I Need You.

Chapter Twelve.

Lauren.

My heart is pounding loudly in my chest as I sit in the cock pit of the helicopter, I have the instructor next to me, speaking loud and clear in my ear as he explains to me what all of the buttons and panels are in front of me, I drown out the sound of my heart so I can pay attention to what he is saying to me.

"Okay this is the cylic pitch lever" He says pointing to the long stick resting between my legs.

"This is going to be your best friend today, I don't want you to focus on anything else apart from this, I am going to introduce you to the pedals also, because there is a chance that I will let you take over just for a few minutes so you can get a feel for them for your next lesson, now before we go any further, do you know what the cylic is?" He asks me.

"It's to change direction right? To go left and right?" I say it as a question, because even though I researched it and have watched many helicopter movies, I still weren't completely sure.

"That's correct, it also allows you to go forward or backwards, it takes quite a lot of strength to be able to handle the stick, as it only takes slight movement for it to launch forward or to the side, so when I ask you to take over I want you to be extremely careful"

"Okay got it" I tell him, making sure to let him know that I am actually listening.

"This is the collective pitch lever" He tells me pointing next to the long bar next to my seat.

"We both have one, but mine is on the other side, this is what I will be using for us to lift up off of the ground and to put us down, you will most likely learn to do that on your own on your fourth lesson, I like to teach you all of the pedals and sticks up in the air first, because personally for me that's the easy part, you may think that lifting up off the ground is probably the easiest thing you can do in the world, but it's probably one of the hardest, especially because you will have control over everything, you have to make sure you're concentrating on all the different things you have to do, there's a lot of multi tasking when it comes to flying a helicopter"

"I'm very good at multi tasking and understand it's going to be a lot of hard work, but I'm willing to put in the effort" I smile over at him.

"That's good to hear, now I'm going to quickly run over the pedals with you before I finally take you up in the air and give you control of the stick"

"Okay" I nod.

"The most important thing to remember is that this isn't a car, the pedals don't make you go or stop, all of that remains in your hands, now the right pedal will deflect the tail of the heliptor to the left and the nose to the right, the left pedal will do the opposite, so remember that when you have control of the stick and plan on turning, that you will have to use the pedals also, today I will have most control over the pedals, I'll tell you when to turn and have my foot ready for when you move to stick, while we're up there I may give you the opportunity to try the pedals once today, if you feel comfortble and confident enough, I believe that's everything you need to know for today, so do you have any questions before we lift off?" He asks me.

I take a second to mull over everything he just said and rack my brain for any questions to ask him, but only one springs to mind.

"Has the helicopter been cleared for flight today?" I ask him as my anxiety starts fighting to the surface.

"All of our air crafts are checked thoroughly thirty minutes before flight, nothing should go wrong, I've been flying for twenty three years so you're in safe hands" He reassures me.

"Okay, I'm ready" I nod.

"Great" He begins flicking switches overhead and in front of him, my eyes going wide as the propellers start spinning overhead letting off an incredibly loud noise, I hear his voice breaking through my headphones.