Descending

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

James' heart suddenly jolted as he realized his terror was coming true. Looking at Maddie he could see her shock too; eyes wide open and frantically looking at her brother. James looked out Maddie's window and was frazzled to see that the engine was sparking an electric blue color. Lightning must have really struck it!

"Maddie, it is gonna be alright, okay?" James said in an unconvincing stutter.

"No, it's not and you know that!" Maddie screamed in terrified anger.

"You're the one who kept joking about it! Serves us right!"

As James said that, the plane suddenly fell some 1000 feet and then regained itself. The planes' lights suddenly surged and began popping and sparking in the cabin, as the electric system fried. Screams soon followed every pop of a light. James grabbed his sister's hand and they both held each other tight.

"Maddie, I'm sorry I yelled at you. You had no idea this was gonna happen."

"Yeah, it's all right, I guess," she nervously responded.

By now all the lights had surged and exploded with dazzling sparks. Now there was nothing but the never ending lightning to light the cabin. James kept looking around at all the terrified people as if they knew this was the end as well.

The speaker crackled on as the captain attempted to talk, "Attention, everyone please prepare for a rough landing. We are trying our very best to find a safe place to land. Just relax and remember this plane is capable of flying with one engine."

"He is right you know James," Maddie comforted.

"I know," James simply replied.

James had other thoughts on his mind. He wondered if the other engine would somehow fail from the surge or get hit by lightning also. He glanced past Maddie at the destroyed engine. It was still lightning hot and seemed fried. All that he could see was black, swirling storm clouds surrounding the plane and nothing below them. They must still be really high.

"James, can I close this window please?" Maddie asked, seeing he was still looking out of it.

"Yeah, go ahead. It's scaring me too."

James found it comforting knowing his sister was just as scared as him; he was not alone.

More bumps began as the wind whipped harder and harder against the damaged plane. The bumps were becoming more violent as if the storm was trying to pull the plane back with huge devilish hands. There was a loud boom that made James' ears ring and he and his sister's hands reached the window at the same time. They both lifted the flap and saw huge orange flames now enveloping the engine. The heat from the lightning must have combusted it. Another huge bump smashed him against his sister, while Maddie hit the window. The force was enough to knock them both unconscious, as the plane veered suddenly to the right.

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When James regained consciousness, he lifted himself back into his seat and off of his sister. He looked over to see that Maddie was still unconscious. James' head was beating with pain as if a baseball had hit it. James looked frantically around and found a lot of people were unconscious as well.

The plane had began to dive down from the force of the storm. He looked out the window again and found the flames larger and encrouching on them, with smoke as dark as the storm clouds around the flames. James took a deep breath, closed the flap to the window, and sat back. He smelled smoke and began to panic once again.

The speaker was hardly audible with the conscious people beginning to scream and cough as the smoke enveloped them as well. James tried to cover his sister from it so she would not suffocate and feared for their lives as the black smoke began pouring in through every direction.

"Everybody r-remain calm! W-w-w are try-- our best to fix the situation w-- the en-gine."

Another deafening explosion and a huge grinding noise, worse then his last bad experience years ago, made people scream louder. James looked out his window again, his vision becoming blurry from the intoxicating smoke. The engine had exploded and millions of pieces of shrapnel had ripped the wing apart. The wing looked as if half of it had been shredded off, from what James could see through the smoke engulfing it.

"James? What's happening?!" Maddie screamed as she woke again into the nightmare, holding her head.

"Don't look out the window Maddie! That's all I'm going to say."

"There is smoke in here, James! I-I can't b-breathe!" Maddie stuttered as she breathed in the toxic fumes.

"Save your breath and be quiet Maddie!"

With that Maddie shut up and just looked at her brother. James began to wonder if she was looking to him for what to do. James realized he would have to be strong for Maddie and get them through this no matter what their differences.

The plane began to tilt at a sharp right turn, worse than before, and dive downward. Masks finally dropped down and James grabbed it as fast as he could. Maddie had beat him to it with her own. James' vision began to get less cloudy as he breathed in fresh oxygen.

There were more large bumps as the plane continued to dive faster and faster. James wondered why was this happening when they still had one engine left. That's when he realized that the other engine was gone as well, but had not heard it over the screaming crowd.

"Its on fire too! It must have overheated! What do we do!" screamed one passenger across the isle from where James was sitting, noticing him glancing in the direction of the other engine.

Maddie began to scream and James was shocked back to his task: he had to stay strong for her, no matter what.

"P-p-prepare f-- c-rash land-- in abo-- five min--"

The speaker went dead before the pilot had finished. He gripped his sister's hand tight and the bumps became so strong it hurt to hold on because it was smashing there hands into the armrest. As James thought it could not get any worse and more uncomfortable, the oxygen seemed to run out in the masks. James ripped it off along with his sisters as he realized smoke had gotten in the tanks of the oxygen supply. The plane was starting to rip itself apart as it got closer and closer to its final grave.

The bumps kept getting worse and worse as they dived closer and faster to the water. The back of the plane seemed to be grinding from all the air rushing over it. As James thought this, the back of the plane ripped apart in a loud crack, leaving a gaping hole in the back. Only five seats back from them, he heard screams as people flew out of the plane to their deaths.

James' vision got cloudy once more, and he began to see a black haze. He looked at his sister and she seemed to have the same issue. He hugged his sister tight and told her to hang on tight to her seat. He then let go and braced to his own seat. A flight attendant came down the aisle, clearly risking her life to save others, as she told everyone to brace for impact.

"Were gonna make it Maddie. Don't worry, okay?"

"You know that's not true."

He did not respond only looked deep into his sisters ocean blue eyes to give her reassurance.

There was a jolt as if they were skidding on water. The flight attendant flew back, screaming, hit her head on the ceiling with a bang, then flew into the gaping hole, disappearing beneath the tree branches. Trees! They must be on land!

As he realized this he opened the now cracked window and saw miles of trees. As he looked he saw the rest of the damaged wing go, still flaming, out of sight. The cabin began to tilt as the belly of the plane touched down. The scraping was louder then he could ever imagine, the remaining wing slicing through the cabin windows on the other side, killing dozens and nearly missing James and his sister. The front of the plane ripped apart and then exploded as it flew over and behind them.

Their remaining plane part flew again, skidding off of a large boulder, and he looked at his sister one more time, squeezing her tight before he felt their seats rip out of the floor of the plane. As they separated, James hit a tree with the force of a race car. James could hear his sister's screaming and then a sickening crunch. The last thing he saw was the plane, flip upside down, barrel roll into an enormous rock wall, and explode into a million pieces, killing every last passenger left on it.