Chapter 1
The Crash
The sun was starting to set in the sky over the Pacific Ocean. It was now a light color orange reflecting brightly over the ocean floor. Terry was resting her head staring out the window. She wiped her curly brown hair out of her face. Her head was starting to hurt not from her lack of sleep, but from her co-passengers. Who would have thought that two people could be so immature and aggravating? Colin was to her right, and he was overweight. His wild gray hair sat in tangles like bushes of thorns. His glasses lay sliding down his sweating crooked nose. The other man on the plane was Derek. Derek had flat black hair and seemed to be the gothic kid back in the day. He was a creepy man, but it was not the dark aura that she received from him. Trying to play Mr. Suave in front of her she felt that his advances were futile. She was flattered of course, but it was a more than that. She would be out at the grocery store, and he would be there. Many times it seemed like random coincidences unrelated to work.
Terry remembered the one time that he actually asked her out. It was two weeks ago today. He walked into her room dressed in a black suit, which continued to feed her creepy persona of him. “I just wanted to thank you for closing the Smithson account,” Terry was packing up her briefcase, “Well I could not have closed it without your help.” Derek smiled, and she remembered for a brief moment he was attractive. Derek seemed to be stuck in a post college lifestyle. He acted a lot like a college student, but desperate to find any female companionship. “So are you going to come to Sydney with me?” Terry smiled, “Yeah, it’s both of our accounts, we are partners right?” Derek seemed happy about the idea of them being partners. The only reason why they were partners is because Mr. Patterson dumped him on her. As much as she didn’t like to have a partner, her life was her job, and when Derek finally got out what he was trying to say Terry just had to pass. Derek seemed hurt at her rejection of a date. She tapped him on the stomach, and this seemed to make him smile.
Derek was now laughing with Colin, and she now could see a sort of attraction towards him. I mean who was she to be picky? She had not had a boyfriend since college. She turned to look out the window. She was so devoted to her job that her life was going by faster than she expected. Maybe she should reconsider a date with Derek?
However when she looked over towards Derek he was leaning back in his chair finger to cheek. His eyes seemed to wonder down her body as if taking in every inch of her. She could not see the big deal in it. She was wearing red office suit, which did not help her figure in anyway. Not that she wasn’t plain, but she has had a long trip and was not in the mood for him. Her head began to throb with pain. She wished that they both would just grow silent.
She leaned her head back into the chair and pretty soon, she fell asleep. She left Derek and Colin arguing over a football game.
Terry woke to her head slamming against the wall of the private Jet. She began rubbing her head as the plane was now quiet. Cabin lights were showing, but those were the night lights. Derek was lying down across his seat. She gulped a little when she realized his wide eyes were gazing at her. “Hi,” she said feeling a little chill running down her neck, “What’s wrong?” His comment seemed difficult to understand. Had he been watching her, or did the jolt wake him up too. Maybe she was thinking too much into it? Terry looked out the window and all she could see were clouds. They looked dark and unfriendly to any passengers who dare cross through them. Thunder was beginning to rumble, “Why are we flying into this thunderstorm?” Derek was now lifting his head up to look out the window. Colin was still asleep as his glasses were slipping off of his face. “I’ll go check,” Derek stood up as Terry tried to straighten her outfit. “That’s weird,” Terry whispered to herself. Her shoe was off, but that doesn’t make sense. Why would her red heel be off of her foot? Derek returned from the cockpit. Terry shook her head and pulled the fallen shoe off of her foot. Maybe it fell off of while she was sleeping?
“So what exactly is going on,” Derek sat back on the chair looking at little worried. “We are trying to go around the storm now,” Terry looked out the dark window trying to see something, but she caught mere glimpses when the lighting lit up the sky. “So is this a big storm,” Derek nodded as he stared at Colin almost in a jealous way. Terry wished she could know what was going on. The plane gave a sudden lurch, and then it seemed to drop in the air a few feet. The captain now came on, “Sorry guys, we are going around the storm now, we should be out of this in a few minutes. It may get bumpy.” Terry sounded worried, “bumpy?” Derek was now sounding scared, “Yeah planes . . . planes get bumpy.” Terry gave him a stern look. He returned it with his own look which was not a reassuring one.
The plane gave another jerk, and the outside of the plane lit up like a spotlight had been turned on and off. A loud boom followed not even a second later, the plane dropped a little more, but stayed steady. Colin on the other hand had now woken up. His eyes looked wildly as he fumbled with his glasses in his hand. “What the hell is going on?” “Look who decided to join us,” shouted Derek, who now had lost his creepy persona. Terror filled his eyes as the plane rocked harder and started to sway side to side. “Oh my god,” Terry screamed as she put her hands over her ears to cover the crackle of a lighting bolt. The plane fell again, but stabilized continuing to rock and then began to veer to the right more. The intensity of the wind had caught the plane on its right side, and soon the plane was fighting to try to keep from making a three sixty turn.
The plane had now spun over, and it seemed that the pilot had lost control. Terry was screaming as the plane nose dived to the ocean. Derek was even yelling in terror. Colin was crying in his seat, air bags fell from the ceiling. However, it was too late. The plane was barreling down, like a rock. Terry screamed in terror, “I can’t die like this”! Her life unfulfilled and all she had to show for it was her work. She had never known true love. The plane hit the sea with such a crash that the wings blew off immediately. A great fireball consumed the top of the plane and seemed to blow open a huge side in the roof. The plan continued to twirl like a NASCAR and finally came to a halt. After several seconds the plane began to sink into the ocean.