Technical Difficulties

"Mom, are we really going to go see Uncle Mathias?" I ask.

"Yes, but only if we make it to the plane on time!" She takes my hand and we rush through the gate towards our flight. We pass through bag inspection without a hitch and manage to find our seats. I sit thinking about Uncle Mathias, well family friend Mathias, but uncle was close enough.

Last I visited I was smaller than I am now. We sat on a hill overlooking a field of wildflowers and dandelions. We blew tufts and watched the sun go down.

"Alright bud, time to head home," he says with a smile. "But Uncle Mathiaaas, I'm too tired to walk," I say rubbing my eyes. He smiles at me with a bit of mischief.

"Fine then, I'll just have to..." He picks me up and throws me in the air "carry you home then." I grin as he makes me taller by putting me on his shoulder

"What do you think we'll have for dinner tonight?" I ask

"What every your Mom makes."

This wonderful memory is interpreted by a jolt that shook the whole plane. My eyes fly open and look first to my mother who has a look of terror on her face. She realized that I'd seen her and her expression soon turns to a smile. Her eyes... her eyes still show the fear and terror as when I first looked up at her.

I hear a crackly voice come on overhead "Attention passengers, I-" the pilot hesitates "I have some terrible news, somehow we have suffered a very large build up in the engine and fueling system..... the safety features have failed to operate," the voice grows silent but the static of the speaker remains. "We're going down too fast and we can't find a safe place to land... we have only three minutes" the speaker turns off leaving the cabin in pure silence.

I look around at the people around me. There's a woman trying to contact someone, a little girl, her daughter, sitting by her. A man's mumbles are coming from the seat behind me, almost a prayer. And finally, one of the people at the very back seams to have either entered shock or is sleeping with their eyes open. By now there's only a minute. I look back to my mother, who again smiles at me. She pulls me close in a warm embrace. "....Michael...." she whispers to me "Mom loves you," she finishes. Thirty seconds... I shake, realizing only now what's fully going on. Just like any mother would, mom starts singing me a song to try to quiet my fears.

Oh little one the time has come

rest your light filled eyes

And know that mother dear will calm your cries

The sun has gone away

so here we must stay

till the moon has gone to sleep

Oh little one the time has come

rest your light filled eyes

and know that mother dear is here

so sleep into rest filled sighs

Then the world around me comes to a crashing halt. The shock is unlike anything I've felt before. It hurts, it hurts so bad. I close my eyes in hopes that it'll end! When I open them, I find that...I'm not dead.

I look to the face of my mother, hoping, praying that she's alive. Her eyes are cold and open, blood trickling into them. Shockingly she seems at peace, almost accepting of her fate. I look around, ash has risen in the air and it smells of smoke. Flames lick at the people and luggage around me. Fear starts to surge through my body I need to get out I think to myself in panic. Just my luck, the plane's broken in half. I crawl past my mother and escape to the fresh air.

All around me is fields, as far as the eye can see. I hear a small sound tick..... Tock..... Tick.... tock. By some force it pulls me towards a small pocket watch. It's face is slightly cracked and dirty. I reach down and pull it up by the gold chain. The ticking persists but the hands remain still. I twist the small knob on the top trying to fix it. To my surprise the hands start spinning backwards, no matter what I do. Faster and faster, blurring into a whirl of motion. The face gradual brightening itself into a blinding blinding light. My eyes reflexively close. When I had opened them again, I was back on the plane, still going down, with three minutes, and there was nothing I could do about it.