I Can't Believe She Did It To Me

• Shaedon Flanagan, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2013

The sleek plane rolled into view, then sped across the runway; the concrete barrier only metres away. With a final grunt, the wheels lifted off the runway, inches from the barricade. The plane kept climbing and climbing, until it broke into the sunlight and soared over the clouds. Rays of sunlight shone through the front windscreen. A great ocean of blue floated above.
"Beautiful, isn’t it?" Although the plane’s engines growled, the co-pilot’s modulated voice could be heard through the headphones.
"Too right," the pilot replied, jerking the controls.
The left wing of the plane tipped and the aircraft dived into the grey. The clouds cleared as the plane escaped from their depths. The gloomy world came back into view.
"This is Red Eagle to Airtower 1," the pilot announced through the headset. "Do you copy?"
Instead of a reply, a red light flashed on the dashboard, followed by a repetitive beep.
"Wha-what’s wrong?" the co-pilot stammered.
"Someone’s rewired the circuits," the pilot explained as he flicked through the wires on the circuit board.
The beeping was drowned out by a loud sputtering.
"We've lost the engine!" screamed the pilot as he frantically worked at the controls.
"Quick, we need to get the parachutes!" the co-pilot shouted to be heard over the sputtering engine.
"You go first!" the pilot insisted to his co-pilot.
"Sure?" The co-pilot gazed warmly into the pilot's eyes.
"Yes, I need to…" the rest of the pilot’s words were lost in the wind as a latch lifted and the co-pilot jumped out the door. A second later and a parachute was visible through the left window. The plane was falling at such a substantial rate that certain buildings were now distinguishable. The pilot realised that he had to go, then or never. He staggered his way to the back of the aircraft. He opened the parachute compartment. There was no parachute, but rather a note stuck to the back of the empty compartment.
The pilot read the note.
"See ya later!" was written on the front in cursive writing.
A lipstick kiss was smeared on the bottom of the note, and signed by the co-pilot.
One last thought flooded into the pilot’s mind as the plane collided with Earth: ‘I can’t believe she did it to me.’