Leo and Hannah: Crash Landing
The Ninth Chapter in Hannah's Chronicles.
Annie jumped at the sight of Rocket and her friends coming to help her. So many thoughts ran through her head when she saw the little red dot growing larger, and larger. Very faintly she could see an image that looked like Leo. She tried to reach out to him, but the glass of the window stopped her. She felt like she could feel Leo, right there with her. She now knew that she would get through this safely. All ideas of any failure had fled from her mind. Now she could see shapes of June and Quincy as well. She noticed that Quincy was flying Rocket, and this kind of confused her. But she didn't mind! She was overjoyed!
Hannah, up in front, could see Rocket trailing her, and getting very close! Although they needed to get close, Hannah began to worry. She took a quick glance down, and noticed that they were now flying above the ocean! "We've broken the East Coast shoreline," Hannah said to herself. She was still nervous about how close Rocket was getting. Rocket was obviously getting closer to her with every passing second. "Wait!" Hannah thought. "If I'm going to get Leo on board, we need to land!" She concluded in her mind that over the ocean they couldn't land! All she could do was fly until she could see something appear over the horizon. She glanced back again. She too could now see the kids inside Rocket. Hannah wanted to hurry this up, so she pulled back a red lever and Big Jet started going faster. "The faster we get over the ocean, the faster I can take out Leo!" Hannah bursted, almost manically. Big Jet brought out his extra thrusters, and sped way up! Now Big Jet was clearly going faster then Rocket. Hannah kept her eyes on Rocket, so that she knew if they would try and catch her still.
June and Leo began to worry even more. Quincy has already worrying a lot! Rocket already had withdrawn his backup-booster, they had no more speed-augmenting tools they could use. Without any discussion, June and Leo sat down again and began patting their hands to their laps. Quincy kept his hands on the controls. Although the speed burst from the patting was noticeable, Big Jet was still going much faster. "Annie," Leo said, "We are on our way!". June nodded, "It's our mission!" She exclaimed. Leo looked at her friendly, but shook his head. "This isn't a mission June," He said, "It's a rescue." June looked at him directly and could see the bravery in his eyes. They had both stopped patting. Although there was really no difference in what Leo had said, June still knew what he meant. To him, and to all of them, this was a top priority. June smiled and nodded, causing Leo to smile back at her too. Leo realized that they had stopped patting, and then continued again. June did the same.
Back inside Big Jet, Annie could see Rocket getting farther, and farther away. She began to get nervous. She could feel in her feet that Big Jet had been picking up tremendous amounts of speed. She almost began to cry. She sat down to think. Her mind was blocked, she could think of nothing and all she wanted to do was crawl in Leo's arms. She carefully looked around this small room, in hope of finding something to help her. There was almost nothing here! Just a large backpack that was under a panel, and many deflated balloons. The shapes and colors of the balloons started to give her a headache. Still she could feel Big Jet picking up speed. After realizing that Rocket couldn't catch up anymore, she her sorrow was replaced with worry. If she was going to find a way out, she had to start searching right them. She wondered if the backpack underneath the panel could help her at all. Annie reached down underneath the panel and pulled out the large backpack. She noticed, almost instantly, that this odd looking satchel was kind of heavy. But disregarding its weight, Annie could still lift it up without any problem. She searched the backpack for a zipper, or any buttons to undo, but what she quickly discovered was that there was no way to open it! There was absolutely no way of getting into this bag. All it had was a bunch of loose strings. This was utterly useless to Annie, and she thought of it as a waste of her time to deal with it any longer. She stood up facing the door with the large satchel in her hands and simply tossed it behind her over her shoulder in frustration. She squinted as she waited for a thud when it hit the ground, but instead of the thud she heard a large cracking noise! Responsively she turned around to see that she had accidentally threw this bag straight out the window, breaking the glass! Annie used her hand to cover her eyes as glass spued to the ground. Now, when she opened her eyes again, there was a large hole in the window. She peeked her head over the side, and looked down to the large, blue, vast ocean below. The hole was surrounded by sharp points of glass, which would cut into anybody if they were to even touch it gently. She actually considered jumping out to the ocean below, but a few things made her change her mind. One of those was the idea that she could get seriously hurt when she made contact with the water. Another was the thought that her team might not see her jump out, and just continue following Big Jet, leaving her in the ocean. She concluded that she would jump only as a last resort. For now, she just sat back down on the floor and went back into thought. Her team was coming to save her, and she was now worried that they might not succeed. Annie thought about never seeing her brother or friends again, and went back to tears. Her outburst of frustration had led her right back to sorrow. She solemnly looked around the room letting streams flow from her eyes again.
Hannah hadn't heard Annie's or the glass. She just continued enhancing their speed. She flew at eye-boggling speeds for quite a long time. Out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that Rocket was too far behind agin. For quite some time she had been thinking to herself. But most of all she just waited for the sight of land, and she anticipated how this day would end. After a good amount of time found land towards the horizon. She started to slow down for Rocket to catch up.
Leo had now taken over the wheel inside Rocket again. The whole team was patting their legs in hoping of catching up to Hannah again, but the couldn't see her anymore. They were picking up speed quickly, but they weren't able to keep speed with Big Jet. Leo was too worried about Annie to pay attention to anything else but the sky where Big Jet was. He kept his eyes peeled for any sign of movement of and dark blue flying through the clouds. Many more thoughts went through Leo's mind. Again he began going through his memories and thoughts. He hoped more than anything that Annie was still okay. He tried to think the best of thoughts, but of course he started thinking the worst of thoughts too. He just kept flying. But through a small corner of his glasses he saw a small with every passing second. hint of land far away! And very vaguely he could see a dark blue figure flying lower, and slower
Hannah, who was still way ahead of the team, had found out where they were. She assumed that they were on Africa, near a desert. For miles all she could see was sand dunes. Hannah looked back to see Rocket closing in on where she was. She decided to land in this desert, near the shore. Hannah pushed two buttons, and pushed up a lever, and Big Jet began flying very low. He pulled out his wheels and in no time at all was resting motionless on the hot sand. Hannah went to go get Annie out of the locked room. Annie had looked around to see that they had landed. She thought she had a chance to escape! She ran for the broken window and tried to climb out. She took caution for she knew that the glass surrounding the hole was incredibly sharp. Slowly but surly she was making it out of the broken window. Hannah had just opened the door in time to see Annie almost half way out! Hannah walking in and had startled Annie and caused her to jump. When Annie jumped, her right hand got cut on some of the shattered glass, and slowly began to bleed. A deep red liquid filled the long broken line in Annie's hand. Hannah ran for Annie and grabbed a hold of her left wrist, keeping her from getting out. Annie struggled to break free of Hannah's grasp, but worried about further damaging her delicate wound. Disregarding, Annie continued to fret away from Hannah. The two girls struggled for a few moments and in the process Annie had fallen to the floor again. By falling, Annie had accidentally given Hannah a chance to restrain her. This was a chance that Hannah took. Hannah got behind Annie, still holding her left wrist. Hannah took Annie's left arm and held it uncomfortably behind Annie's back. Hannah then took hold of Annie's right shoulder, keeping her from fighting her any more. Annie knew that she had lost this time. Hannah had her right where she needed her now. "Why are doing all of this?" Annie asked trying to break free. There was a long pause. Hannah never answered her question. Instead, with a tight hold on Annie's arms, she guided her to the door and waited there.
Leo, Quincy, and June had in this time caught up again with Big Jet, Annie, and Hannah. They weren't to the shore where they were, but they were in clear view of them. They all quickly noticed that Big Jet was landed, and wondered what was going on. June assumed the worst. She thought that something had happened to Annie. Leo just continued to fly straight ahead, and Quincy just remained quiet. Now, when they had gotten closer, Leo could clearly see that Big Jet's door was wide open! After flying in a few circles to find a good place to land, Leo brought down Rocket parallel to Big Jet. Once they had landed, they all looked urgently at the opened door to see Hannah and Annie standing directly inside, almost as if waiting. Leo was the first to notice that Hannah was holding Annie's arms behind her back, almost hurting Annie! He quickly ran as fast as he could outside onto the hot sand to confront Hannah from on the ground.
"Hannah! You let her go!" Leo shouted pointing at Annie. June and Quincy now joined him on the sand.
From inside Big Jet's door Hannah answered, "After going through all of this, you think by just saying that I'll let her go?" Hannah asked rolling her eyes. She laughed to herself.
June knew that Hannah shouldn't have been trusted with the information she had given her. Although now it was too late for that. "Then how will you release her?" June asked afraid of the upcoming answer.
"Let's see here," Hannah pondered sarcastically. "Maybe I don't want to let her go?" Hannah asked again with sarcasm. This joking angered Leo. He dashed for the entry ramp to Big Jet, in hopes of physically taking back Annie. He was almost to the ramp when Hannah yelled "Stop Leo! Don't come any further!" She reached out for a button and threatened to press it. "Take a single step closer and I'll close this door and blast off again, with your little sister locked inside!" Leo backed up a few feet.
"Then what can I do to make you let her go?" Leo asked worried for his Little sister. "I'll do anything!" He pointed out. Now her almost seemed ready to shed tears for Annie's safety.
Hannah realized that June had been correct! Leo would do anything for Annie! "How about this," Hannah said tightening her grip on Annie's arms and shoulder, "All you have to do is trade places with Annie!" She smiled mischievously.
"What do you mean?" Quincy asked, although he totally knew exactly when Hannah meant. The rest of the team, even Annie understood as well.
Hannah shook her head. "I mean, Leo will come onboard , and I'll let Annie leave! It's a simple as that." She looked Leo straight in the eye provokingly. Hannah took Annie's fingers. "After all, you wouldn't want Annie to get hurt again right?" Hannah asked pulling back Annie fingers, revealing the cut dripping deep red blood that she got from the glass.
"Leo, no! Hannah didn't—" Annie tried to tell Leo that Hannah hadn't cut her, but Hannah quickly placed her hand over Annie's mouth to stop her.
Hannah looked at June and Quincy, then laughed at how easy it was to get information from them. "So Leo, what's it gonna be?" Hannah asked already assured of the answer.
Leo took almost no time to think about what he would do. "Fine Hannah, I'll come onboard with you if you let her go!" June and Quincy were both concerned and satisfied about Leo's answer. They knew that he would do it to help Annie, and they weren't about to tell him that he couldn't go. They understood to Annie came first to Leo. Leo took a few steps forward in the sand, coming upon the ramp into Big Jet. He slowly stride up this ramp closer to Annie.June held out her hand as if trying to hold him back. Quincy pulled her hand back down and shook his head. June knew that Leo wouldn't change his mind. Now, Leo was onboard with Hannah and Annie. Leo looked at Hannah, signaling to her to Leo Annie go. "I'll keep my word, " Hannah whispered to Leo. She let go of her hold on Annie and stepped back. As soon as Hannah let go of Annie, Leo flew forward and threw his arms around Annie. Annie did the same. Tears surfaced in Leo's eyes as he looked his little sister directly in the eye. "Annie," he said, "Don't worry about me okay?" He tried to sound reassuring. He kissed Annie lightly on the forehead and said, "I'll be fine." Annie, who was bawling at this point, nodded her head and released her arms. Annie faced the door with her head down sniffling. Leo gave her a slight push and she went walking down the ramp, but watched Leo wave to her and her friends. She couldn't take her eye's off of Leo, but finally had no choice when the door slowly began to shut. She waved back to Leo, but finally his image was completely cut off. Annie now sat in the sand, crying out loud, and yelling for Leo to come back. June was standing biting her fingers with nervousness. Quincy was worried about Leo too and so he ran to Rocket. June followed, and after some time, Annie did too.
Now inside Big Jet, Leo was wondering why he was wanted in here. That was the one thing he couldn't figure out. "Why do you want me here?" Leo asked. Hannah shook her head and walked over the seat at Big Jet's controls. There was also one other thing that Leo wondered about. Why hadn't Hannah rushed Annie out the door. She had seemed to enjoy their small, temporary reunion. Hannah was totally silent, as she had nothing to say at this point. She pressed a button which opened the back room where Annie had been with all the balloons. She never told Leo to enter the room, she just looked around confidently and launched Big Jet into the sky. Leo wanted answers from Hannah, the answers he was not getting. In her mind, Hannah had everything laid out perfectly. Her plan was going just how she imagined it to start with. Now Hannah was in the air, still not saying anything to Leo. She thought that maybe just letting him wonder the answers for himself would be better. Leo finally accepted Hannah's silence and looked around Big Jet.
June, Annie, and Quincy had blasted off as soon as Big Jet did. They stayed right behind Big Jet the whole time, but kept a little distance to see if anything would happen. Inside Big Jet, Leo had gone looking through the back room Hannah had opened. He noticed all the balloons, and the broken window. Leo didn't know what to think about the window, but he knew that the balloons are what got Annie in here in the first place. There was nothing happening. He was too curious as to what was going on. He looked out the broken window and saw his friends right behind him! He waved to them, not knowing that they couldn't see through the black tint of the window. He just continued waving to them anyway. Hannah had turned on auto-piolet and entered the back room to say something to Leo. When she walked in, Leo got defensive. "What are you doing? Who's flying?" Leo questioned suddenly. Although he assumed it, he had no proof that Hannah was up to no good with this.
"Leo, I'm sorry about this," Hannah said, although Leo could tell she didn't really mean it.
"About what?" Leo asked nervously.
Hannah didn't reply to him again, but went back to the controls up in front of Big Jet. Leo watched her every move and every button she pressed. Hannah pulled down a blueish colored lever. She paused and looked back a Leo. "I always thought you were kind of cute Leo" Hannah said happily, but with a devilish look in her eyes. She now pressed the one and only black button on Big Jet. "I'm really sorry," she said again.
Big Jet turned down in a quick motion and began heading straight for the sand below! Leo felt like he was falling, and he was! Hannah had set Big Jet to go down! It even took Hannah a second to regain her balance. Leo had tripped down due to this dramatic change in direction and was now stuck to the floor by affects of gravity. Hannah was going to fly big Jet right into the ground! Leo flailed a lot, but couldn't get up! He didn't know what to do. He began to panic!
"LEO!" Annie screamed from inside Rocket. "LEO!" they had all noticed Big Jet's movement and how it was now going to the ground. They were not headed straight down, but at a pretty close angle.
"OH NO!" Quincy shouted while failing his arms. "What is Hannah doing?" he shouted as if a statement, not a question.
"Quincy we were right!" June said tearing up. "We were totally right!" June put her hands over here eyes.
"Right about what?" Annie questioned. June and Quincy paused, and did not answer Annie's innocent question. Annie began to really bawl now. "Tell me!" She stammered, but June and Quincy couldn't find any words to tell her with.
Back in Big Jet, Leo still could not get to his feet. He could feel them getting closer and closer the ground, and he began to lose faith. He knew that it would take a total miracle to save him now. "But what about Hannah?" Leo wondered. Right as he thought about that, Hannah came running into the room. With little balance, she ignored Leo and reached under a nearby panel. She searched for a brief moment but couldn't find anything! That is where she had kept a parachute for if she ever got this far with her plan! She had used them before, but only a few times. But now the parachute was missing! Hannah entered a quick panic on what to do. She looked at Leo, who had tears in his eyes, and she looked at the broken window. Hannah made a quick connection. She knew why her parachute wasn't there and why there was a hole in the window! "THAT BLONDE HAIRED BRAT!" Hannah yelled! It's her fault! Hannah stomped her feet. Leo didn't know what she was talking about and knew that she wouldn't ever have time to tell him. Leo still couldn't get up as the two approached the ground that would ultimately be their demise. He shut his eyes and waited. He cried and worried, but he accepted it knowing that his sister was safe from harm. Hannah felt differently though. She knew that she couldn't get out of this crashing plane, but she knew how to control it! Hannah ran for the controls of Big Jet and sat down. Leo had a clear view and could see her at the controls from the position he was in. He began to tilt forward even more, due to the lower altitude. Hannah pressed the black button again and pulled back two levers. She was breathing harder then ever before, and was sweating buckets!
"Oh my gosh, I can't take this," June said back inside Rocket. She covered her eyes and turned away, hoping that Quincy would fly out of view. Annie hadn't looked up in a while, and Quincy was focused on flying and watching Big Jet, even though now Big Jet was headed straight for the ground and the sand!
"No!" Hannah shouted in Big Jet, causing Leo to worry even more from were he was. Hannah pressed another yellow button. To her slight relieve, Big Jet seemed to be trying to go up! Although it was still going down to the sand, it wasn't at such a bad angle. Although, none the less, they were both still in danger. Hannah had done all she could. Big Jet couldn't gain altitude any faster. Big Jet continued going down, and very slowly started to gain small amounts of air beneath it's wings. Hannah looked out the window and could tell that all hope was lost. They would never gain enough air in time to stop the crash! After a quick glance, she knew that only less than ten seconds were left until Big Jet slammed into the ground! Hannah ran back to the back room where Leo was. She saw they that he had gotten back up to his feet. He had been able to tell that he could get up now, and was not stuck down. Hannah ran into the backroom and shut the door behind her. "Leo! Get down!" She shouted, pushing him down to the floor. He slid into a corner and Hannah joined him there. She knew that any second now, they would wreck and burst on the ground. "Leo, I'm still sorry!" She shouted putting her hands over her head. Leo did the same. "I tried to save us! I really did!" Now Hannah was crying too.
Right as Hannah had finished her sentence, space between Big Jet and the ground had been eliminated! The kids inside Rocket all let out one big group "NO!" and Big Jet made solid, explosive contact with the desert sand! Leo's and Hannah's necks were jerked back as Big Jet smashed into the ground. On impact, the front of Big Jet had exploded, and burst into flames. The flame-engulfed Jet crumbled against the ground, skidding across the desert at high speeds. Explosions burst as the engines and other parts of Big Jet took too much of a beating. Slowly, the rest of the plane burst into flames as it skid. Although they did not realize it, Hannah and Leo were holding on to each other for protection, clenching their teeth and at the same time. Their heads were jerked around a lot, and Hannah was flung to the floor, but neither of them ever opened their eyes. The broken glass flew everywhere, some of which stabbed into Hannah, causing her to bleed as well. Everyone inside Rocket were panicking! They were running around shouting and yelling that this was all Hannah's fault. Judging on how Big Jet was, the assumed neither of them had survived this horrid crash.
After a moment, Big Jet stopped skidding. The whole jet was in flames and you could hardly see the blue paint anymore. "This is all Hannah's fault!" Annie yelled as her head hit her hands. No one else said anything. They just watched nervously. Quincy landed Rocket. They got out so they could try and get closer.
A crumbled, destroyed, flamed-engulfed jet would convince many people that there were no survivors. Leo opened his eyes expecting a grand light, but saw the real flames all around! He was alive! He was scratched up quite a bit and his right arm did break in all of this, but he was just satisfied to by still living! He noticed that he had hit his head and his forehead was bleeding quite a bit though. But now he had more danger to face. He ran forward to try and get off Big Jet, but flames were all around him, and he couldn't seem to see a way out. Leo was still was thinking that this was a miracle. Then he thought that Hannah did really try to save them both. But he also knew that he didn't have time to just be thinking right now! He turned around to see Hannah against the wall, totally motionless. He really couldn't tell if she was just unconscious of if she really didn't survive. He looked at the flames, then at Hannah. He didn't know if he should leave Hannah here or not. Leo did realize that if it wasn't for Hannah's attempts to fly back up, there was no way that he would still be standing. But he didn't know if Hannah was alive of not! All he knew was that he needed a way out of this inferno! Leo looked back at Hannah and thought for a second. Then, with one swift motion, Leo grabbed the back of Hannah's shirt.
-Final Chapter will be out shortly-