Man Down

• Willow Stephenson, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2014

Bring! Bring! "Oi get out the way, stop day dreaming" some old man curses behind me. God, I hate impatient bike riders. I like to wake up early and enjoy the scenery and take it easy on the bit of road down the eastern highway, a section of it is a runway for planes in need of an emergency landing which seems unusual for where I live.

There are other bike riders who want to beat everyone else. In this day and age it seems everyone does everything to impress one another.

I look around taking in every bit of dry central Australia. It is very dry and hot out here but that does not take away the beauty of everything else it has it offer. Out here is truly a very spectacular place.
An hour passes while I'm riding, not a lot changes in the way of the pushy riders that fly past every now and then.

Vrp! Vrp! Vrp! Vrp!
I turn around so much that my back cracks 5 times. I look into the sky and spot a middle size prop plane about 200 feet off the ground, making sounds like it is trying to restart its engine. Suddenly the pilot pushes the plane down trying to gain airspeed when a massive cracking sound explodes out of the engine causing puffs of smoke to follow. I jump off my bike and run about ten meters to the side of the road and watch in horror.

The plane pulls up levelling out. The gear comes down. The plane is getting closer and closer. I can vaguely see the pilot but it seems like he is waving me further into the bush so I am not in any danger but I'm not 100 percent sure. I stay put. The planes engine is off and the smoke has stopped. The planes wheels hit the ground once rebounding it back into the air. The plane immediately comes down. This time hitting the ground 50 times harder, snapping off the landing gear, sending the plane off the road and into the dirt flipping it and the pilot inside.

Straight away I run over to the plane which is upside down, I can see the pilot. He is unconscious with a badly bleeding head. I run over to the door trying to pull it open but its jammed. I run the opposite direction of the plane hoping to find something to brake the window with. I find a rock and pick it up turning around to go back to the plane when...

My eyes flicker open, I have a pounding headache and my ears are ringing. Something grabs my hand I look up and see an older women. She softly says " You have been in an explosion ". That's when I spring up, but I'm restricted by an agonising pain in my right arm. I look down at it to find 3 needles pierced into my skin. I rip them out, and run for the hospital door. I slam them open and get greeted by blinding sun. I run back inside and to an elevator that is to my left. I jump inside and think to myself "What happened to me?"