Forever and a Day

by Alexis Konsantino

  He looked over to Jorgen who seemed enthralled with looking out his window. Looking back, he saw JJ’s fiancé Doug, a good-looking California surfer type of guy. Looking forward he could only see the back of David Parker’s head. Sarah who was seated in front of him looked towards Halo and he saw she was very pretty with her long black hair in a ponytail.

  Captain Charlie came over the speaker and gave the all clear to turn on electronics and walk about the cabin. He reached for his phone and re-read his text back from Eric saying that he indeed owed him big time for handling the contract and congratulations for making them money. Athena sent back a text from her and Evie, wishing him luck and to call when he could.

  JJ walked by and he watched her go up to Halo and cover her back up, she came over and sat partially in the seat next to Jorgen and faced him to chat, “She’ll be mad at me for not waking her up, but she really needs her rest. She didn’t get much sleep last night…”

  Xander lowered his voice, “What happened? I saw the bruises.” Xander said concerned, “The one on her hand looks so painful, her foot too.”

  JJ leaned close, “That’s the hand she belted Johnny with, and her foot is what broke his nose…”

  “Oh wow.” Xander mouthed.

  “Halo should be the one to tell you the rest; we were all there and saw what happened. I think she would like to explain it to you herself as you two are going to be doing that same scene together soon.”

  Xander stiffened up a bit, his eyes opening wide for a moment, “Uh, ok. Oh, hey! Congrats to you and Doug on your engagement! Jorgen told me.”

  “Thanks Xander!” JJ replied with a happy smile, “Well I’m going to head back. I’ll wake Halo up in a little while so you can meet.”

  “Sounds like a plan, JJ.” Xander watched as JJ got up, sat down next to Doug, and held out her hand to him, he grasped hers tightly with a smile on his boyish face.

  Xander reached down, dug through his carryon, and found his book reader. He had read two books already and started another: one was about Australia the other a dark fantasy novel about angels in Portland, no less. He scrolled through his Kindle and stopped at one that he needed to get caught up on: Senior health care and the Psychology of Ageing. He shrugged and thought he might as well. He selected its icon and began reading the textbook.

  After an hour went by, Teuila came up to him, “Pardon me, would you like lunch or a snack? Maybe something to drink?”

  Xander smiled to her, “Oh please yes! Do you have any fruit, maybe a sandwich?”

  “All of the above! What kind of sandwich? We have fresh melon for fruit or we have fruit cups.”

  “Ham and Swiss? Whole wheat if you have it and the melon sounds great! Oh, and just a bottle of water please.”

  “I’ll be back soon.” Teuila said with a smile and headed back up to the galley.

  Xander looked at his reader and quickly put it back in his bag. Looking down at his armrest, he pulled out the small screen from its storage place. He extended it up and turned it on. The Virgo Logo of a ‘Winged V’ came up on the high definition screen. He scrolled through an impressive array of inflight movies and was about ready to select one when Teuila came back. He pushed the screen out of the way, as she pulled the tray out for him. She set a nice thick white ceramic plate down with his sandwich and a matching ceramic bowl full of fruit. A red rolled cloth napkin that held his utensils was placed next to his plate. She then set his water bottle into the cup holder at his armrest.

  “Anything else for the moment, sir?”

  “Yes. Please call me Xander.” He replied smiling at her, “Oh and thank you.”

  She smiled back, “You are welcome, Xander.”

  He ate his sandwich and fruit. He stacked his bowl in his plate, rolled his silverware back up in the napkin, and placed it on the plate. Teuila noticed he was finished and quietly removed his dishes. Xander looked around and saw that most everyone was asleep, only he, Jorgen were awake.

  He pulled his monitor over, chose the home screen, and found the in-flight status. He saw that they were flying north easterly and he saw an icon indicating a storm close to their intended flight path. He groaned to himself and thought he would have to endure more turbulence. On the way to Brisbane they had hit quite a bit of it, the good time they had made was used up by a slight detour, and it seems they will have to be flying a bit longer here too.

  Xander looked out his window and in the not too far distance; he saw a huge mass of dark angry clouds that were even higher than the altitude they were flying at. He checked the screen and saw they were at 31,000 feet. He wondered what their flight service ceiling was as he looked out of the window at the huge dark clouds. Whatever the storm was it was huge and even from here he could see faint flashes of lightening. He saw the screen refresh and saw they were taking an easterly route, skirting the storm. Thank you, he thought.

  He checked the map and saw that the Cook Islands were east and northeast was French Polynesia. He wondered where they would land if they had to divert. He saw the screen refresh and a new flight path popped up, now they would be skirting around Tonga and head north by an island called Niue then on to American Samoa. Their flight time had increased by almost an hour.

  Teuila leaning over Joel caught his attention. After a few moments, Joel got up and headed into the cockpit. He could see him talking to the Captain, at one point he leaned out, looked towards Halo’s direction, and shook his head. He came back out looking very unhappy as he took his seat.

  Xander felt the plane gently turn westward and he checked the screen. A new route popped up again, they were skirting closer to their original flight path that took them between Fiji and Tonga. Going for time, he grimaced.

  He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up and stretched, looking around he saw that only he and Joel were awake now. Jorgen was cocooned tightly in his first class lounge seat and was emitting a gentle snore. JJ and Doug were head-to-head and fast asleep.

  Turning to look behind him, he saw Pete was open mouthed and out like a light. He ventured up the aisle and saw Halo’s shoe had come all the way off. Her bruise gave him pause, as it looked like it hurt badly. He wanted to cover her cute little toes but thought he might look like some creeper. He moved forward and saw Teuila look up from her magazine.

  “Xander, can I get you anything?”

  He spoke quietly, “Just stretching a bit… it was a long flight from Portland, Oregon down to here.”

  Teuila winced in sympathy, “Yes that is one long leg.”

  “Hey, I noticed our flight path changed a few times and we are flying closer to that mess out there.”

  “Yes, there is some very bad weather over Fiji.” She looked at him for a long moment, “Would you like me to see if the Captain would speak with you?”

  “Oh? Sure, if it’s not a problem.”

  Teuila smiled and went into the cockpit and spoke with the Captain. A few moments later, she came out and gestured in, “The Captain said to come on in.”

  Xander said his thanks and walked up to the cockpit door, “Hello?”

  “Ah, Xander, come on in and have a seat there on the jump seat if you will please.” Charlie offered.

  “Thank you sir.” Xander sat down on the seat and looked at the controls. He noticed earlier that the jet was an old 737-300, but this one had all new cockpit equipment. He had expected a lot more analog dials.

  “Please call me Charlie, this here is Henry.” The Captain said cheerfully.

  Henry reached over and shook Xander’s hand, “Good to meet you.” He said in a faint German accent and went back to reading his display.

  “I understand you noticed the weather system outside. This is what we know: What was a tropical storm has quickly progressed into a cyclone, a hurricane if you will for us Northerners. It has just been upgraded to a class four and the weather service is predicting an upgrade to a class five by evening. Being so unusually warm, it is feeding this monster very well indeed. The computer models a
re predicting a northwestern track; it should bypass American Samoa, but we are watching it closely.”

  Xander nodded, “Uh, Charlie? I noticed we turned back towards the storm a bit, so we are making a run for Pago Pago?”

  Charlie nodded, “Yes, your producer has requested we make due haste to our destination. We will be far enough from the storm but will encounter some turbulence for sure. Should the weather alter course we will divert to a wonderful little island called Niue and wait out the storm.”

  “Oh.” Xander looked at the altimeter and saw the plane was still at 31,000 feet, “What is our service ceiling? Those clouds look to be topping 50,000 feet.”

  “Our service ceiling is 37,000. And you are correct, reports indicate they are topping out at 50,000.”

  Xander nodded then gestured to the flight systems, “I was expecting analog instruments, this being a 300 model.”

  “Very astute, yes this old girl has been retrofitted with the “Smart system’. Have you had any flight training?”

  Xander laughed, “Well I was on my way to my private rating in Helos when it became cost prohibitive as my wife described it. Besides… I decided I preferred wings and took only a few lessons.” He got a smile from Charlie and thumbs up from Henry.

  “Wings are a good thing. How many hours did you accumulate?” Charlie asked.

  “Over forty, but I still needed to complete my hundred nautical mile cross country night module.”

  “Ah, sounds like you were close. You should finish up someday.”

  Xander smiled, “Well with landing this acting gig I just might be able to!” He got a knowing smile from Charlie.

  A bright light lit up the cockpit and Xander blinked away the bright spots, “Wow!” He exclaimed.

  Charlie looked back at Xander, “Got some intra-cloud lightning going on out there. You should return to your seat and buckle up, I think things are going to get bumpy. Oh! One more thing, you do know about lightning and aircraft?”

  “Yes, flying Faraday cages!” Xander replied with a smile, “Thank you for your time!”

  “Good man, and our pleasure!” Charlie said and returned to his instruments as Xander walked out of the cockpit with a smile. He nodded thanks to Teuila as he walked to his seat. He passed by Halo casually slow, she still looked like a little angel all curled up. Her golden blonde hair was all a mess around her, but it added to the effect of her name. He noticed her seatbelt was undone under the skewed blanket and wondered if he should say something to Teuila.

  The butterflies in his belly distracted him as he wondered what would happen when he actually spoke with her. He reminded himself to remember to breathe. He forced himself to look away from the sleeping beauty and proceeded to his seat.

  Sitting down in his seat, he buckled up tightly and looked outside at the flashing that loomed uncomfortably close. He recalled his flight school talks about a Faraday cage and the physics concerning it: Simply put they were flying in a metal cage that bled off electrical charges and hits from lightning. He had read that aircraft are frequently struck by lightning and the passengers are none the wary. Still… he thought.

  He looked to his monitor and watched for a while as they progressed northward, he thought about watching a movie but he was anxious and knew the turbulence would start soon. Maybe he should wake up JJ to warn Halo? He dismissed it with embarrassment, as they might think he was weird.

  A tingle ran up his spine as he looked outside the plane and he felt his heart jump, just then a jolt of turbulence rippled through the jet. Xander looked around and saw that not one of them stirred.

  He wished like hell he could sleep, and began feeling antsy and considered searching for his Xanax. He watched his monitor as they continued the flight northward with the sky darkening ominously off to the side. He reminded himself that the Captain knew what he was doing.

  He instead focused on what he could see of Halo, she moved her head and he saw all the golden blonde cascading around her petite shoulders and the back of her armrest. He bet himself he could sit there and watch her sleep for hours. That Robert Montclaire was one lucky bastard he mused. He asked himself why he let her make such a continued impact on his heart and psyche. For heaven’s sakes he was married, he reminded himself for the millionth time. Regardless of all his reasoning and anger at himself, he knew why and it was difficult with her being so near but he did his best to shove it all back down where it belonged. He sighed and thought if only he hadn’t got lost in those blue eyes in the first place… but if he hadn’t he wouldn’t be here and now…

  BANG! A crashing sound reverberated through the plane and sent shudders through their collective seats. It sounded like a Mack truck ran into them from below. Xander saw heads come up and suddenly the plane shuddered even harder, he gripped his armrests as a loud POP sounded out from below the plane, his ears unexpectedly hurt as the lights flickered out and a sucking noise was coming from the cockpit. Bright yellow oxygen masks fell and there was a scream and shouting all around him. He quickly grabbed the mask with a yank and placed it on his face.

  Time slowed to a creep and he watched as if they all were in slow motion. He saw paper fly by them towards the cockpit. The plane juddered again and he looked over and saw Jorgen gasping for air in his mask, his eyes wide as saucers in fear. He watched in dismay as the big man grabbed his left arm hard and began turning white with pain. “Shit! Heart attack!” Xander said aloud, but his words were lost in his oxygen mask. Suddenly the plane pitched down and began a dive, the words: ‘explosive decompression’ rang out in his mind. He was pitched forward and he shot a look towards Halo.

  In a fright, he realized she was not in her seat. He quickly scanned through the seats and realized she was wedged against the Plexiglas partition. She was struggling to get back in her seat. Her hair was flying all around and he realized she probably could not see. Her flailing at her hands at her seat was getting slower. “Shit!” He yelled.

  He braced himself against the back of the seat in front of him and took in a deep breath. Without taking his eyes off her, he unbuckled, took off his mask and controlled his fall onto the back of the seat. Using gravity, he swung around the seat and then the other. Bracing his back against the Plexiglas, and in one quick motion he had her in his arms then he began pushing her back into her seat.

  His heart lurched as he realized she was nearly unconscious. Using his shoulder to hold her up and his feet against the Plexiglas wall he pushed her back in her seat and managed to latch her belt. He quickly grabbed the other seat’s oxygen mask and took a huge breath of cool oxygen then got her mask over her face. He began pulling her hair from her mask so it could get a good seal.

  Suddenly her hands began flailing again and she connected hard against his nose. He ignored the sting and continued pushing the hair from her face. Unexpectedly her big blue eyes were suddenly there and staring right into his, he saw that she recognized him immediately. He sat back against the Plexiglas and gave her warm smile. What happened next shocked him to his core as she reached out and touched his cheek with her outstretched fingers.

  Time stood still as the most exquisite feeling in all the world spread through him from where her fingertips caressed his cheek. Once more, he began to get lost in the blue depths… then his burning lungs reminded him their need for oxygen. He pointed to the mask and got it on and over his head. He turned his body and using his feet and legs he got himself into the seat next to hers and quickly buckled up. Turning he looked at her and she gave him a nod.

  The plane was still in a dive and he knew that they needed to get somewhere below twelve thousand feet. He tore his gaze from her and peered over into the open door of the cockpit. What he saw next froze his heart cold. Teuila was in the cockpit and was desperately trying to pull back on something, was it the control yoke? He leaned over further and realized the co-pilot was slumped over the controls and she was desperately trying to pull him back and grab for the yoke.

  With shock in his eyes, he t
urned to Halo. He knew she saw his look and her eyes widened. There was no way the diminutive flight attendant could move Henry the co-pilot. He pointed to the cockpit and leaned close to her face, he caught her feminine scent and it almost sent him into a reverie she smelled so good. He forced his attention at hand and yelled as loud as he could, “Trouble in the cockpit! I should go help!” He waited until she understood and she nodded vigorously at him.

  He tore his gaze from her once again, braced himself with his legs, and unbuckled. Another bang and heavier turbulence shook the plane as all the lights suddenly went out. The darkened plane banked hard to the right and he heard screaming from the opposite row of seating.

  Suddenly he was weightless and falling into the galley, his oxygen mask ripping away from his face. With a backbreaking crunch, he landed hard against the locked food carts. He ignored the erupting pain and forced himself to crawl towards the cockpit. The screaming and roar of the jet filled his ears. Panic echoed at the fringe of his mind as he heard the words through the screaming: ‘the engine is on fire!’ Steeling himself, he calmed his mind and pushed himself towards the cockpit.

  With intense concentration and what seemed like inch by inch, he found his way to the doorway. The plane began to slowly right itself, but they were still descending at a steep angle.

  Bracing himself on the doorway, he saw Teuila had been thrown against the bulkhead and her head was bleeding as she struggled to get up. The Captain was pulling back hard on the yoke with one hand and trying to push away an unconscious Henry with the other.

  He let himself fall onto the co-pilots seat and tried to pull Henry back away from the yoke. He saw the problem, his seat belt was partially hooked on to the control yoke. He pulled it free and saw the Captain point rapidly to Henry’s control yoke.

  He pulled Henry back with one hand, with the other grasped the yoke and began pulling back as hard as he could. Looking ahead through the windows all he saw was dark gray mist. He scanned the instruments ahead and found that all the electronics were dead. He located the analog altimeter and saw they were dropping fast and were descending past ten thousand feet. He continued straining hard as he used all his strength to pull back on the yoke.