6:10pm - Local time (+8 GMT) - 15th of April
The view out my window is amazing, the different shades of blue only breaking for the occasion island. I’m 6 hours through my flight and only just being served some food. The options are either western or local, I choose the local. It’s pretty good for aeroplane food, with fragrant rice and a interesting looking reheated curry. I ate it quickly so I could return to my movie.
7:20pm
7 hours in and the weather seems to have changed for the worst, I can no longer see the beautiful beaches of the Pacific Ocean. All I can see now is storm clouds and rain. As the pilot repeats for the eighth time that we should sit down and fasten our seat belts, we all hear a massive bang. The child in row 27 starts to cry and whimper looking a bit scared. We all wait in silence until our pilot comes over the intercom and says that it was just a lightning bolt. I thought that this was a bit odd because I hadn't seen any flash. Just as the pilot was trying to reassure us the lights went out. Now the kid in row 27 was really scared. I felt trapped. I felt like clawing at the window and screaming but I just sat there totally numb. One phrase kept on recurring in my jumbled mess of thoughts.
Why us?
I don't believe in deities or fate but why us? Out in our world, our country and even our city there are mass murderers, dictators and torturers. So why us? Why does anything happen? Why did I chose this Flight? Why did I come on this holiday?
That is the question. The first and the only question.
Why?
7:24pm
The intercom has cut out and all we can hear is a buzzing sound. Heaps of people are really freaking out, I see a couple of people praying with their eyes looking hopefully up towards the ceiling. Just in front of me some very scared japanese tourists are franticly pushing the button that called for the cabin crew. I felt sorry for the hostess that answered having to totter down the in her tiny high heels with only a torch to light her way. As the plane suddenly jerked to the side the hostess tripped and the plane was thrown into darkness. We waited in silence until we heard the dreaded alarm.
“BRACE BRACE BRACE”
I quickly assumed the brace position as it suggested in the manual and hoped this was some kind of cruel joke, hoping that suddenly I would see a camera man creep past me or even that the doors of the plane would reveal that we were still on the ground. My stomach crept up into my throat as I felt the nose of the plane slowly fall forward. Its amazing how one second can seem like forever.
7:26pm
We fell and fell and fell. I saw one woman rip off her seat belt and scream. It wasn't a like the screams on a roller coaster or even a scared scream. It was a desperate scream, the kind where you empty your lungs completely knowing that no-one can help you. Out of everything that was happening that scream, that act of desperation was the single thing that scared me the most. They say hope is the most powerful thing a human is capable of doing. So to hear the abandonment of it is so frightening. To admit to the fact that you know that its not going to be alright and that no knight in shining armour is going to magically fly the plane to safety is truly terrifying. That scream shook me to the centre of my soul. I realised I had started to cry, my body was shaking and tears were rolling down my face. Normally I would have tried to hide them but now wasn't normal, nothing about this was normal. Then again nothing is normal. It amazed me how philosophical I was getting. All those times I’ve heard documentaries about hikers talking about their near death experiences and how it made them evaluate their lives, I never thought it would happen to me. I looked around the plane wondering if anyone else was having the same thoughts as I was. I saw every single expression from men crying to mothers trying to comfort their children, but everyones eyes had the same look of pure terror. The plane was tilted to the side and I shut my eyes. A woman wailed out something that sounded like a prayer and a man screamed at her. “SHUT UP! If your god existed he would have whisked us away from here long ago” The whole plane went silent wondering what would happen next.
7:28pm
There was a massive crash. It was the scariest moment of my life. The force was tremendous I whacked my head on the seat and next thing I saw was black. I don't know how long I was unconscious for but the next thing I knew I was leaning on the seat in front of me with blood all over my face. I gasped for air thanking everything I could name for me being alive. I tried to stand and screamed at the pain, I looked down at my ankle and saw that it was on an angle that didn't look too good. I noticed some water collecting at the bottom of the plane. I prepared myself and tried to hop towards the nearest exit not looking at the rows of seats that I passed. I managed to hobble the door and saw some people outside the plane, one of them was just sitting there dazed, others were bent over vomiting and the rest reached out and helped me down from the plane. I took in my surroundings, we were on a beach of some description with soaring palms and beautiful white sand.
This trip was nothing like the travel agents brochure.
