Panic At 10,600 Metres

• Brianna Douglas, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2018

They dashed wildly, basically shoving people out of their way to reach the terminal in time for their plane to take off. After not waking up on time, Felix and Lee were far too late for their liking; the plane took off in less than half an hour and they were yet to go through security, which they knew all too well took ages to get through. 20 minutes later, they barely made it to the gate in time. The flight attendant was boarding the last of the other people catching the plane, and only just let them board. After going through the normal procedures the plane took off; only this time something wasn’t right. Normally, when you hear the pilots talking about a disturbance in the flight path you’d be calm because you knew they could handle it, but Lee had her doubts. Felix tried time and time again to calm her down, but nothing worked; each time he tried, it only made her more and more nervous. Half an hour later, the flight was fine. That was until they hit the first patch of turbulence. Soon, the cabin was filled with the staticky voice of the pilot over the loudspeakers. “Everyone this is your pilot speaking. Please put your safety belts on; this is nothing to worry about, just a small patch of turbulence. This is normal, so please just follow the correct procedure in case of an emergency.” This sent the entire cabin into a fit of anxiety and nervousness. People grabbed at the belts to fasten them over themselves and gripped the armrests waiting for what was to come. A sudden jolt shook the plane, sending them into another fit of shock. Screams rang out as yet another jolt gripped the plane.
“This is your pilot. We are experiencing a mechanical difficulty so please hang in there.” This did nothing to calm anyone down, but rather just hyped their nerves up more. Another jolt wracked the plane and even more screams echoed through the cabin. The lights went out, sending the crowd into a frantic panic, as the plane started to descend. It was slow at first, almost not noticeable, but as seconds passed people realised that the plane was in-fact falling from the sky. Ear-piercing shrieks pierced the cabin during the speedy descent towards land. Lee and Felix gripped onto their seats for dear life as the plane continued its downward plunge, bracing themselves for the crash that was bound to come.