Disclaimer: No, I don't own Flight 29 Down or the characters, wish I did though! Oh, and there's this one part with medics on the island that i sort of got from Charmed, and if you love charmed like me you will know exactly what i'm talking about. Summary: so here's chapter 6!! sorry this took so long, i had a bit of writers block there for a while. I hope y'all like this chapter as much as you've liked the others ones!! Just in case : Angie and Angelica are the same people. Read on:
Chapter 6 – November 24th, 2020 – 2 Months Later
It was finally Thanksgiving. The day that was supposed to be filled with happiness, giving thanks (hence the name), family, and of course, football. Well, today was filled with all of those things plus more. There was a nervous tension in the air, and sadness filled the room as everyone realized it was the first Thanksgiving without Jackson.
All of the Flight 29 Downers (and the kids) were at Nathan and Daley's house for Thanksgiving. Everyone was talking and laughing but you could tell that the air was filled with unanswered questions. Nobody had heard from Jackson since the phone call Mel had received. In other words, no one had heard from him in 2 months, and no one knew why. They were pretty positive he was still alive. They hadn't gotten a letter saying he was dead, and no one from the army had said anything to Mel about him. Everyone wished that Mel had heard something, because hearing something, even something terrible, was better than knowing nothing at all.
Mel and Nathan were in the kitchen talking and getting appetizers ready while everyone else was playing with the kids in the living room.
"I just need to know something you know? Just…even something like he's injured but is okay; just something. I'm going crazy over here not knowing anything!"
"I wish I could help you Mel. I wish I knew something that could help you, but I don't. I wish I could tell you that I know he's safe, but I can't. He's in the war for Pete's sake and he could die." Nathan responded.
"Yeah, I know. I wish I had stopped him from going to war. I should have done more to convince him not to go."
"Mel, you did as much as you could, but Jackson was set on going to war. You know that once Jackson's made up his mind about something, there's no changing it. Plus, he thought this was the only way he could, I don't know, pay his debt to society."
"Ugh! What debt? So he was a wild and bad kid! He didn't kill anyone, or drop atomic bombs on the U.S.!"
"I know that Mel. But Jackson really needed to do this. All we can do is respect his choice, and pray to God that he comes home safe."
Nathan wrapped Mel in a hug, and then they brought the appetizers out to the rest of the group, not noticing the small girl with tears running down her cheeks, sneaking upstairs to the play room where she and the other kids had gone to play.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ISLAND
"Angelica! Where did James go?" Jackson yelled while trying to stay hidden from all the planes that had started bombing the island ten minutes ago, for the second time that day. This constant bombing had been going on for 2 months now.
"I don't know!! He went to go get-"
BOOM! A bomb had just crashed into the 100 meter space between Angelica and Jackson, sending them both flying backwards. Angelica flew into a tree and got knocked out cold.
"Angie!" Jackson screamed after recovering from the blast. "Angie! Are you okay? Oh, please, God, let her be okay." A lot of tree and rocks had created a barrier to where Angelica was, so Jackson started to go find other people to see if they were okay.
"Callie, Derek!" Jackson said as he tumbled out of the jungle. "Are you guys okay? Have you seen James?"
"Last we saw he was heading out with the other medics to help the injured soldiers." Callie answered.
"Where's Angie?" Derek asked, looking worried.
"She's somewhere in the jungle. A bomb came down between us and I can't get to her. What if she's really hurt?" Jackson was starting to panic.
"Don't worry Jackson. She could just be knocked out. How about we go look for her and you go see if you can find James." Derek said calmly, recognizing that Jackson was getting frantic.
"Yeah, okay" Jackson said as he started to run back to their camp spot where the medics were, and Derek and Callie ran into the jungle to look for Angelica.
When Jackson got to the medical spot, it was not a pretty site. Dead or severely injured bodies lay all over the ground. The medic site had been hit with bombs from a bunch of fighter planes. Jackson saw all the people who were still alive shooting at all the planes circling the island.
"James!" Jackson yelled when he found his friends body among the mass of dead bodies. "James, no! No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening! James please, please don't leave me, I need you! Please no!" He screamed as he lifted up James' body to check for a pulse. There wasn't one. "NO!" Tears streamed down Jackson's face as he grabbed his gun with fury and went to go help the others fight.
An hour later, the bombing and fighting finally ceased. Jackson was walking back to the tent when he saw Derek and Callie come out of the jungle, carrying Angie. Running up to them Jackson asked "Is she…?" He couldn't bring himself to say the word. He took her out of Derek's arms and held her close. He couldn't lose her too.
"No, she's not. Just knocked out, she'll be fine." Callie reassured Jackson.
"Did you find James?" Derek asked hopefully. Everyone on the island was really close to James. You could tell he was liked by everyone.
"Yeah. Um…he's…he's dead." Jackson said as tears started flowing down his face again.
"Oh my gosh" Derek said and he wrapped his arms around Callie who had gone white with shock.
"Yeah. So I say we win this war. For James." Jackson replied.
"For James." Callie and Derek said in unison, and they all walked back to camp together, waiting for Angie to wake up.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACK TO NATHAN AND DALEY'S HOUSE
Their Thanksgiving feast had come to a close. The men were now watching the football game (duh), the kids were sleeping (except Jennie) and the women were in the kitchen talking (about everything).
Jennie was in the living room with all the men, but she wasn't watching the game like the rest of them. She was doing one of the things she does best – writing.
Jennie's Journal Entry
Today is Thanksgiving. Yay. It's the first Thanksgiving that we are having without dad being here. It's no fun at all without him here. He always makes holidays fun for me. I miss him a lot. I heard Mom and Uncle Nathan talking today about daddy. He hasn't written or called in 2 months. That's a really long time and mom and everyone else is really worried. They don't know if he's dead or not. I don't know what I would do without my dad. I need him. I hope he just couldn't write because of something good, not something bad. You can tell that everyone is just pretending to be happy. Last year at Thanksgiving when we were all together, things were different.
Mom and all the other girl adults didn't stay in the kitchen to talk, they were in the living room watching the game and talking. They didn't have anything private to talk about because nothing was bad. I know that they are talking about dad now, because mom looks pretty upset even though she is trying to hide it. Last year daddy and the other boy adults were really into the football game. They were shouting and it was so loud that none of us little kids could get a nap in from all the turkey. They're loud now but it's like they don't want to be as loud as they were last year because dad isn't there. I hope dad's okay. I don't like when all of my family is sad. I also don't like not knowing anything, because I know a lot about stuff. But right now I don't, and I don't like it. Not at all.
End Journal Entry
Nathan, Eric and Lex were all watching the football game, trying to get into it, but to no avail. They were trying to avoid the subject of Jackson since Jennie was in the room, but once she left, they started talking about him.
"Watching this game always reminds me of high school football" said Nathan.
"Oh yeah, you, Eric and Jackson were all on the high school team weren't you?" Lex said, laughing a little. The only one he could actually picture playing football was Jackson.
Like he was reading his mind, Eric said "Don't laugh. We were all pretty good. We all ended up on the Varsity team by senior year. I actually think Jackson made it junior year, his first year at school."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. He did. Oh man, I remember that day like it was yesterday." Said Nathan. "I have never seen Jackson so excited since then."
--FLASHBACK-- --END FLASHBACK--
"Okay guys, no matter what team we are on, we stick together alright?" Nathan asked Eric and Jackson.
"Dude, relax." Jackson said. "It's going to be freaking awesome if we make varsity, but it's not like we're going to stop becoming friends because some of us are on varsity and some of us aren't."
"I know, but, just to make sure."
"Fine, if you really need us to say it…" Eric said.
"I do." Nathan replied.
"OK then. Ready Jackson?" Eric asked, as Jackson nodded.
Eric and Jackson both held up their right hands and said in unison:
"I, Eric McGorrill/Cody Jackson, promise to never ever, ever, desert my best friend Nathan just because I made a better football team than he did."
"Hahaha very funny guys" Nathan said, though you could tell he thought their little speech was very funny.
"Okay, enough dawdling, let's go check that list!" Jackson shouted as they all went over to the section were team list were posted.
"Let's see…..Nathan McHugh: Junior Varsity, Eric McGorrill: Junior Varsity and Cody Jackson…." Nathan read off the list, but paused as he reached Jackson's name.
"What man? Why did you stop?" Jackson questioned.
"Dude…you made varsity!" Nathan yelled.
"GO JACKSON!" Eric screamed.
"What? Are you kidding me??" Jackson said, smiling really big.
"No man, take a look and see for yourself." Eric said.
"OH MY GOSH!! I made varsity!!" Jackson yelled jumping up and down.
At that exact moment, Daley, Taylor and Mel all walked down the hallway to witness Jackson, Nathan and Eric all jumping and screaming.
"Um...guys? What in the world are you doing?" Mel asked.
"Babe! I made varsity football!!" Jackson yelled as he ran over to her, lifted her up, and kissed her hard on the lips.
"Jackson!! That's so awesome!" Mel said, smiling proudly.
"This has got to be one of the best days of my life." Jackson said.
"Man, did we have good times in high school" Nathan said, as he recalled that memory.
"Yeah, we did. Hopefully we'll get to have more memories once Jackson gets home. Safely." Eric said.
All three men got up from the couch and went to go visit their ladies in the kitchen to spend as much time with them as they could. They were all going to enjoy the time they had left with each other. They didn't want to waste any of their time left, because they knew they would regret that forever.
A/N: So what do you think?? Please review, I could definitely use some criticism but some good things are great too!! So please please please tell me your thoughts..i hate when people read and don't review. Trust me, i can take criticism. Also some ideas for chapter 7 cuz i'm kind of stuck on what to do next...so go review!!