"Looking forward to getting home?" Victoria asked, as she cleaned her horn-rimmed glasses with a blue silk cloth.
"Absolutely," Via replied. "The thought of going to university next year is great, but I just want to sleep in my own bed for a change."
"Tell me about it," she said, brushing a strand of her brown hair back to its proper place in her A-line bob cut.
"Do you think you'll be going to Bennington?"
"I'm really leaning towards it. I guess I've still got some time before applications are due, though. Have you finished your summer assignments?"
"All I've got left is the AP Psychology chapters."
"Really? I finished those in, like, the first week."
"You've always got to upstage me, don't you?" Via asked as she leaned back on the hard, uncomfortable metallic bench.
"Now boarding numbers A1 through A30," a friendly male voice announced over the intercom. "Flight 839, to Los Angeles International, numbers A1 through A30."
"Well, let's go," Victoria said, giving Via a clap on the thigh. She bolted up, having been on the verge of falling asleep.
"About bloody time," she muttered, grabbing her bag and following her friend to the gate.
Victoria grinned. "You should use English slang more often."
"Yeh, you'd fancy that wouldn't you?"
"You know me too well." Victoria smiled as she got her ticket checked.
"Have a nice flight, Miss Bradley," the woman behind the counter said with a grin. Via followed suit and caught up to Victoria outside the cabin doors, waiting for the people already onboard to load their luggage in the overhead bins.
"How long is this flight, anyway?"
"....an hour and a half? I think so, anyway."
"Brilliant."
Victoria nodded as she let Via take the window seat.
"At least it's a small plane, right? No middle seat."
"Definitely," Victoria responded, glancing around the cabin. "Not like that last flight."
Via drew the window shade down and sighed as she sank back into her seat. Victoria looked through the magazine in the seat pocket in front of her to pass time until takeoff.
After a lengthy, awkward, mostly silent wait, the plane started backing away from the gate, and the pilot's voice came over the intercom.
"Ahhh alright, folks. We're looking at a, uh.... 'bout a 90 minute flight here... weather in Los Angeles is ahh... about ninety-eight degrees... Got some tailwinds today so we'll be getting in a little ahead of schedule... sooo just sit back and enjoy the flight."
Victoria looked at the tray table and let out a short laugh. She pointed to the safety warning: PLEASE FASTEN SEATBELT WHILE SEATED.
"Apparently some people try to do that standing up! Eh? Eh?" She elbowed Via playfully in the arm, and Via batted at her arm, shaking her head. "Ah, you Brits and your dry sense of humor..."
Via smirked and put on a Canadian accent. "Ohh, you Brits are all aboot your tea and crumpets, dontcha know."
"I do not talk like that!" Victoria protested with a laugh.
"Oh, don't deny your heritage. I think your accent is adorable."
She smirked. "Well, thanks. I'm flattered."
The plane came to a stop at the start of the runway. Via took a deep breath.
"Ready?" Victoria asked. Via pressed her lips together and nodded. "Here. Take my hand."
Via shut her eyes and grabbed Victoria's hand. The plane's engines roared to life, and the great machine sped down the runway. Via felt herself get pressed further into the seat; a familiar sinking feeling followed as the wheels left the Tarmac. Via squeezed Victoria's hand harder, and she returned the pressure.
As the plane leveled out, Via slowly released her white-knuckled grip on her friend's hand. Victoria subtly flexed her fingers, then looked over at Via and smiled. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Via said, her eyes still shut. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good." She smiled and leaned back into her seat.
The stewardess pushed the beverage cart down the aisle, which brushed Victoria's elbow. She opened her eyes, having been nearly asleep, as the flight attendant asked if she'd like anything to drink.
"Oh, nothing for me, thanks," she said with a shake of her head. Via glanced up and shook her head as well. The bubbly flight attendant nodded, flipped a lock of red hair over her shoulder, and moved onto the next aisle.
"Who would want a job like this?" Via asked, wringing a napkin in her hands.
"Don't flight attendants get to fly anywhere for free?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"I know I wouldn't mind that..."
"Right. Well. I think I'm going to try and sleep." Via stretched her arms over her head before tilting her seat back what little distance it would allow.
Victoria nodded. "Same here. That last flight wore me out."
Via managed to sleep for about twenty minutes before a jolt woke her up. She looked over at Victoria, expecting her to be the cause, but saw that she was still fast asleep. No one in the cabin seemed to have noticed the disturbance, she noticed, or if they did, they weren't showing any concern about it.
She sighed and leaned back, trying to go back to sleep, but she couldn't. Her eyes were fixed, wide open; she grabbed a tissue and started wringing it in her hands. She glanced around the cabin nervously.
The second jolt woke up Victoria as well. "Mmm... what's up?" she asked.
"Pardon?"
"Did you wake me up?"
Via shook her head. Her leg was twitching uncontrollably.
"Must've hit some turbulence or something," she reasoned as she pulled her seat back into a full upright position.
Via slowly felt her body slowly pitching forward amongst more jarring of the cabin and an uneven whirring sound. Her breathing became much more rapid and shallow. She reached out for Victoria's hand and squeezed it.
Victoria noticed that much of the rest of the cabin was becoming increasingly alarmed, but her attention was disrupted when Via's hand gripped hers like a vise. She squeezed back and looked over at her friend, who was hyperventilating. "Oh, God, breathe, Via, breathe. Deep breaths, Via, deep breaths."
Her breathing was becoming more labored as she struggled for air. A sharp, tearing pain began to spread over her chest. She placed a hand flat on her chest, not because of the ragged stinging her breathing was causing, but because she felt as if her heart were going to burst out of her chest if she didn't.
"Via!" Victoria's voice boomed in her ears, impossibly loud. She turned her head to face her, unable to find her in her fading peripheral vision. "Via, deep breaths, please!" the girl pleaded, on the verge of tears. Via looked around the cabin, unable to focus on her friend's advice.
Her face flushed. She tugged at the collar of her shirt uncomfortably.
The cabin of the plane was spinning, swimming in and out of focus.
Her body shook madly. She struggled to swallow back a wave of nausea washing over her. She rocked forward and back in her chair; her hands crept up and clutched her head as she shut her eyes tight. Her leg muscles began to convulse. She gritted her teeth and tried to block out the feeling of hundreds of pins driving into hands and feet, the constricting sensation of an invisible hand over her throat, the churning in her stomach, the burning in the back of her head. She clawed at her scalp and tugged her hair as she gasped for breath.
Oh God what is happening to me run I don't want to die can't breathe help this can't be happening RUN this can't be real oh God I've gone stark raving mad
HELP
Amidst the screams, the rattling of the cabin, the slamming of the overhead bags into the walls, Via's mind had a startling moment of clarity.
I am going to die
Victoria reached for Via's other hand, but the Brit had other plans. Her free, trembling hand flew down to her seatbelt and unbuckled it. As she hysterically screamed, "I've got to get out of here!" she rushed towards the aisle. Victoria threw her arms around Via's waist and struggled to pull her back into her seat.
The constricting feeling of her friend's arms locking around her only sent Via into more of a frenzy. She screamed and twisted her body back and forth, clawing at Victoria's arms with her nails, causing the girl to yelp in pain. Several other passengers took their eyes away from their windows to see the commotion. Not a single one stood up to offer help.
"It's going to be okay!" Victoria cried as she fought to drag Via back into her seat. Just as Via was about to break free, the bubbly red-headed stewardess grabbed Via by the shoulders and helped force her back to her seat.
"Let me go!!" Via shrieked as she fought violently against the two of them. She clawed desperately as they sat her back down and strapped her in. Her mind kept telling her to run, and she reached for the belt buckle, but Victoria was already covering it with both hands. She clawed at them, still hysterically shouting to let her go
The harder Via clawed at her hands, the harder Victoria held onto the seatbelt. "Via, please, just breathe!" The pilot's voice came over the intercom and advised everyone to stay calm and assume the crash position. Via didn't so much as pay attention to his warning; Victoria ignored it as well, as she was too busy trying to get Via under control.
"I don't want to die!" Via cried as she tried to stand up again, only to be pulled back down by the restraints. Her face was flushed red and her palms were coated in a thin layer of sweat. "I've got– to get out– of here!" Her shaking hands flew down to claw at Victoria's in a desperate bid to escape her seat
Time seemed to pass agonizingly slowly. Victoria realized impact could happen any second, and that Via was not going to calm down before it came. She let go of the seatbelt and, before Via could even unbuckle it, she grabbed the girl's shoulders and pulled her upper body down towards her legs. "Via, please, I promise it'll be okay if you just hold onto your legs!"
Via actually did hug her legs, but it wasn't because of her friend's suggestion. She was sobbing, rocking back and forth, letting out cries of "I don't want to die, I don't want to die..." Victoria let out a short sigh of relief and shut her eyes.
I love you Mom I love —
Her thoughts were cut off as the plane smashed into the ground, jarring the cabin with turbulent force. Overhead bins were thrown open from the shock of the landing, and both Via and Victoria blacked out.