Moment of Turbulence | Teen Ink

Moment of Turbulence

December 8, 2008
By Anonymous

As Lily pulled out the photo of her grandmother from her white fuzzy sweater, she noticed her grandmother’s fluffy gray hair, overlapped skin on her face, and soft blue eyes. She had not seen her grandma for seven years because of college, and now she was going back home. Her parents had died in a car accident when she was young and she has lived with her
Grandmother ever since. Her grandmother gave her so much love and care that she was the most important person in her life. Lily was so excited to see her and could not even imagine how much quality time she would be able to spend with her, now that her college years were over. She couldn’t wait to see that friendly smile on her face once she opened the front doors of her house.

FLIGHT 27A NOW BOARDING

Lily jumped off her seat in astonishment. She didn’t know that she was dreaming all that time. Walking over to her boarding line, she waited. Everyone around her was checking their boarding passes, others chasing after their children, and some were saying last minute goodbyes. Finally, the woman at the checking counter checked Lily’s passport and punched a hole through her boarding pass. As she walked into the plane, she could smell packed food and the nauseating smell of a crowded group of people. They were crammed into the line where it seemed as though no one could breathe because the line was packed together. Lily glared at the five seats that were next to her and could see a vomit stain probably from a kid a flight before. Disgusted, Lily inhaled a new clump of air and exhaled her sick feeling. She put her bags in the top shelf and settled into her seat that she would be sitting in for the next four hours. A women sitting next to her was singing to her child who was probably a year old singing him a lullaby to have him go to sleep. Lily watched her and then the woman stared awkwardly back at her and smiled.
“Hello, what’s you name?” The woman asked
“Lily, and yours?” she asked politely
“Sarah. Where are you traveling to?”
“I’m going to California to see my grandmother” Lily responded
“How nice! This little fellow and I are going to California too to see my husband.” The woman said.
“That’s cool, sorry; I just need to go to the bathroom before the plane takes off.” Lily said politely.
“Oh, of course,” the woman said standing aside so Lily could get through.
Lily quickly got up not to keep Sarah waiting. She walked down the aisle. A man with shaggy brawn hair that was combed the side had earphones on that was blasting music so high that she could hear the beat. Some other people were watching movies on their screens on the back of the seat in front of them. A small baby that was wearing a pink skirt with a white sleeveless shirt was sound asleep as her small stomach rose and lowered as she was breathed. Her chubby soft cheeks were soft as cotton. An airhostess walked across the aisle checking up on everybody. She was dressed in a tight navy blue skirt that clung to her legs and a navy blue jacket over an off-white collared shirt. She sauntered through the aisle with her four-inch heels. She went to the bathroom and rushed back out because she heard the seatbelt sign go one. Everyone already had their seatbelts on when Lily came out of the bathroom and their TV monitors were off. Lily rushed to her seat and Sarah got back up again to let her through. Lily sat down and fastened her seat belt. The intercom went on:
“Welcome aboard and I am John Koln. I will be your pilot for this flight! Please do not get up while the seatbelt sign is on. For your safety…”
Lily barely listened because she heard the same speech on the flight she came here. Lily looked around and no one else seemed to care as well. Most people were either on their laptops, digging through their purses, getting gum to chew, and not even considering what the pilot had to say.
“Hope you enjoy your flight on United Airlines, Thank you.”
Finally, the speech was over. The airhostess checked everyone’s seatbelts quickly and then walked back to their seats in the back of the plane. Lily looked out the oval- shaped window that was right beside her. The wheels of the plane started rolling slowly and got faster. In a blink of an eye, the plane was rolling so fast, it made a loud noise. The front wheels steadily rose and the tip of the plane was in the air. The back wheels were now in the air as well. Once the plane was high up in the air, the wheels moved into the plane. Everyone took their faces out of their windows and went back to what they were doing before. Lily rested her head back and tried to figure out what to do for the next four hours. Lily’s eye captured the movie guide in the pocket of the seat in front of her. One of the movies caught her attention. She turned the monitor screen on in front of her. The remote control was connected to the armrest. She changed the channel until she saw the movie, The Notebook, on the screen. She rested her head back on the head rest. Lily watched it for a little while until the screen went into a static motion and suddenly turned off. The plane started to shake and everyone’s faces looked confused.
“What’s going on?” Someone shouted to the airhostess.
The airplane was now facing down. Lily’s head jammed into the seat in front of her. Sarah was holding the baby tightly in her arms. The baby was crying and was screaming once his head hit the seat in front of them. An old women was crying and on her knees praying. Lily knew exactly what was happening, the plane was going to crash. The safety masks dropped from the ceiling. Lily did not know how to put it on and by the look of everyone else, they did not know either. Lily put it around her face unsurely. The force of the plane was so hard that it was hard to lift her head. The intercom went on and everyone was striving to hear, but it was too fuzzy. The airhostesses had their masks on already and were trying to help others but they fell back because of the force of the plane twisting around.
“PUT YOU LIFE JACKETS ON!” an airhostess shouted.
Lily tried to bend and get her life jacket under her seat. She remembered how to put this on by watching the video when she came for college. Lily put her arms through the holes and blew through the air hole. After she was done, she could see others having trouble with theirs. She felt terrible just sitting there. She took off her seatbelt and helped Sarah and her child. Everyone’s faces were full of fear and tears. Regretting that they did not listen to the pilot in the beginning, they struggled to figure out how to use the life jacket. The plane was shaking a lot now and heads were moving from one side to another. Lily could not control her head. There were still a lot of people who still were having trouble. Lily knew that she was going to take a huge risk and that it was going to be dangerous getting out of her seat but she would rather risk her life than a myriad of other people losing theirs. As Lily stood up to help others, the airhostess demanded for her to sit down but Lily did not listen. Lily helped the old woman with her life jacket. She blew into the air hole and helped her get up from her knees onto her chair. The plane was now going both up and down. Lily thought that probably the pilot was trying to direct the plane any direction but the ground because there was a short amount of time left for them to crash onto the ground. Lily rushed to the little baby dressed in pink, who was now crying. Her face was so red and her mouth stretched wide open from crying loudly. Lily put the life jacket around her and blew into the air hole.
“Sit down now, its too dangerous for anyone to be up at this moment,” the air hostess said pushing Lily back to her seat.
Lily sat down in her seat. Her heart was beating so fast of all the anxiety building up in her body.
BOOM!
Everyone flung out of their seats and all the bags fell from the shelves. Every person was on the ground with their eyes closed except for Lily. She slowly got up from the ground. Her neck had smashed into the wall of the plane. She took a look around her.
Everyone was dead.
She didn’t know what to do or where to go. She steadily walked down the aisle. The man Lily saw when she was going to the bathroom now had his face flat on the ground and blood oozing out of his nose. Sarah still had her arms around her child. She was lying on the airplane floor with her legs bent to one side. The foods from the carts were fallen everywhere. The whole plane was an entire mess. Lily finally reached the end of the plane covering her mouth and crying after seeing all the dead bodies.
* * *
“Excuse me, please fasten you seatbelt,” a persons voice filled Lily’s ears.
Lily opened her eyes, back to the nauseating smell of a crowded group of people.


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