“Mrs. Hayes? This is Mrs. Johnson from American Airlines. I am sorry to inform you of this. Flight 801 that your husband was on has gone down. There are no survivors. I am truly sorry.”

Brooke slowly hung up the phone. Thoughts swarmed through her mind. Could this be true? No. There is no way it is true. But what if it is? What will I do?

Brooke Hayes leaned against the wall, slid down it, and sat in the silence and blackness of the room. It was so quiet. All that could be heard was the soft patter of rain outside.

Because it was their one year anniversary, Brooke’s husband was on his way home from a business trip to see her. She had the whole night planned out. When he got home she was going to surprise him with a candlelit dinner and a new dress she bought just for him.

Brooke looked out the window. Suddenly, the whole house lit up from the lightning, and there was a thunder clap so loud that the whole world could hear it. Feeling lonely and lost, tears began running down her face as hard as the rain outside. She could not breathe from crying so hard. Her body went numb while she lay in the floor for what seemed like hours.
* * *

Flight 729 had just landed in Atlanta, Georgia. Colton Hayes was heading home from a business trip in Orlando, Florida to see his wife for their one year anniversary. He had missed Flight 801, which was his original flight, and had to wait for the next flight to Texas. The flight had a thirty minute layover, plus the flight was delayed from the huge storm outside. Apparently, there had been a plane crash caused by storm.

He typed a text to Brooke to explain what was happening when suddenly he heard a huge thunder clap. He looked out the airport windows to see it pouring outside.

After thirty minutes of waiting, a man started talking over the speakers saying Flight 729 was now boarding. Colton looked down at his phone to see if Brooke had replied. He checked his outbox to find his message had not even sent. He had no service from the storm. Colton tried to resend it without success.

While he was in the process of boarding the plane, he turned his phone off and sat down, closing his eyes. In a matter of five minutes, Colton had fallen asleep.
* * *

Brooke opened her eyes to darkness. The clock said twelve. She had laid on the floor for almost an hour. She had to force herself to stand up. She stumbled over to her nightstand to grab her phone. She dialed Colton’s number. The only thing she heard was his ringtone. His not answering had confirmed Brooke’s fears. She began wailing once again. She walked to the window and looked outside. It was still raining. Her phone had lit up while it was laying on her bed, but Brooke did not notice because the dark room lit up every few seconds from the lightning. The house rumbled from the massive thunder claps.

She sat down at the table when a taxi cab pulled slowly into the driveway flashing its lights into the house. She glanced out the window. A familiar looking man stepped out of the cab. Could it be? Is he really alive?

With thoughts rushing through her mind, it had clicked. Colton was finally home. Throwing the front door open, she ran to him through the rain and threw herself into his arms.

“What? Did you think you would never get to see me again?” Colton said smiling.
Brooke cried even more and grabbed him tightly; she was never going to let go.