FLIGHT LEVEL ZERO

The bumps were just turbulence, Right? That's what the flight attendants keep saying. But when I peeked through the window, I saw smoke trailing behind us polluting the sky in a huge black cloud. The engines flamed and sparked and an acrid smell filled the cabin .The plane jerked again, making my head smack into the seat in front of me. Even though the chair was cushioned, pain seared the back of my neck. The flight attendants were bickering on again, reassuring the passengers.

"Everything is under control," they lied, "We're just going in for a landing before the storm really sets in." You could see the fear in their eyes.One of the attendants lost her footing as the plane went into a steep dive, the plane begin spinning through the sky. What was happening? Planes don't just do this! But it was happening. I convinced myself to stay calm. I knew the plane was going crash. I knew it was. The ground rushed towards me.

My heart thundered, the plane dropped in its deadly corkscrew dive, i was slammed back into my seat by the high g-forces. The cabin was silent, no one single cry or scream, not a single whisper, the only sound the cockpit alarms echoing through the darkness. It was night, not an ordinary night though, the night before Christmas, all I wanted to do was get home to my parents, my family.what if it never happened?thoughts raced through my head of never seeing them again, my last sight being the ground racing towards my eyes, my last sound be the impact of the aircraft. What would I do? The plane was now seconds away from the ground, the pilot was screaming mayday through the microphone but his cries for help would not be heard, just as I thought it was too late, the plane seemed to start to be levelling off, we were still inverted, but we were starting to fly forwards again.

I sighed in relief, but I knew I shouldn't be so modest, we were still going to crash. That's when I realised, how much we take it for granted,flying seems fun, but it's dangerous. Speeding through the sky in a giant pressurised metal tube, at hundreds of miles per hour, the only thing keeping you from the deadly atmosphere outside being a few centimetres of steel and plastic. Sounds fun, until it goes wrong. The plane started to flip over again ,painfully slow, it rolled onto its side for a few seconds, tilting the nose down and giving me a bit of a fright, before levelling off, we were now flying straight and level but we continued to lose altitude. I saw the tree tops racing below, the crisp white of the fresh alpine snow, the milky white flowing over the contrasting grey peaks.

The wings started to touch down on the forest, the burning engines scorching the foliage as we descended into the darkness. The fire burned bright orange in the jet black sky, illuminating our final resting place, where I would breathe my last breaths, think my last thoughts and cry my last tears.The loud thudding of the trees hitting the wings made me jump, passengers screamed for their lives, the cockpit alarms were louder than ever "SINK RATE, PULL UP , TERRAIN!" It thundered though the cabin louder than a thousand storms. The stewardess stumbled towards the Center of the plane, struggling in her high heeled shoes. "Heads down, head forwards, get your heads down and heads forward!" She continued on, I don't think anyone listened, we were all too scared for our lives. The plane was hitting the forest hard, we were too low, no chance of recovery now. I just listened to the alarms, they told me everything, "ONE HUNDRED" I prepared myself for what was about to come, "FIFTY" "get ready!" The stewardess screamed , the plane was silent, the only sound was the engines surging, the trees enclosing the wings. "FORTY... THIRTY.. TWENTY..." I closed my eyes and knelt forward, praying to god i would get out of this alive. "BRACE!", "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

It seemed an eternity before the plane finally hit the ground, fire raced around the fuselage, I can't quite describe the impact, think of a train hitting a brick wall, now times that by ten , no, one hundred, one thousand, you get the idea. The wing hit the cliff face and broke off, tearing like paper.It sent the plane spinning through the forest floor uncontrollably, what else could go wrong? The engines continued to surge, and trees closed in on the plane,that was the night it all ended.

I woke up, dazed ,where was I? The fuselage was broken up, I was sat in the aft section, fire surrounded me, the sound of sparking wires and the smell of jet fuel clogged my senses. Everything was in slow motion, clouds of black gathered above me, it was all a blur. I checked myself over, I was bleeding heavily , but I couldn't feel a thing. Why was it so quiet? All I could hear was the crackling fire and whispering wind. Was I the lone survivor? I tried to get up , but I couldn't, I was still strapped into my seat, hanging upside down, the plane must of flipped over on impact. I unstrapped myself, but I didn't want to let go, I clung to the chair. If I didn't get off now, I was going to be burned alive I thought, so I just let go.

I hit the floor, well the roof, hard. I felt pain rush through my spine, but nothing was going to stop me now, I stumbled up , grabbing on to the seats above me for support, they were wet?! I sniffed my hand , the burning sensation of jet fuel filled my lungs, I had to get out now. Corpses stared at me, their glassy eyes reflecting the last thing I saw, the terrifying expressions remained, scarring me to the core.I trekked through the carnage, the torn metal grasping at my legs like the hands of death himself ,but I would feel no pain, shed no tears.After what seems like hours of walking, I had reached open space, by the mountain next to the tree. Only now did I realise the severity of the accident, the wreckage spread for miles ahead of me, a trail of burning metal stretched across the landscape. I expected to see a group of people standing by the wreckage, hugging and sobbing into each others arms. Screaming about there loved ones. standing next to a horrific mass grave.But there was nothing, just me. All alone. In the middle of a plane wreck ,that no one else knew about.