"How are you feeling?" Kai's gentle whisper brushed my ear while I felt the weight of his body pressing against my backside.
During the duration of our couple-hour flight, I slept inside the single bedroom on the plane, seeking relief from my sickness. Throughout our flight, the plane jerked as Jack and Glenn nearly skimmed the worst of the periodic windy turbulence that the rainstorms accumulated. Naturally, I was experiencing some air flight sickness, even when we weren't swerving around the turbulent patches.
With a tired tone, "I'm fine," I murmured, shifting towards him to lay on my side. "How many more hours until we land?"
Just as his body sank into the mattress to lay beside me, Kai mumbled, "About two more hours."
As his fingers traced the outline of my hairline, I hummed in contentment, resting my head comfortably on his shoulder as his caress coaxed me back to sleep.
Amid my heavy slumber, the plane suddenly shook, jolted by a severe impact of turbulence.
With another violent shudder, I was alerted awake, "What's going on?" I exclaimed, my body bolting upright from the pillow.
Snacks, electronics, and a wine glass filled with blood went flying off the bolted-down dresser and shelves.
Quick to react, Kai was the first off the mattress, reaching for my hand, "I don't know!" he shouted over the ominous rattling metal sounds, vibrating the frame of the airplane, as I grabbed his hand firmly for him to help me out of bed.
Suddenly, the plane tilted sharply to one side, sailing Kai and me crashing against the wall. As a suitcase hurtled towards us, he threw his body over mine, shielding me from the impact as the suitcase struck his back.
"Take my hand, and don't let go!" Kai urged with intense urgency.
Once again, I tightly clung to his hand as we navigated towards the door. Along the way, our bodies swayed like drunken sailors whenever the plane would slant one way and then tilt another direction. Making it through the doorway, we maneuvered down the narrow hallway, and our shoulders bumped into each side of the walls as the airplane shook violently.
Upon reaching Jack and Glenn at the pilot seats, Kai's voice rose over the
cacophony of alerting bells and whistles going off, "What's happening?"
"The plane is crashing! We need to jump!" Jack shouted before his words were drowned out by another turbulence, swerving the plane to the left as he and Glenn tried steering through it.
Losing my balance in the turbulence, I was hurled to the left window, sending my baby bump slamming against Ian as Kai and Rome smashed into each other beside us. Over Ian's shoulder, I peered outside the glass window as it vibrated with a violent shudder. Through the breaks in the thick, puffy gray clouds, glimpses of the ground unshrouded itself as we rapidly approach it.
As the plane's nose dipped further, parts of its exterior began to strip away from the main fuselage, and a wing completely detached. Horrified at the sight, I watched the wing coasting away as the plane continued its perilous descent with us trapped inside it.
"We have to jump! Victoria can survive the oxygen levels at this altitude!" Glenn exclaimed, switching the plane on autopilot.
He and Jack quickly unbuckled from the pilot seats. Leading the way, Rome and Jack headed down the hallway as we followed them, with Glenn and Ian following behind us. Just as Jack and Rome reached the center of the plane, the area we usually mingled and relaxed at, on the airplane's right side, the exterior stripped off the airplane's body. It peeled away, shredding into thin strips of metal. A vortex of wind immediately swept out a row of seats, taking Rome and Jack in one devastating sweep through the gaping tear of the airplane's body.
"Ahhh!" I screamed as the force of the wind slammed Kai and me against the wall at the end of the hallway.
Before we were the next to be swept out of the plane, Kai made me huddle down to my knees, and he used his body to shield me.
In horror, Ian exclaimed, "Help!"
Like a powerful vacuum, the draft sucked Ian over Glenn's head.
"Grab my hand!" Kai bellowed through the thrashing wind, reaching for Ian.
As Ian's body was uplifted over our heads, their fingers barely touched each other, as the force of the current proved to be too strong and yanked Ian into its vortex. By mere inches, Ian managed to grasp a barstool, anchored to the bar table where he clung onto it for his dear life.
Crawling up to us, Glenn shouted, "Let go, Ian!"
"I'm too scared!" Ian cried out, tightly clasping his grip on the barstool, refusing to let go.
Human-raised, Ian naturally harbored human fears of death.
"You're not mortal, Ian," Kai sharply reminded him. "Let go!"
"I can't!" Ian refused as tears glistened on his cheeks.
To assist Ian, Glenn tried to wedge out across from us, hunched down in the narrow hallway, but the ferocious wind pinned him against the wall.
Once again, Glenn urged, "Release the stool!"
Ignoring his guidance, Ian wailed, "I'm scared!" his feet dangled in the air, clinging desperately to the barstool.
As the left side of the plane shreds into strips, Glenn hitched a ride by jumping into the turbulence's suction. By a mere nick, he caught Ian just as the bar table ripped into pieces, whisking them with the debris into the turbulent vortex before they vanished out of sight.
"KAI! I'm scared!" I screamed over the howling wind and the horrific sounds of the plane tearing apart.
Whatever remained of the plane shuddered through the turbulence as we sailed towards the ground.
"Close your eyes!" Kai picked me up like a bride as the floor and walls crumbled around us.
"Aah!" I screamed as we descended through the air, burying my face into Kai's chest.
Within seconds, Kai broke free from the vacuum, and he whisked to the ground, firmly landing us on the dry landscape.
With a loud "kaboom," I watched in disbelief as the plane crashed ahead of us in a thunderous explosion. The very same private plane I had rode in after Kai bailed me out of jail in Egypt. We had traveled to Rio for our honeymoon and to Europe for the Masked Ball in that plane. Amidst the mix of good and bad memories, that plane left a sentimental mark in my heart as it was the first day I had ever met Kai, Ace, Ivan, and Rome. As I watched the fires burning from the impact of the airplane crash, my eyes blurred as the overwhelming shock had me fainting in Kai's arms.