Old Piece Of Tin

• Isabelle Wright, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

The plane I never wanted to go on was now the one I was boarding. Staggering up the small, metal steps was like walking to my grave. I sat on the nearest seat and took a deep breath; the old piece of tin had taken flight.
* * *
Let me take you back to the start. I have been in the air force for over 4 years now, and I am so glad I haven’t been sent on a mission yet. It hasn’t been so bad here, and having friends mends my broken heart. Sean was my first mate who I met in the line whilst we were registering. Then Luke and Ryan came along 2 weeks later. We are all part of the air force and practically live together, not forgetting my beautiful girlfriend, Lucy. Lucy and I have known each other for over 2 years now, and are good family friends. I remember so clearly the first day I saw her. She had moved to Canberra from Adelaide for family reasons and started up a café. On Tuesday the 24th of August, 1999, I was in her café ordering a coffee, and as soon as she walked out of the kitchen, I was bewildered. She was so pretty carrying the small latte searching for table number 8. From that moment on, I knew I had to marry her.
* * *
Today we had a meeting. Sean, Luke, Ryan and I all wandered outside the Generals tent waiting for him to appear. He had called all his fine men and air force cadets to gather at 6am sharp, I knew it had to be important. Suddenly the Generals loud voice smothered all of ours and announced, “As you all know there is trouble in Singapore and they need a bigger side. Everyone here will be attending”. Everyone started looking at everyone else with worried looks unfortunate words. “We will be having a two-day training session and you will ALL attend. Go and pack and meet here in an hour.”
Sean, Luke, Ryan and I all marched back tour tents silently, until suddenly Ryan mentioned, “well this is it then boys, our first mission. I hope it’s not too horrendous!” Ryan had always been the larrikin in our group, so even this was disappointing.
In my head, I was avoiding the thought that I was going to have to tell Lucy and my family the news, so just pushed that thought away and continued packing.
The Generals command to aboard the choppers was simultaneous to our arrival, so there was no backing out now.