Ten Minutes

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  [ this book is dedicated to my cousin Marli, who went to heaven to be with God almost three years ago. She was fifteen when she got in the plane crash that took her life. I haven't forgotten her beautifully kind spirit, and I don't think anyone ever will.

This story is for her. ]

***

IT WAS SUNNY that day. I remember because I had to put on my father's old baseball cap in an attempt to shield my eyes from the sun.

The plane ride was supposed to be short.

We boarded at eight o'clock, planning to take off fifteen minutes later, yet it ended up taking awhile longer than anticipated, considering all the unexpected passengers that showed up.

I noticed several things as soon as I walked onto the plane, including a tall, brunette flight attendant who barely made eye contact with anyone, a young boy with shaggy blonde hair who looked quite uncomfortable in his wheel chair, and a petite, freckled girl who beamed at everyone in sight.

As soon as I made it to my seat, I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest. The muffled chitter chatter of the young couple behind me had begun to get on my nerves and the constant smiling of the freckled girl was making me feel self-conscious.

The plane took off soon after, leaving me with only my thoughts as I gripped the arm rests beside me. Flying had always been a fear of mine, and now that I look back on it, I guess it would only make sense that I would have had a fear of flying.

"It's alright, son, it will be over before you know it," the father of the boy in the wheelchair had spoken those words softly to his son in an attempt to calm the child's nerves, but I remember selfishly pretending that he had said them to me.

That was when I started to doze off, my mind wandering as the strangely soothing sound of the engine lulled me to sleep. Although, there had been a baby a couple seats down that never ceased to jolt me awake as soon as I began to drift off.

And that's how it was.

It felt normal, almost rehearsed. I slept on and off for about an hour or two, and the strangely quiet flight attendant had walked up and down the isle several times, her almost unheard voice softly offering cups of water or packets of peanuts that would most likely go uneaten.

The plane ride felt smooth and normal, and I remember feeling my heart rate go down as the dangers of flying vanished from my mind completely.

So you could imaging that after drifting off to sleep once again, I was completely unprepared when I was shaken awake by the man that sat behind me. His words were rushed and almost incoherent, I remember that, but his message was clear.

We were, inevitably, going to crash.

And I knew this for sure because the atmosphere suddenly felt tense, and the panic stricken faces of passengers rushing past me made the reality seem all the more real as the flight attendant desperately tried to calm them down, but, it was clear on her face that there was no hope.

We were going to crash, and that was the end of it. No catch. No joke. Real life. We were going to crash in real life and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

Dread had filled my stomach by that point, and as everyone rushed around with terror written all over their faces, I remember one thing and one thing only.

Amongst the chaos that was going on, the freckled girl sat with her head bowed, her hands folded, and her eyes closed as people rushed past her and voices screamed at her that we were going to crash and all we had was ten minutes.

Ten minutes until we crashed.

And ten minutes until we were gone.

***