Lifelines - Jasper Hale

Eleven - Tripping

The last week without Edward had been a blessing. It had been quiet without his constant moping around the house and everyone seemed to be lighter. Not that Joan would say this to his face ever. Like ever. This made it bittersweet when he came back. Part of her was happy that their family was once again whole. But she could have enjoyed another day or two without him. Perhaps another decade. 

A benefit to him coming back on a Monday was that they all had to attend school. Gone was the awkward times when they didn't know which car to take. They were back to taking the normal two, Emmett's Jeep and Edward's Volvo. Quite possibly the two most modern cars owned by the family. It also meant that there was another chance that he could lose his mind and disappear again. But that was something not to think too much about. With a mind-reader around. That was also another reason as to why Joan was happy to have a week without Edward. A little more privacy was always accepted. 

Today was going to be a good day... or that was what Joan kept repeating to herself. She knew she was going to have a lesson with her Mate. And quite honestly it would be a highlight of her week at school. The lesson was history, and personally, something she wasn't so sure she needed to attend as she had experienced it all for the last 50, 60 years. But it was needed for her to leave the school. Whenever that was. The schooling system still confused her no matter how many times she completed the cycle. 

Arriving at the school, it had felt more comfortable to be a complete family unit. They stood around the cars for a while allowing Edward to stare at the human girl, Bobo. Joan stood practically in front of Jasper and his hands rested on her waist. She didn't need powers like the others had to know what Edward was thinking or feeling at the moment. However, the way he was presenting these feelings was almost comical. He looked almost constipated as he attempted to stare longingly at his mate. Joan was convinced if he tried to concentrate on her anymore that his rather large head would pop off from his body. It would be a sight. 

"What's going through that pretty little head of yours" Came Jasper's voice as he leant down to whisper in Joans' ear.

"Can your head explode from staring?" Came Joan's response as she gestured towards Edward. She could feel Jasper's chuckle from where she lent up against his chest. She moved her left hand down to play with Jasper's as she turned towards Alice to start a small conversation. The two were talking about one of the dresses from the 50s that Joan had come across the night before. How it needed refurbishment before they planned out the project for the next few days. It was simple tasks like this that kept Joan calm though she had a good check on her nerves that morning. Though, this was not always the best sign. 

The family soon split as they went to homeroom. Over the years, Joan was able to compare this to morning registration. Essentially, they turned up, were registered as having arrived then wasted the remainder of their time until the first lesson. Two lessons passed before they were in history.

Joan wondered into the classroom with her history book in her hand. It was a book she knew she would not need as the topic they were covering was one close to home. The current topic was on World War Two. Her best topic and also her worst. It so happened that they were going over the life of a pilot during the war at this time. 

She knew she had been too hopeful about the day being good. Everything had started off so well only to go so downhill and fast. The teacher, who she hadn't bothered to learn the name of and probably wouldn't ever,  began the normal conversation of how amazing the American pilots were. How amazing American aircraft was during this time. It wasn't seeming so bad. Until it was. 

The moment the Spitfire was brought up Joan could no longer pay attention to the teacher's words. She was stuck in her own head. Her own memories.

Joan had always been an excitable child. Her parents had always stated that this would be her main problem in life. The mixture of her being excited about new opportunities and her inspiration to help as many people as possible. So when War was announced she was not that old. But the years soon passed and she was 16. This age was not quite old enough to provide much for the country. But she faked her age. Yes ageing herself by two years may not seem to hard. But this involved faking her paper amongst other important documents to allow for her to join. Therefore, when she was allowed into the ATA Joan was over the moon. She spent hours at her base Duxford, just watching the planes fly by with the ambition to one of the days fly one herself. She had only joined the ATA in a receptionist styled job at the beginning. This was because they had more than likely figured out she was lying about her age but were thankful to anyone who would join the war effort by then.

Almost a year had passed until Joan was informed of their prospect of allowing her to become a pilot herself. After 28 hours of training, she was granted the pilots licence. This was also the time she was presented with the Spitfire she would be flying. There were not many female pilots at the time and only few could fly the Spitfires. It was an honour to fly what she considered to be quite possibly the most beautiful aircraft she had ever seen. Her uniform had changed as the pilot's badge was added. 

Only mere hours later did she return from her first solo flight. It may have seemed mediocre as she only travelled from one base to another and back again patrolling the air. Though when she landed it was the best feeling she had ever experienced. The feeling of flying in the air was purely magical. Joan had spent hours that night talking to the two women she had called best friends during that time. Both were also pilots Peggy and Camilla. And all three shared their stories of flying. 

She had performed four more routine flights in the subsequent weeks before she embarked on her final mission. That morning she had no clue of what was going to happen. It had started off as a normal morning with no problems. Until the base was alerted to an airfight between the American allies and the Germans which required back up. She was one of the chosen. This was the first time in her life that Joan had ever felt purely terrified. Her nerves were running wild as she thought of all the negative outcomes. Though she attempted to push said thoughts from her head and focus on the battle waging in front of her own eyes.

The beginning of the flight was quiet as she made her way towards the American airspace. Though what they stumbled upon came earlier into the flight and was pure carnage. Bullets were flying in all directions. Planes were falling from the sky. The sky itself was painted crimson. Joan fired at those she knew as Germans and without realising had gotten further and further into the American Airspace. 

She had never seen it coming. She had no time to react. However, she was spotted by a German Luftwaffe. And before she knew it. Her plane was struck and the engines were gone. There was not much left for her to do but wish for a soft landing. Her spitfire plummeted out of the sky at such a pace that she must have been falling at a rate hight than thousands of feet per second. 

She never remembered the landing of the plane. She had lost consciousness as soon as the plane made it's landing in that fateful field. She never worked out how the impact hadn't killed her instantly.

But she could always remember the sounds. The sounds of her own screams as the plane went down. The sounds of the gunfire. And what she gathered was the sound of the plane screeching to a stop in the field.