Hajira looked up and one by one more of the passengers got the same idea.
“Something like what?” Hajira asked.
The sound of screeching metal echoed through the plane and Amaal shielded her ears from the piercing sound. The plane jerked once more and then the screeching sound subsided. Amaal slowly lowered her hands and stared up again.
“What was that?” Amaal asked in a hushed tone.
“Is the plane breaking up?” someone asked and then someone else shushed them.
Most of the passengers stared up at the ceiling of the plane anticipating something to happen while fearing that the plane would tear in half, but all was quiet again.
“I think we’re okay.” The stewardess said.
Amaal turned to the window again just as something on the outside slithered out of sight. Amaal jerked back and gasped making Hajira and some of the nearby passengers look at her.
“What?” Hajira asked.
“I think I just saw something outside the window.” Amaal said.
She leaned up against the window and tried to get a look at the side of the plane, but it was just outside of sight. All she could see was the blue sky.
“Something like what?” Hajira asked.
“I don’t know.” Amaal said, “Some kind of animal?”
“On the outside of the plane?” Hajira asked sceptically.
“I know it sounds insane, but I swear I saw something move outside my window.” Amaal insisted.
The metal of the plane groaned and screeched and then all was quiet again.
“I think something is on the plane.” Amaal said.
“That’s not possible.” Hajira said.
“You’re the one that said this might be a Stephen Queen scenario.” Amaal said, “What if…”
Amaal thought for a moment and then continued, “What if the world didn’t end? What if life as we know it is still continuing and it is this plane that has disappeared? What if we are in some alternate universe? What if we somehow flew through a time warp or something?”
“Like a black hole?” Hajira asked.
“Black holes only form in space, so that’s not a possibility,” Amaal said, “But…”
Amaal got lost in her thoughts as she tried to work out the missing parts of her theory.
“Amaal?” Hajira asked.
Amaal snapped out of her daze state with a petrified look on her pale face. She just had an epiphany of what might have happened.
“The light.” Amaal gasped.
“What light?” Hajira asked.
“A few hours ago I was awaken by a flash of light outside my window.” Amaal said.
“Perhaps you were just dreaming?” Hajira asked.
“I don’t think so.” Amaal insisted, “I’m a light sleeper and I did see a light flash outside the widow.”
“What do you think it was?” Hajira asked.
“I’m not sure.” Amaal said, “But I think it might be a clue.”
FOUR
It’s been five hours since Flight 370 lost contact with ground control. From what the passengers could see from their windows, it appeared that the plane was simply flying without direction or a flight plan. A plane cannot have a flight plan if it doesn’t know where it is or where it’s heading.
Ever since the screeching metal everyone sat quietly in their seat awaiting the inevitable. Nobody panicked anymore; everyone was lost in their thoughts of family back home or in a conversation with God.
“I think the light must have been some kind of doorway.” Amaal said.
“A doorway?” Hajira asked, “To another dimension?”
“Yes.” Amaal said, “I’ve read studies about unexplained disappearances… people disappear without a trace all the time. There was this woman of North Dakota who went to buy a packet of cigarettes and never returned home. The last person to see her was the shop assistant. He said he watched her get into her car and then she was gone.”
“Gone?” Hajira asked.
“Gone without a trace.” Amaal said, “It was raining that night and the shop assistant said that she disappeared with a flash of lightning. I think it might be what happened to us.”
“It might be a possibility,” Hajira said, “But the question remains; where are we?”
The metal of the plain suddenly screeched and the sides of the plane dented in. Everyone started screaming as the plane started losing altitude again. The sides of the plane bent and dented as the plane rapidly descended.
“What’s happening?” Someone screamed.
“We’re falling!” A woman shrieked.
“We’re crashing!” A man cried.
“I don’t want to die!” Another woman cried out.
“Oh God!” Someone cried.
“My baby!” A woman cried out.
Amaal clung to her arm rests and her knuckles turned white from the pressure. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to burst. Her ears popped as the plane lost cabin pressure, but there was no way she could grab the oxygen mask, they were falling too fast. The plane rattled, groaned and shook as it descended.
Amaal glanced out the window, but saw nothing. They were falling towards nothing. It seemed like they would fall forever.
The plane tore in half and Amaal watched as their half kept falling while the front half stayed behind in the air as if being lifted away. As the tail of the plane descended Amaal saw a giant winged beast had the front part of the plane in its clutches. The creature shrieked as it flapped its giant wings and flew off. Some of the passengers who weren’t wearing their seat belts got flung from the wreckage and screamed as they fell through the air.
Everyone around her was screaming, but Amaal could not get any sound to leave her mouth. She was terrified beyond reason, and completely frozen. The wind rushed past them and tugged at her hair and clothes and even snatched some of the other passengers out of their seats.
The wreckage started summersaulting as it fell towards nothing. All Amaal could see was the never-ending blue sky and then she spotted two more giant winged creatures flying towards them. One of the giant monsters snapped its jaws at the tumbling wreckage and managed to grab two passengers who screamed in pain. The monster flapped its wings and took to the sky again as the wreckage kept falling. There was a flash of light and everything ended as the plane crashed into the ocean.
EPILOGUE
The minister of transport stood behind the podium and stared at the sea of faces and flashing cameras before him. It was the second time in one week that he had to break bad news to the world. He cleared his throat and stepped closer to the microphone.
“At 3h45AM,” He announced, “Our search and rescue mission found the wreckage of Flight 370 in the Pacific Ocean… thirty thousand miles off course. An inquiry is underway to determine the cause of the crash and we will keep you updated as new evidence comes to light.”
ABOUT THIS STORY
In 2013 I started working on a book called “The Age of Men” which was about mass disappearances. The first chapter in the book was about… you’ve guessed it – a plane that disappears without a trace. I’m halfway done with the book, but it’s still far from perfect.
Ever since Stephen King’s The Langoliers I’ve been fascinated by the idea of a plane completely vanishing and wanted to somehow work it into my writing. Who would have thought that a disappearance mystery would become headline news one day?
With the disappearance of real life flight 370 on everyone’s lips, I decided to publish the first chapter of Age of Men as a standalone short story. I changed a few of the details here and there, but the story still remains the same. (Now I just have to think of a new first chapter for Age of Men)
So the first chapter is now a short story entitled Flight 370 (though it has probably nothing to do with the real life events) and is just my theory as to what might happen to a plane that vanishes into thin air.
I know I’ve said this before, but I hope to publish Age o
f Men real soon.
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