Chapter 4: Beginning of Darkness

Rikki and her dad got on the board of the plane.

They easily found their seats and put on their seatbelts.

Rikki's cheeks were still wet from her tears. She was thinking of her friends and most of all she was thinking about what Zane had told her. She definitely saw a change in him.

The plane blasted off.

This is it, Rikki thought watching through the small window.

The plane hadn't even flew for fifteen minutes when Rikki felt that everything was starting to shake.

"Everything's alright. Don't panic." One of the air hostess said. "It's just a small turbulence."

But it didn't seem like it.

Rikki could feel the plane falling down with high speed. All the drinks of the passengers, flew around. Rikki was watching in terror. "The bathroom", she thought and quickly stood up from her seat, running to the bathroom and locking herself in.

At least there she was safe from the drinks. The bathroom also had a window and she peeked through it. Now she could definitely tell that the plane was falling with enormous speed.

To the ocean.

She could see the water coming closer and closer. "Oh, no." She thought, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

Then she saw a little bit of land through the upper corner of the window. The plane was coming closer to the water with every second. She watched in terror. Then she suddenly remembered. 'Dad' She whispered and turned around to reach the door, but it was too late.

A big impact followed. Rikki was thrown to the other side of the bathroom, where she hit her head roughly on the sink and fell down, blood streaming down the right side of her face. Another big stroke happened and she was thrown out of the window to the surface of the water. The plane was sinking fast.

{ * }

Cleo, Bella, Lewis and Will had just gone to Cleo's place.

Cleo opened the door of her house to let her friends in.

They saw her dad was watching sports on the tv when suddenly a Breaking News report popped up on the screen.

"An incident happened with one of the planes of the Australia airlines. It crashed down before a couple of minuites. Location unknown. The flight was AU3469. We have no information about the crew or the passengers".

The group stood frozen in the vestibule. They all were white as sheet.

Tears were rolling down Bella's face. Lewis was standing with his face frozen in a complete shock. The pain on Will's face was only a fade image of what he was feeling inside his chest. Cleo whispered quietly "Rikki" through her tears and collapsed on the floor.

Lewis lifted her in his arms and the group went upstairs to Cleo's room.

Once inside Lewis genly put Cleo on her bed. She had opened her eyes and tears were running down her cheeks.

She was shaking and so was Lewis. And Bella. And Will. They just couldn't believe it. After a couple of minutes in silence Cleo was the first to speak in shaking voice.

"Do you think she-" But she was afraid to ask the question. She just couldn't.

Lewis, Bella and Will looked at her.

"Cleo-" Lewis started to say quietly, but Cleo stopped him.

"She HAS to be alive!" She said and bursted into tears.

Lewis hugged Cleo, tears falling from his eyes now too. Bella and Will slowly sat down on the beed next to them and they all hugged each other.

"I'm sure she's ok." Bella said quietly and the others nodded.

All they could do was to wait for more news about the crash and keep their hopes up no matter how hard that was.

The all stayed at Cleo's house that night, sitting in front of the TV and waiting for news.

Lewis and Cleo were sitting on the sofa at Cleo's living room. Cleo's head was rested on Lewis' lap while warm tears continued to fall down. Bella and Will were sitting on the other sofa opposite them. Bella was in Will's arms, her head resting on his shoulder and she was crying quietly.

The night was moving slowly with no news at all.

The clock was showing 2.00 am when the could barely hold their eyes open anymore. Cleo and Bella were the first to fall asleep. A few minutes later Lewis also fell asleep. After about an hour or so Will was also sound asleep.

But the group didn't sleep well that night. They all had the same nightmare that night.

"A plane was falling down fast; one girl with a blond, curly hair was looking with a scared face through one of the small windows on the plane. The image was zooming in at her face. She was frightened and very pale. The plane hit the water and the girl was thrown at the sink in the bathroom hitting her head heavily and she fell down unconscious. With the next stroke her lifeless body was roughly thrown through the window."

"Rikki!" The whole group screamed and they opened their eyes. They all sighed in relief. It was a nightmare. Only a nightmare. They looked at each other with pain on their faces.

Bella was the first to break the silence.

"We all had the same nightmare, didn't we?"

The others nodded with pale faces and tears in the back of their eyes.

The image of Rikki's lifeless body was in front of everyone's eyes. They all stood there in silence for a few seconds when they realized it was already 7.00 am. That's when the second "Breaking News" report appeared on the TV screen.

"The place where flight AU3469 has been crushed was localized. The plane had fallen near Sumba Island in Indonesia. To this very moment no survivors were found. The rescue teams will continue their search for any possible survivours".

They all were frozen in their places. Cleo shook her haid "No" and bursted into tears. Bella buried her face in her hands crying. Tears were rolling down Will and Lewis' faces. They couldn't believe it.

She had to be alive. She had to be. They didn't know any person stronger than her. Rikki Chadwick couldn't be dead.