In The Air part II

Mommy tightened her grip. Mommy needed her now. She had to be brave for mommy. It’s what daddy would want. She squeezed the hand holding hers, opened her hurting eyes, and looked at mommy, who had a wrinkled forehead, most of it from worry. The bad feeling started to waver. Like it was going to sleep. She smiled, mommy smiled back weakly.

The thunder continued to growl and grumble, angry and upset, like some of the men who visited mommy. Sometimes they slept over. When they woke up, they would be angry, and shout and scream. She didn’t like those ones. She would go to her room, and hug Timothy, and he would stay still and wouldn’t run away. He didn’t like hugging that much, but he understood when she needed a hug, and so he wouldn’t try to run away. She liked that about him. He was her best friend. After daddy.

She never told daddy about the men. Mommy made her promise not to. It was supposed to be a surprise, she had said. So she waited, daddy would be so excited, she had kept mommy’s secret, just so daddy could be happy when they surprised him. But it had been years. It must be a really good surprise.

The pilot made another announcement. The man on the other side of mommy, he was old, his hands started to shake really bad, she pointed, look mommy. Her mother hushed her, and apologized to the man. Someone else got up, and started shouting. That lady had tears streaming down her face.

The thunder screamed, and flashed brightly on all sides, blinking, and then flashing, like a switch was being flicked on and off. The plane tumbled, first dipping on the left, and then on the right.

She smelled something bad like when Timothy went inside. Maybe there was a kid here who wasn’t potty trained. She looked around, it couldn’t be a dog? Daddy had said they werent allowed on planes. It smelled really bad. The old man on the other side of mommy looked disgusted, and he pinched his nose with both hands. Clapping his nose shut.

Darkness. The sound of pitter patter, like rain falling on concrete, falling on the wings of the plane? Her heart tumbled a little. Her mother’s grip became tighter. At the same second, the plane started driving down, her heart diving with it, really fast, like it was falling, her head brought forward, sounds of people being shocked, some people started screaming, some crying, some angry.

Air hostesses fell, some people that had gotten out of their seats fell. The plane continued moving down, she could feel the speed, she closed her eyes again, and thought about daddy, and his warm hugs, and his glasses that had she picked out with, even though mommy said they made him look stupid, but he loved the glasses and their frames so much that those were the only ones he wore.

The intercom buzzed on, a breathless voice sounded over it. The pilot didnt sound calm, but he didnt sound like he was that worried either.

The crash was immediate. None of them felt any pain. The darkness was instantaneous.