Over Open Water

Breathe in, breathe out, Marie kept telling herself. The rattling noise the wind made her anxiety worsen by the minute. She gripped the arms of her seat, refusing to open her eyes as the airplane rocked back and forth violently.

    “Marie,” a small voice whispered as a miniature hand fell on hers. She barely peeked to her right to see her 7-year-old brother Benji staring at her. “Everything is going to be alright. It’s only a little bit of turbulence.”

Marie would have calmed down only if the weren’t on a flying death trap, that could plunge eight miles into the open ocean at any moment. But she had to admit that Benji was so much mature than her at times, especially for his own age. She had to try to be brave; she was the older sister, after all.

    Thank goodness the plane finally stopped shaking after two dreadful minutes. Only most of the luggages were throw out of the overhead compartment, and no one was injured. Benji was right, she guessed. Only a little turbulence. The flights attendants and some passengers from around the plane got up from their seats to help put them back. Then a sudden jolt sent them flying towards the ceiling.

    It was a nonstop blur. Her eyes might have been sealed shut from how hard they were squeezing shut. It was like someone was shaking her back and forth nonstop. Screaming and hyperventilating had become the new normal. It felt good to release all the tension she’d been holding, until everything stopped.

    Peeping through the blurriness from tears, her vision cleared. So much chaos had happened that she barely got her bearings when noticed the horror that laid in front of her. Everyone see saw standing a blink of an eye ago was crumpled on the floor and twisted in the most excruciating way. Anybody else who was strapped in had blood covering their face and didn’t appear to be breathing.

    No, no, no, no, no.

Her worst nightmare had come true. No, wait. Her worst nightmare had come true for everyone else on this flight. She was miraculously still alive! But… the tears couldn’t help but slip down her cheeks as she bawled loudly. She swore she was inside a horror movie. This couldn’t be happening. Hold on. There was another person there, crying. She wasn’t the only one. It came from her right…

    “Benji…?” Marie whispered. Thank goodness he was still there. But he was a mess. His eyes were swollen and red, and not just from crying. It looked like he had hit his head on the seat in front of him, hard. His nose was gushing blood and mucus that it made a disgusting paste. He was next to the window, so he didn’t even see the graveyard right next to them, and he was sobbing uncontrollably. The sight broke her heart into a million pieces. Marie couldn’t see her younger brother like this. She knew, for once, she had to be the strong one.

The plane was still shaking, a lot, but it was less violent than the minute earlier. Other than Benji’s whimpers, it was dead silent.

    Dead. Bad choice of words.

She had to know if the pilots up front knew what was going on, if they knew that everyone was-

    Stop using that word!

She didn’t know if they knew what she knew that they didn’t know yet. So she made it her mission to find out what she didn’t know.

    Hugging her brother, she said, “I’m going to get us some snacks and tissues, okay? Here’s your stuffed corgi. Be a good boy, stay here, and look out the window. Whatever you do, don’t look back for me. Do you understand me?”

    Benji nodded and calmed down after she wiped his tears. A few of them managed to slip down his round cheeks. She gave him one last hug, and as he turned away towards the window, she unbuckled herself, and left her seat.

    Stretching over the bodies, Marie kept her head high as she counted the seconds and moved quickly. She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and soon got out of coach quickly, but quick jerk knocked her off balance and she fell in the doorway between business and first class. The pain gradually faded as she stood up. But when she looked twenty feet in front of her, she spotted a middle-aged woman near the cockpit door. Marie rushed towards her, but by the time she got there, she was gone. Wind was blowing in her face, making her hair fly everywhere. Then she noticed the open door on her left, which revealed the dark night sky.

    No.

Marie felt sick to her stomach. But there was nothing she could do about that. It was done. Then the door stood in front of her. What was only sixty-three seconds felt like an eternity, and reaching where she was felt like a major accomplishment.

    As she turned the lever, pushing her body weight against the door, she didn’t believe her eyes.

    One pilot was slumped in his seat. Another, she didn’t want to describe. The third one lay in front of Marie, clearly jacked up and unconscious. Checking his pulse, she knew he was gone. Wait. If all the pilots were dead, then who controlling the plane? Autopilot? All the equipment in the room, whatever it was called, was either sparking or damaged. No one was flying this plane.

    Marie looked outside the front window. All she could see was the dark, ginormous cloud through which they were flying through. Then the cloud rose above the plane, and then she realized, the plane was going to crash into the open water.

Marie let out a small squeal.

    Think.

    Think.

    Think.

Marie wasn’t sure if she had a concussion or the fact that she might die in a plane crash any second, but her mind only drew a blank. She could only focus on what was happening around her.

    Death. Plane. Crash. Seas. Water. Floaties. Life jackets! Safety!

    Find them now.

    She remembered that the flight attendant informed them at the when they boarded that they were placed under the seats in case of any emergencies. She raced out of the cockpit. She needed to get to Benji as soon as possible.

“Benji!” Her brother’s face turned around. Marie reached under their seats and started putting the life jacket on Benji. Turns out that studying videos on how to put on a life jacket from a plane wasn’t a waste. As it was inflating, she redid the process on herself, then picked him up and instructed him to keep his eyes shut.

    “Where are we going?” he asked her, so clueless to what was going on around them.

She wanted to get Benji away from all the dead bodies that surrounded them, so she went to the first place she spotted: the bathroom. Marie used all her might to kick the door open. She put Benji down and shut the door. Then something hit her head.

    “A shoe?’” they both asked concisely, as they looked up. Benji screamed.

A man must have shot through the ceiling because only his legs were dangling from it. Get it out, get it out, was all Marie could think of. She pushed his feet out revealing a large, man-sized hole.

    “Marie, I think the plane is going to crash.” Benji blurted out after the whole fiasco. She guessed he wasn’t so clueless after all. She turned to him saying, “I know, Benji.”

 The wind from the hole above them pulled their hair up, making it flap around them.

    “Marie?” Benji’s voice quivered.

    “Yes?”

    “What’s the hole for?”

    “When we hit the water, the plane will start to sink. Even if you become unconscious, the life jacket will make sure you float through it and get you above water.”

    “But it’s really small.”

    “You’ll fit.”

    “What about you?”

Then it hit her. She was so focused on her brother; she hadn’t even thought about herself and her safety. The only thing that covered her was the oversized life jacket; that wouldn’t do much. All she did was give Benji a small smile and said, “You’ll fit.” At least she knew he’d be safe.

    Marie double-checked the life jackets to make sure they were secure, then pulled Benji close. She was holding him just loosely enough so he could easily waft to the surface.

    Well, this is it, Marie said to herself. Don’t get scared now.

She didn’t know if she would make it out alive, so of course she was scared. What a lie she told herself. It wasn’t likely that she would survive, but all she knew is that she did what she could to keep her brother safe and make sure he would live. That comforted her. Yes, her parents halfway across the world would be devastated about what had happened to their daughter, but at least they still had their son. He would tell them about how she tried her best, and she knew they would be proud, even if Marie wasn’t there to see their faces.

    Marie could now hear the waves of the ocean, like it was calling to her. A sudden peace flowed through her veins as she whispered to her brother for the last time, “I love you.”

    Right before they hit the water, she heard him say, “I love you, too.”