A/N: Here's chapter 3! Hold the applause please. Thanks to Arcadia for helping me sooooo much. You're so great at the whole beta-reading thing. hehehe...Aricraze, thanks for helping! Gracias a tú ambos. What else? Nothing. Nothing else? Nope. Well okay then. Okay. Shut up and let them read the fricken' story! Ok...ok...jeez! hehehe...
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Where was Caitie?
Caitie was flying.
She was soaring above the trees and over the water. It felt so good to be free that it didn't really matter where she went.
Someone was with her.
Someone was talking to her and shaking her.
She wished they would go away, they sounded so scared and she was so happy.
Happy to be alive.
Happy to be alive? Why would she think something like that?
And then it all came rushing back to her like a tidal wave crashing onto the shore.
"Open your eyes!"
Who was talking to her? Why wouldn't they just go away and let her sleep?
"Please wake up!"
Wait a minute, this was a guy's voice. Maybe it was Jamie.
Mentally sighing, she realized she'd just have to open her eyes and find out.
And so, using tremendous strength, Caitlin Roth awoke to the nightmare of reality.
..........................................................................................................................................
Aaron Connel paced back and forth over the carpeted floor in the Florida airport.
His son's plane was supposed to have arrived an hour ago. He knew an hour wasn't a lot for a plane to be delayed, but it still worried him. What if something had happened?
As if confirming his worst fear, a representative of W.G.C. airlines approached the gate.
Holding up her hands, to gain everyone's attention and quiet them, she cleared her throat.
"Will the families of the passengers of flight 287 please follow me." She began leading the way down an empty hallway ending in what looked to be a large conference room.
Aaron tried to reassure himself that everything was fine, but deep in his heart he knew the truth. Everything was not fine. Far from it.
Other people obviously knew it too from the looks on their faces. Some were already beginning to cry.
Once in the conference room the airline officials urged everyone to sit down, although no one did.
Aaron stood, dumbfounded and numb with shock, only hearing bits and pieces of the what the representatives were saying.
"Sorry...inform...has...crashed...somewhere...Georgia."
This was something you read about happening to other people. Something that made a good plot for a story.
"no...details...emergency...traveling...more....future"
This was not something that happened to your own family. Not my son.
Shakily, he approached a man in an airline uniform.
Tapping him on the shoulder he asked, "Do you know any thing about my son? His name..."
The airline rep interrupted before he could finish, "I'm sorry, we don't have any details of that sort at this time."
Aaron's hands shook as he pulled the list of Tyler's friend's names out of his pocket. Reading over it he realized that all these kids had families.
"What about these kids?" he asked, shoving the list into the representative's hands.
He didn't even look at it before handing it back to Mr. Connel.
"I'm sorry sir, you'll just have to wait until we receive more information."
Aaron watched as the man walked away. Shoving the list back into his pocket he headed out the door to the nearest pay phone.
His hands still shaking, he put in a quarter and dialed his ex-wives number.
"Hello...Carol...I have something to tell you."
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A...F...W...O...R.
Hank stared at the letter-shaped noodles floating in his chicken soup.
He didn't feel like eating. He hadn't felt like eating for days.
It wasn't the flu that was ailing him now though.
It was worry. Worry and anger that was making him sicker than any virus had.
The phone had rang twenty minutes ago.
It'd been Tyler's mom calling with "some bad news".
Why did adults always try to sugar coat everything?
What if he had been on that plane? He hadn't though. He was supposed to go but he'd gotten sick the day before they were supposed to leave.
Who'd of thought someone could ever be so happy to be sick?
Hank wasn't happy though.
What if his friends were dead?
All of his friends had been on that plane.
No.
Not all of them.
Just all of his closest and best friends, and in a way, that was worse.
..........................................................................................................................................
"Mommy, mommy wake up!"
A young girl, no more than four, sat hunched over crying into her mother's sleeve.
Tyler froze, trying to locate the voice.
He'd woken just moments before, to find Val's jacket in his lap, covered with blood. The realization that she was hurt hit him and he'd immediately set out to find her.
Meanwhile, trying to ignore the aching in his head and what seemed to be the beginning of a stomachache.
Halfway down the aisle though, he'd been sidetracked by this girl's plea for help.
He kneeled in front of her as she continued to sob.
"Hey," he said softly, "What's wrong?"
He'd never been very good with kids.
She began to rock back and forth, faster and faster, until she fell off the seat and into Tyler's arms.
"Mommy..."
Tyler's gaze turned to the woman in the next seat over. She appeared to be asleep.
"Is this your mom?"
The girl nodded into his shoulder, her torrent of tears never slowing.
"What's your name?" he asked, shifting her onto his hip.
"Anna."
"Well Anna, I'm sure your mom will be fine," he assured her, reaching for the woman's wrist to check for a pulse.
There was none.
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Well, it didn't exactly answer the burning question of where Caitie was, but it did help some. Didn't it? Hehehe. GIVE ME FEEDBACK! I AM THE REVIEW MONSTER! Give me reviews or I die! Then...no more story. Hehehe...Constructive criticism is appreciated veeeery much. Until chapter 4...
..........................................................................................................................................
Where was Caitie?
Caitie was flying.
She was soaring above the trees and over the water. It felt so good to be free that it didn't really matter where she went.
Someone was with her.
Someone was talking to her and shaking her.
She wished they would go away, they sounded so scared and she was so happy.
Happy to be alive.
Happy to be alive? Why would she think something like that?
And then it all came rushing back to her like a tidal wave crashing onto the shore.
"Open your eyes!"
Who was talking to her? Why wouldn't they just go away and let her sleep?
"Please wake up!"
Wait a minute, this was a guy's voice. Maybe it was Jamie.
Mentally sighing, she realized she'd just have to open her eyes and find out.
And so, using tremendous strength, Caitlin Roth awoke to the nightmare of reality.
..........................................................................................................................................
Aaron Connel paced back and forth over the carpeted floor in the Florida airport.
His son's plane was supposed to have arrived an hour ago. He knew an hour wasn't a lot for a plane to be delayed, but it still worried him. What if something had happened?
As if confirming his worst fear, a representative of W.G.C. airlines approached the gate.
Holding up her hands, to gain everyone's attention and quiet them, she cleared her throat.
"Will the families of the passengers of flight 287 please follow me." She began leading the way down an empty hallway ending in what looked to be a large conference room.
Aaron tried to reassure himself that everything was fine, but deep in his heart he knew the truth. Everything was not fine. Far from it.
Other people obviously knew it too from the looks on their faces. Some were already beginning to cry.
Once in the conference room the airline officials urged everyone to sit down, although no one did.
Aaron stood, dumbfounded and numb with shock, only hearing bits and pieces of the what the representatives were saying.
"Sorry...inform...has...crashed...somewhere...Georgia."
This was something you read about happening to other people. Something that made a good plot for a story.
"no...details...emergency...traveling...more....future"
This was not something that happened to your own family. Not my son.
Shakily, he approached a man in an airline uniform.
Tapping him on the shoulder he asked, "Do you know any thing about my son? His name..."
The airline rep interrupted before he could finish, "I'm sorry, we don't have any details of that sort at this time."
Aaron's hands shook as he pulled the list of Tyler's friend's names out of his pocket. Reading over it he realized that all these kids had families.
"What about these kids?" he asked, shoving the list into the representative's hands.
He didn't even look at it before handing it back to Mr. Connel.
"I'm sorry sir, you'll just have to wait until we receive more information."
Aaron watched as the man walked away. Shoving the list back into his pocket he headed out the door to the nearest pay phone.
His hands still shaking, he put in a quarter and dialed his ex-wives number.
"Hello...Carol...I have something to tell you."
..........................................................................................................................................
A...F...W...O...R.
Hank stared at the letter-shaped noodles floating in his chicken soup.
He didn't feel like eating. He hadn't felt like eating for days.
It wasn't the flu that was ailing him now though.
It was worry. Worry and anger that was making him sicker than any virus had.
The phone had rang twenty minutes ago.
It'd been Tyler's mom calling with "some bad news".
Why did adults always try to sugar coat everything?
What if he had been on that plane? He hadn't though. He was supposed to go but he'd gotten sick the day before they were supposed to leave.
Who'd of thought someone could ever be so happy to be sick?
Hank wasn't happy though.
What if his friends were dead?
All of his friends had been on that plane.
No.
Not all of them.
Just all of his closest and best friends, and in a way, that was worse.
..........................................................................................................................................
"Mommy, mommy wake up!"
A young girl, no more than four, sat hunched over crying into her mother's sleeve.
Tyler froze, trying to locate the voice.
He'd woken just moments before, to find Val's jacket in his lap, covered with blood. The realization that she was hurt hit him and he'd immediately set out to find her.
Meanwhile, trying to ignore the aching in his head and what seemed to be the beginning of a stomachache.
Halfway down the aisle though, he'd been sidetracked by this girl's plea for help.
He kneeled in front of her as she continued to sob.
"Hey," he said softly, "What's wrong?"
He'd never been very good with kids.
She began to rock back and forth, faster and faster, until she fell off the seat and into Tyler's arms.
"Mommy..."
Tyler's gaze turned to the woman in the next seat over. She appeared to be asleep.
"Is this your mom?"
The girl nodded into his shoulder, her torrent of tears never slowing.
"What's your name?" he asked, shifting her onto his hip.
"Anna."
"Well Anna, I'm sure your mom will be fine," he assured her, reaching for the woman's wrist to check for a pulse.
There was none.
..........................................................................................................................................
Well, it didn't exactly answer the burning question of where Caitie was, but it did help some. Didn't it? Hehehe. GIVE ME FEEDBACK! I AM THE REVIEW MONSTER! Give me reviews or I die! Then...no more story. Hehehe...Constructive criticism is appreciated veeeery much. Until chapter 4...