"We're gonna be late!" called someone in front of Laura, as she was struggling with her strategically packed bags.
"Just hold on! I'm working on it." Laura bent down to click the wheel back in place on her bag, and ran to catch up with the rest of the gang.
"Flight 17C, final boarding call for flight 17C to Honolulu, Hawaii." The airport employee boomed over the loudspeaker. The plane was about to take off, with or without Laura. She caught up with her friends as they were waiting for their boarding passes to be scanned.
"Well, look who decided to show up. We thought we lost you back there." Walker turned and crossed his arms at her. Laura pushed her curly brown hair out of her face and gave him a sarcastic smile as she caught her breath. The group had run all the way from airport security to their gate, and LAX was a pretty big airport.
"Well, my-"
"Next." The employee hissed at them. They both looked behind Joe to realize that all of their friends were already on board. Joe gave his pass to the employee, and after it was scanned, she shoved it back into his hands. "Have a nice trip." She said with a fake smile. Laura proceeded up and did the same. The woman again replied with "Have a nice trip." She didn't even bother to smile this time.
As she was walking on board the huge aircraft, Laura noticed that most of the group was in the back. This was good, because she knew that her friends could get a little rowdy at times. Actually, little was an understatement.
She took the empty seat in the very last row next to Joe. She stowed her carry-on bag under the seat in front of her; Meredith's seat. Laura noticed that Meredith was making a last minute call before the plane took off, probably to her family.
"I hate flying." Joe said. Laura looked at him and noticed he was turning pale.
"It'll be fine, the flight isn't too long. Besides, we're all here together." She smiled at him.
"Yeah, I know, I just can't shake this bad feeling that…" He trailed off.
"Look, I promise, we'll be fine." As she said it, Laura caught the sight of a small wad of paper flying past her head. Joey had already lost patience and was looking for some trouble to cause. Joe picked it up off of the ground and threw it back in Joey's direction. Laura sat back and rolled her eyes. "Boys."
The "Seat Belt On" light flashed, and small clicks rang throughout the place. The plane jerked forward as it navigated to the right runway. The captain introduced himself over the intercom, and after he was done, the flight attendants started the safety announcements.
"Psst, Laura." Laura looked to her right. A very annoyed Jaime was pointing at Laura's foot. "Could you get that for me? Joey knocked it over." Laura looked down and picked up the half empty water bottle sitting on the floor, and handed it back. "Thanks. Is… Walker okay?" Laura glanced behind her to find him sweating and staring out the window. The captain had just advised the flight attendants to prepare for takeoff.
"He hates flying." Laura said, looking back at Jaime.
"Looks like it." She took a sip from her water.
The plane started to speed up, and Laura could tell that Joe was on the edge. His eyes were closed, for one, and he was sweating like crazy.
"Hey." Laura said. Walker opened his huge eyes and looked at her. "We'll be alright. I promise. Just relax." She said. She was trying to be as comforting as possible, when she wasn't so relaxed herself. Laura hated flying too, she just didn't want to show it, especially now.
The weather was muggy that day. Clouds, rain, cold. Not good flying weather at all, which didn't help calm any nerves. About 2 hours into the flight, the plane started experiencing turbulence.
"We seem to be experiencing some unexpected turbulence from this storm system. Please remain seated until otherwise instructed." The captain buzzed over the intercom. Laura looked up from her book and out the window. It was as black as night, at 1 pm. Thankfully, Joe was asleep.
"Jaime, have you seen it out there?" Laura said, struggling to keep her voice steady. She pointed at the window. Jaime lifted her head from a book and looked outside.
"Wow… What time is it? It can't be night already." She asked.
"About five after one." Laura replied. She heard a distant rumble from outside, and she tried her best keep calm. Jaime could tell that Laura was scared.
"We're halfway there. Maybe you should try falling asleep, it seems to be working for everyone else." She gestured to their friends. Almost everyone around them was asleep.
"Good idea, thanks." Jaime smiled and returned to her book. Laura leaned back and closed her eyes. She tried as hard as she could to clear her mind of everything. After she had done so and found a comfortable position in her chair, she started to nod off.
Then there was a deafening crash and the lights went out.