"If you would please fasten your seatbelts now, Flight number 8351, Wilmington to LA International is due for the runway in just under a few, short minutes"

I anxiously looked around the plane, witnessing before me the last minute bustling of the seatbelts, last minute arguments over the window seat and last minute jitters of the nervous passengers. I took a deep breath 7 turned to check if my arm was still shaking on the armrest.

It was.

My nerves began to tense up again and I could feel the familiar sense of bile rising within my throat.

If you could please stay seated, we are approaching the runway and must ensure that all passengers are safe and secure".

My stomach somersaulted and an overwhelming feeling of fear engulfed me. This was wrong. I knew it was, I had always known I was making the wrong decision… or wads I? Oh, I didn't know anymore. I didn't know anything, I turned to Norma and squeezed her hand before barely whispering, "I can't do this,". She roughly petted my arm and looked at me sympathetically. "Nervous flyer?". I shook my head in a panic. "Not that, I… I can't be here. This is wrong." Norma patted my arm a bit more sympathetically. She looked confuzed. I didn't blame her. I began to tug at my seatbelt. I found my voice. "I need to get off," I yelped, almost.

I looked out the window, we were on the runway now. I was running out of time. I tried to jump up from my seat but I was still entangled in the belt. I struggled with frustration. I noticed the Air Stewardess from earlier on looking at me in alarm. Before I could do anything more to get her attention, Norma's hand pulled me down roughly into the seat. "Child, calm down," she exclaimed in exasperation. "You don't understand I -," she cut me off before I could finish the sentence. She shuffled around the inside of her bag and took out two pills and a water bottle. "Hear, take these, calm you right down," she said calmly handing them to me. My anxiety had engulfed my entire body and I needed a release so I took both a swallowed the water. "What are they?" I asked curiously. "Valium… and some other stuff." she replied without batting an eyelid. I eyed her suspiciously before asking the fatal question. "Where did you get them?," She shrugged, again not looking at me. "It's probably best you don't know." I shrunk back into my seat and silently agreed.

I should probably add at this point that I know no more about Norma then the rest of you. I was lonely in the airport and by the time I got to me seat on the plane I was craving conversation so badly that I was ready to jump the first person I came into direct contact with. The air stewardess wasn't having any of it, so I settled for Norma, if that was even her real name. Truth be told, she seemed a little seedy. Nice, but seedy all the same.

I felt my muscles loosen as I began to relax. The valium was taking affect. My mind was losing sight of the anxiety and focusing on the good things in life. I was happy. Of course I was happy. I was Haley James Scott. I had a nice job, a great husband, a loving son and great friends.

I drifted off to sleep for an hour, dreaming these thoughts over and over again. Until suddenly, we hit a patch of turbulence. As the plane shook, I automatically bolted upright and the same feeling of dread that had prevented me from sleeping longer then two hours a night for the past year returned. None of the above was true. I wasn't lucky or blessed.

No.

My name was Haley James and today, I had just walked out on my family.