Alka selzer fizzes in the glass while the phone rings.

Jackson has crashed on the couch, watching CNN. It's a tense recline. Red circles rim the lids of his eyes. He sips from the glass to settle his stomach.

Ken appears from the kitchen, handing over the receiver. "It's that girl…Melissa."

Jackson doesn't respond.

Ken sighs, then speaks into the phone. "He's in the shower, Melissa. Can I have him call you back later? Sure…bye."

Ken returns to the living room, concerned about his son. Jackson averts his eyes, stressed and ashamed. Ken sits nearby. "She's concerned about you." He pauses a beat. "I'm concerned about you."

Jackson turns his eyes to the glass.

"Why don't you want to talk to her…or me?"

"Dad…you and mom have helped me out, so much. But there's…some things I need to understand before I can talk…to anyone about it."

The father respects this young man's wishes. Ken nods "fair enough."

In the silent moment, Jackson can barely hear the television. The CNN anchor says, "The National Transportation Safety Board has a new theory tonight on the possible cause of Euro-Air Flight 180."

Jackson quickly grabs the remote and turns up the volume. A computer graphic illustrates the area of the lower fuselage.

The CNN anchor continues. "Deterioration of silicon insulation on an electrical connector to the scavenger pump may have leaked combustible fluids."

Jackson remains riveted to the screen.

"A spark in the fuel switch…"

The graphic zooms into the area in the rear right side, nearly above Lex's seat.

"That's Lex's seat," Jackson says.

He continues listening to the television.

"…may have ignited the fuel line. And proceeded to the fuel pump."

The high-tech computer image traces the path of the explosion through the plane. A red line representing the fuel line zig-zags through the body of the plane, making a sharp turn forward to the fuel pump, which explodes. Jagged lines show the direction of the explosion moving backwards toward the rear of the plane.

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In his bedroom, Jackson draws a 747 schematic and writes down hundreds of steps from the CNN computer image, yet accurate as Jackson's fingers trace the path away from the seats marked 'Me' and 'Melissa.' The path starts over 'Lex,' then moves to 'Taylor.' The line moves forward away from 'Carter' toward the fuel pump. A corresponding jagged picture of the explosion back is reminiscent of the 'hand of Death' seen in the lightning on the night of the crash. It is a graphic demonstration of the arbitrary nature of Death.

Jackson is amped, intensely more frightened as he believes. "The path of the explosion…" he whispers to himself, "That's Death's design." It instantly, frightfully, occurs to him…he knows who will be next.

Jackson's finger quickly moves along the fuel line. After 'Taylor,' the seat intersecting the path of the fuel line, over the fuel pump, is marked 'Ms. Twist.'