Photo Vignette

I stared intensely at the back of my eyelids for the first half of the flight. The black emptiness calmed my nerves, but was no where close to extinguishing them. My stomach felt like it was resting in my toes. I couldn’t shake the fear that I would never place my feet on the ground again.

“Excuse me?” an overly eager flight attendant tapped my nearly white fingers. I jolted then opened my eyes for the first time since I had eased into the scratchy blue seat. The flight attendant looked at me with his nurturing brown eyes. “Are you going to be okay?” His australian accent was intriguing. “Um yeah, I think I’ll be okay,” I stuttered. As he walked down the aisle, I looked past him at the two nonchalant, young girls across from me, sipping on juice boxes. Their full attention belonged to the crayolas in their dainty fingers and the Hello Kitty coloring books. They weren’t worried that we were 35,000 feet above the ground. They were ignorant, but I was not.

“The water should help,” the same flight attendant urged, setting it on the table I had pulled out in front of me. “I brought pretzels as well. I heard snacking rids women of nerves.” I pried my hands off the armrest to take the pretzels from his smooth hands. The plane jumped and the pretzels slipped from my grip. I clutched onto the arm rest again and tightened my eyes. “That’s normal,” he laughed. The plane jumped a few more times and I started feeling a little nauseous. A woman’s voice calmy commanded everyone to return to the closest seat, put on the seat belts, and look for the closest exit. I felt as if I was at the top of a roller coaster, waiting for the fall. Suddenly, the plane hobbled like an old man who has spent his life walking, but is getting a little shaky. “That’s not normal,” The australian flight attendant stuttered as he slid into the seat next to me. The oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and panic mode set in. The flight attendant tried to calm me by making small talk. “I’m Callum. Nice weather today, huh?” He pointed at the window and the dark clouds surrounding us. I screamed. Callum slipped his hand into mine. “It’s going to be o-” he stopped himself because he felt the nose of our plane tilt forward and he knew that it was not going to be okay.

kristen-wigg-airplane

1 Comment on Photo Vignette

  1. kbozeman
    May 13, 2014 at 3:25 pm (10 years ago)

    Capitalize Australian

    Reply

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