Those Five Words

Chapter 1 (and really the only chapter)

I look over and smile at Amelia, my best friend for nine years now, she's leaning on the window of the airplane, asleep. That girl can fall asleep literally anywhere. I lean forward and grab my purse from the floor, I reach in the front pocket and grab my phone and see that we have only been on this plane for an hour and seven minutes. Two more hours to go, what a drag.
"Excuse me passengers unfortunately we will be experiencing some turbulence so please get back to your seats and buckle your seat belts" A flight attendant informed us.
I nudge Amelia and she rubs her eyes "Are we in the Baha-ba-ha-mas yet?" she says mid yawn.
"No Amelia, we aren't in the 'baha-bahamas' yet" I mock her and laugh. "Flight attendant said we're hitting turbulence so buckle up."
"Don't mock me Isla, and great" she says in a groggy voice. She buckles her seatbelt and then leans her head on my shoulder to fall asleep once again.
The plane starts to shudder and a child on the left window seat starts to weep. It feels as if we are swaying back and forth and this wakes up Amelia.
"How long is this gonna last?"
"I have no idea, I've been on tons of planes before and the turbulence has never lasted this long" I say.
The lights starts to flicker and then turn off all at once, the plane starts to shake even more violently than before. Immediately I fear for my life. Had this 'turbulence' been something more damaging and just been a cover up? Or was this just another case of extreme turbulence. I push away the thought and try my best to think positively.
The lights turn back on slowly but still flicker every time the plane shakes. Then a noise sounds, the intercom, had they not known it was on. Muffled sounds were the only thing audible from the speakers.
" People are talking in the background, it seems important but not necessarily directed toward us maybe" I tell Amelia.
"I wonder what's going on."
I can tell Amelia's scared so I search for her hand in the slight darkness and when I grip it, her hand is as cold as ice. There's another muffled message coming from the intercom, the message is getting more clear the more it gets repeated. I feel all the air in my lungs leave my chest and my heart stops beating in it's path.
"The plane is going down, I repeat the plane is going down. The left engine is shot from something in it might be a bird due to the turbulence, call every emergency line make sure the agency is informed about this or else 85 people are going to die today."
Those five words. They repeat in my head like a broken record. The plane is going down, those five words may determine whether I will live or die. I look at Amelia, her eyes glossy and she's trying to get through her head what she just heard. Like anyone else in the plane, shocked.
I turn again and face my best friend, I can't help but think that this is the last time we will look at each other uninjured or even alive.
The intercom comes back on "Hello passengers this is your captain speaking, there is no need to panic but it seems as if something got trapped in one of the engines and has caused it to malfunction. Now there are emergency exits if there is a need to, we have contacted the airlines for help. Thank you" he talked fast and it didn't sound like he was telling the truth about the severity of this problem.
Chaos begins to break in the plane, because it wasn't just me who didn't believe the captain. A flight attendant comes out of the bathroom and rushes to the front of the plane. She heard everything that was going on from the bathroom firsthand, like all of us.
A different flight attendant comes from the front room of the plane "Everyone please try to calm down, put on your oxygen masks and wait for further instructions" he leaves rather fast.
The oxygen masks fall down from the top compartments and I try to grab my mask but I can't help my shaking hands. I slip the band behind both of my ears and take my first deep breath since the unintentional news over the intercom.
"Isla, I just want to say that I love you so so much and when my mom died you were the only person that would cheer me up. Whenever i'm sick, feeling down, or need you in any way you are always there and I will eternally be grateful for every second that I could spend with you on this earth and-"
"Amelia what are you saying? We are going to be fine" Even I don't believe the words that come out of my mouth.
"No Isla, you don't know that. I'm telling you this just in case we don't make it and even though it's really hard to think about, not living in a world without you or the otherway around, I want you to know how much I care about you. If you die I hope I die too because you are all I've got."
I try to smile but tears well up in my eyes and I embrace Amelia. She squeezes me firmly back and I cradle her head. Everything she said was true and all the words she just said to me start to sink in.
For years we have been able to comfort each other. But now in this moment, surviving this with her still by my side will be the only thing that will matter after this is over. To think that we chose this vacation, these tickets, this flight could all have been prevented. No one could've expected this and it all started with turbulence.
The intercom comes back on and I prepare for bad news "Everybody listen up! We are going down very soon and if you don't listen to my instructions you will die! I will try everything in my capability to land this plane as safely as possible but I need everyone to listen to these instructions by the flight attendants to prepare for the impact!" The pilot says in an urgent manner, yet he is still trying to make sure people don't freak out more than they already are.
Again the news shocks me even more now because before, the pilot was saying that the plane was going down to his co-pilot but now that he's informed the actual passengers, we know that it will for a fact happen.
A flight attendant comes out of the front room again "Passengers I will now teach you how to prepare for a crash landing." The plane quiets down and the cries are only slightly heard now "The plane is going to descend very fastly and you will only have a matter of time to adjust. Make sure your seatbelt is on tightly and there are no loose bags on the floor. When you are descending, your feet should be flat on the floor and further back than your knees to reduce injuries to your feet and legs. If the seat in front of you is close enough to reach, place one hand palm-down on the back of that seat, then cross the other hand palm-down over the first hand. Rest your forehead against your hands. Keep your fingers unlaced, thank you" The attendant returns to the room and my heart is beating faster than ever.
"Isla, I'm really scared" I can see the fear in Amelia's eyes.
"I know, I am too but all we can do is wait."
Nausea kicks in at the worst time and my head is spinning in circles, my life spins with it, and the memories I have had replay as if they are a movie, but this is a doomed reality. My life has barely started, I am nineteen years old, what would I do if it ends right now? There would be nothing I can do.
June 14th 2007. I sit on the bench alone as usual always waiting to see if anyone will sit with me, but not expecting anything.
"I like your shirt!" I look up to see a scrawny girl that looks to be my age and wearing the exact same panda shirt as me, how cool.
"Wanna sit?"
"Okay, My name's Amelia what's yours?"
"I'm Isla, nice to meet you! Wanna share lunch?"
"Sure!" She hands me her bag and I hand her mine and we see we both have packed a PB&J. I'm glad she was wearing the same shirt as me.
"We can be friends forever!"
"Forever!" Amelia smiles.
Now forever is gone. The plane is about to collide with the earth and it will be like we never existed, like there was never a forever, like there was nothing. I awake suddenly we aren't moving and I feel a sensation of new air entering my lungs, as if I was just born. We landed. Alive, or at least I am. I look to my right to make sure Amelia is still there with me, her body is limp.
Every memory that I've ever had with her flashes in my mind, if she's gone my life is over. She is my heart, my soul, my life. I quickly bring her head to my lap and I feel for a pulse over her chest, nothing. I begin to panic and the breaths I take are getting more and more shallow. Have I just lost my best friend? Something begins to throb under my fingertips,
a pulse. She takes a deep breath in and opens her eyes slowly. My whole world has just fallen back in it's place, I exhale a sigh of relief.
"Stay alive please , stay alive for me" I sing to her quietly, our favorite song that will never fail to bring us both to tears. But now it is the most relevant in our lives. "We made it." I smile and so does she, and it is then that I feel alive again too.
I grab her arm and lift her up, "Come on let's get out of here."