this with you to show security and I will give them your name so there are no problems. Thanks!

Love

Alice Merrick xxx

“Here, please give this to your granddaughter and make sure she has it with her. Thank you ever so much!” I gave him the note and hugged him before he returned to his seat.

“ALICE!” Jack said coming out of the plane toilet. He ran up to me to and hugged me. Had he been crying to but didn’t want them to see? 

An air hostess made an announcement. 

“Please may everyone return to their seats as the plane will be landing soon. We apologize greatly to Miss Alice Merrick, we were un-aware that the food contained traces of nuts. Again please my everyone return to their seats as we will be landing in London/Luton shortly.”

Great; she had to say my name. There were a few ‘Oh My God’s’ but luckily the fasten seat belt sign came on so that no one would come. It’s not that I hate being bothered by fans, I just hate attention. When I sang at the corn exchange, the first time I had seen Zack since high school, I was shaking so badly; I get terrible stage fright when I sing!

I fell asleep again, my head was resting on Alex’s shoulder and he was running his hand from the top of my head down to my waist. I had a dream that I was falling, I kept falling. I hit the ground and.... I woke up. The plane was descending; we were finally in the UK. 

“Thank you for flying with American Airways. We would like to be the first to welcome you to London, the temperature is 21 degrees and sunny.” 

We got off the plane after getting our hand luggage from the over-head storage and then made our way off the plane. I could hear screaming; was it fans? Alex and I walked hand in hand to the arrivals gate and there they were.

Thousands of screaming fans; camera lights flashing everywhere; I had to smile, I couldn’t look miserable. Alex, Jack, Zack and Rian signed a few posters and got a few pictures taken and some fans even asked me to sign things! When we got away to the baggage claim, I spotted the man that saved my life. I gave him a smile and he smiled back. He was holding the hand of a little girl about eleven or twelve years old. That must be his granddaughter. When grabbed our luggage and instruments and made our way to the exit. We hired a car and then drove to the hotel. One night of rest before our journey to Cambridge.

We were all stoked and exhausted!