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Chapter 1: Turbulence

What's taking her so long? I thought impatiently. Our gate was up on the screens now, we could prepare for boarding. If she didn't hurry up, we might not make it in time. Okay, so we had 30 minutes but it didn't stop me from worrying. I like to be at the gate as soon as it is announced. It's understandable really; when she was five, Lily got a bit carried away with a game of Hide 'n' Seek at the airport, and we nearly missed our flight. I was just considering going into the toilets to get her, when the door was pushed open and she casually strolled over to me.

"What's up?" she asked innocently.

"What's up?!" I repeated exasperatedly. "How long does it take you to brush your teeth? Our flight's boarding in 20 minutes, we need to move."

She muttered something sarcastic and rude, but I was more worried about getting on our plane before it left. The escort the airline had insisted on supplying for my little sister while we were switching flights lead the way to the gate.

Lily is 14. She can be extremeley annoying at times, but she is usually a good sister. We've always gotten along well as siblings. Well, better than most other people do. She has shoulder length black hair, and aqua blue eyes. Her hair colour isn't natural, but it suits her. She likes to wear dark clothes, mostly black and grey. She doesn't consider herself a goth, she just loves black. Ever since she came along when I was 3 I have pretty much been her guardian.

We arrived at the gate 5 minutes before boarding began. I took out our passports and boarding passes, and showed them to the women who was checking them. Once we were through, I was relaxed again. We never really got to see Malaysia, it was just the connecting flight to take us down to Australia. We live in England, but we often go to see our grandparents in Australia. Our parents didn't want us to go alone, but they needed to stay behind this year because my older brother is in hospital. He wanted me and Lily to go; he  knows how much we love seeing our grandparents.

We board the plane after everyone else, and find our seats near the back. We only took hand luggage since it was easier to travel with, and besides, suitcases can get lost. Not that it is ever likely to happen, but it can. I hand Lily a purple Starburst, her favourite flavour. We suck on sweets during take off, it helps with the ear-popping. Out of the window I could see the deep blue ocean, and began to look forward to surfing and eating Tim-Tams: my favourite australian biscuits.

We slept for most of the flight, until a bit of turbulence began to occur. We were alerted to put on our seatbelts, and that it probably wasn't anything serious. I looked out the window again, and I thought I could see land. At least I thought it was land.

Suddenly, the plane jerked right. This wasn't just some minor turbulence. I quickly reminded my sister of the brace position and we both ducked our heads. I didn't know what was happening, all I could feel was then shaking of our plane and our quick descent. I chanced a quick glance out the window, and saw what I originally thought was land. It was more of a crimson storm of dust and sand. And then it was black. Everything was black.