The plane's engines roared outside, keeping them aloft miles above the ground. The air around the plane whipped and howled as it flew through the sky with its passengers. The noise was all but muted to its passengers. Rowan kept his gaze glued to the window from the inside, admiring the vast expanse of white beneath them, letting his imagination roam free.
With a sigh of relief, he eventually relaxed into his chair as his mind wandered into what brought him here now. A kind gentleman had offered him a job far out of state, going so far as to give him quite the sign on bonus. Rowan was able to finally quit his dead end job of six years and finally move onto running a small department of his own while also wiping away all his debt in one fell swoop. He would have had to be insane not to accept the position.
The bittersweet icing on the cake was having to say farewell to his family. While he loved his mother and stepfather, he didn't have any regrets about giving the finger to his father and stepmother. As long as he was mindful about calling the half of the family he could stand, things would be okay. Rowan pulled out his phone, grinning like an idiot as he opened his bank account. The amount left over was absurd, almost too good to be true.
The plane he found himself on now had very few people on board. With a glance, he counted no more than 5 others on board. Considering the pilot was the same man who had hired him, Rowan assumed the others were in the same boat as him. None of the people on board seemed to even acknowledge each other, instead were focused on their own ways of passing the time.
"Well I'm not about to be the guy to break the silence." Rowan thought to himself, digging through his bag. Inside were the last of his belongings until he was able to replace everything he had either sold off or given away. The backpack bulged from its contents. Out of everything, he only had a couple sets of clothes, a thick sweater, his Nintendo 3DS, some snacks he had bought for the flight and a bottle of water from a kiosk.
Pulling out his 3DS, he decided to continue his umpteenth play through. His current party was largely vanilla aside from his starter. Every time he restarted the game, he would always use his Action Replay to have the same starter, an Eevee named Chloe. To keep things fair for the game, he would use a random number generator to choose what she would evolve into and where it would happen on his journey. Rowan popped in a pair of headphones as he wasted away the time on his game.
Luck seemed to not be on his side this time however, Chloe had 'chosen' to become a Flareon before their battle in Driftveil. After a handful of losses, Rowan racked his brain for a method to win. He refused to use the other five members of his team in any gym as a self-imposed rule, creating a massive challenge for himself. Eventually he forced himself to grind levels out for Chloe, hoping the stat difference would make up for the type disadvantage. Rowan was so immersed into the game that he didn't notice someone standing next to him until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Flinching at the unexpected touch he looked up to see the flight attendant. He quickly yanked out his earbuds.
"I'm terribly sorry sir," The woman apologized, clearly hiding her amusement. "but we will be landing soon. We ask all passengers to turn off all electronic devices for now."
Feeling his cheeks warm up, Rowan quickly closed his game and tucked it away into his backpack.
"N-no, it's okay" Rowan sputtered. "I was just too into it I suppose."
The woman just smiled at him and nodded, moving onward to the next passenger. Rowan did his best to ignore his embarrassment as he returned his attention to the window. While the clouds were high above them, the ground below was coated in white as well. Snow blanketed the landscape, covering the trees and buildings alike, leaving the roads largely untouched. Cars the size of tic-tacs zipped up and down the asphalt below. A small ding echoed through the cabin as the speaker turned on.
"This is your captain speaking. If you look outside, you'll see we have arrived. The weather outside is clear and sunny today and would be perfect to spend it with your friends and family"
Rowan smirked a bit. The bulk of his family were miles away, he would enjoy his new freedom alone. In the background, a young couple began to talk excitedly amongst themselves.
"As we begin our descent, I would like to remind you to secure your belongings." The pilot continued.
Static blew through the speakers as the pilot went quiet but kept the intercom open. The occasional zipping noise was heard as others complied. Rowan thought for a moment that the pilot forgot to turn off the intercom. After another minute of eerie static, the pilot continued. Rowan couldn't help but notice a change in the pilot's tone.
"However I regret to inform you that it would be a moot point"
Rowan felt his heart clench at these words. What did he mean by that? The flight attendant looked as shocked as they were. Quickly the shock changed to anger as the young couple were the first to protest. The flight attendant did what she could to keep some semblance of peace.
"I'll go talk to the captain, everyone please remain calm" She pleaded. "Sit down you two."
The couple begrudgingly relented and sat back down, muttering under their breaths. Behind him, Rowan could hear others talking amongst themselves. Every instinct he had was blaring warnings to him.
Rowan felt uncomfortable in his chair as the tension rose. The attendant passed him by as she headed to the cockpit door. She tried knocking but was met with no answer. Trying the door, she frowned when the door didn't budge. It was locked.
"I hope everyone aboard settled all their affairs. I gave each and every one of you enough money to do so" The pilot continued. "You could say that I literally bought your lives."
Rowan felt his blood run cold as his mind went blank. He knew the man was speaking English but for some reason, they felt foreign to his ears. The situation was so surreal that he briefly thought he might have been dreaming. After a few more knocks, the door to the cockpit finally opened. A modicum of relief came back to him.
"Mr. Velga, is everything alright?" The woman asked as the door swung wide. Instead of an answer, she was met with a loud crack . The sound was amplified in such a small space, causing everyone to flinch and cover their ears. The attendant took a step back in shock.
Fonts of red blossomed from the woman's back, staining her uniform. Her body fell backwards as the door slammed shut again. Rowan watched in horror as the woman gurgled her last breath before going still. A scream tore through his lips as he pressed himself into the wall. Shortly the rest of the passengers followed suit. The cabin was filled with the terrified screams of people. What he thought was a dream had become a living nightmare.
Questions were screamed. The woman of the young couple ahead of him collapsed into her chair, her companion pale in the face as he stared at the corpse. Rowan hyperventilated as he hugged his backpack to his chest. He had never seen another person die. The intercom dinged back to life, the pilots voice much louder than before.
"Be prepared for what lies behind the veil." The pilot finished before the speakers fell silent.
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" Rowan screamed, his eyes still glued to the body in the aisle.
Someone behind him began wailing. Rowan felt his stomach lurch as bile rose in his gullet. No answer came, not that it would have done any good. Rowan realized his stomach was lurching not because of the corpse, but because of the sudden freefall he found himself in. The plane was all but nose-diving.
His heart sank as he realized how little time he had left. For most crashes, the pilots do their best to crash land in a way to try to have survivors. However, their pilot seemed to be dead set on crashing them into the buildings below.
Baggage, food, drink, as well as other debris floated in the air at the sudden drop in altitude. Rowan couldn't help himself, screams escaped from his lips as weightlessness took a hold on him. Clinging to the seat in front of him, Rowan desperately begged any benevolent god to save him. Any minute now he, and the other passengers, would be nothing more than a jumbled mess of scrap metal and meat after impact.
A strange sense of calm washed over him as he looked out the window and understood the inescapable grasp of his own demise. More than once he had always wondered what his final thought would be if he could see death approaching. Now that he was in this position, he realized what they would be with morbid clarity. More than anything, he hated this planet and humanity as a whole. Gripping his seat with all his strength, Rowan shut his eyes tightly as he braced for the impact.
It was all over in an instant. For a single moment the screaming and roar of the engines filled his ears. The vibrations of bending metal and the heat of the explosion was all he felt before the void consumed him.