The Reign of the Lost (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1.5

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Half an hour later, they had passed security and were boarding the plane. The seats were in rows of three, Alia an Samar sat at the front with Eddie at the end and behind them sat Annabelle and Ellie with Matt at the end and behind them was George and Joe.

They waited 40 minutes before the plane took off, in which time Charlie took the liberty of clarifying their journey. The journey to Australia would be 22 hours long all together and they had eight hours till they would stop in Hong Kong, then after another 14 hour long flight they would finally arrive at Australia, where they would meet more of the staff from 'Expedia Travel'.

Alia had rang her mum to tell her they had boarded the plane. ''OK, love you too... Khuda Hafiz'.' she said before ending the call.

''I don't know how she's going to survive without me,'' she sighed to Samar,''like, what if she has another episode, dads always at work and I feel bad leaving her on her own.''

Alia's mother was epileptic as well as clinically depressed, she took medication for both. But her mother wasn't persistent and sometimes she'd stop taking her medication, leading to a series of episodes in which she would faint, often. Alia grew up with her mothers illness and understood them well, she was always there to help her, even with the little things like making sure the bathroom door was always open when her mother showered, or checking up on her every so often.

''Don't stress, you said they were hiring a carer, anyway you deserve this trip, it'll be over in three weeks, just enjoy it while you can,''consolled Samar.

The four girls talked with each other about their favourite TV show 'The Copies', then they went on to talk about celebrities; Britt Johnson was dating Adam Hunter from 'A Zombie Tale: The Movie'.

''Speaking of, you know Josh finally asked out Amy.'' said Samar in a hushed voice; they were a few rows away from them next to Lilly.

''Omg, really.'' said Annabelle, as she looked over.

''They really suit each other,'' said Alia and the others agreed.

A while later they were served food by the air hostesses. Many of the HGS boys refused to eat, they didn't want to get 'poisoned'. During most of the flight, the girls could hear them complaining about everything; the girls found their complete abnoxiousness hilarious. Alia and Samar were releived to find an halal option. Ellie had taken her pills earlier and was the last to finish eating. She ate the rice around the edges of the plate and had some vegetables.

The girls after 6 years of friendship, understood this was a sensitive topic, they knew how to look out for the signs and Ellie was acting normal, well normal for an anorexic person.

It took her a lot of persuading, months prior to the trip, for Ellie to get permission to go. She had to go through loads of therapy and had to gain a certain amount of weight before she was allowed. She takes pills to help her with her anxiety which flares up at the thought of eating.

For most of the time, the students kept themselves entertained, Alia and her friends were now doing impressions of people and laughing histerically.

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 Meanwhile in the pilot cabin, sat a thin man, with greying hair, sipping a cup of tea, conversing with the air hostesses and co-pilot. He chuckled at something the blonde air hostess had said and replied, ''I mean if a pretty lady like yourself walked my way, I sure wouldn't turn you away, you know what I mean.''

'Beep...beep...beep'

''What is it?'' snapped the pilot to the younger man in a similar uniform, clearly annoyed.

''It's the TAWS.'' said the co-pilot nervously as he looked down at the screen, which was flashing a warning sign. The pilot, not as worried, turned to the women again and proudly informed them, ''Terrain awareness and weather system'', he got up from his chair, ''nothing to worry about, it's clearly wrong, played up like this before'.' He went over to the screen, underneath which was a small black switch, which he pressed. The beeping stopped and he sat back down. ''Now, where were we?'' he continued.

All the while the co-pilot stood worried; was the warning real?, but he didn't want to get told off in front of the women and the pilot, Tim, was rather scary. So he sat down and convinced himself he was being silly.

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