Page 30 of Wrecked
“Just a little turbulence,” he explains, jaw tightening.
We hear what can only be defined as an explosion outside of the aircraft before plummeting thousands of feet. The fasten seatbelt sign is enabled, and Nate immediately reaches over me to tighten my seatbelt, ensuring it’s taut and unyielding to the point where it digs into my stomach uncomfortably.
The plane dips again, whipping my head back and knocking the wind out of me.
“Nate…” My voice is filled with fear as the other passengers begin to shout their panic. Nate grabs my hand, holding it tight.
“It’s okay, Pip. Everything is going to be okay. Just hang on to me, I’ve got you.” He delivers the words with confidence, but I can still hear the concern in his voice.
The air in the plane starts to thin rapidly, making it harder to take deep breaths. Bright yellow oxygen masks drop from the compartment above our heads. Nate reaches for mine, ignoring proper protocol, and places it on my face. He tightens the straps behind my ears and pulls to make sure it fits properly. He releases my hand for the second it takes to get his mask situated and then places his arms around me, holding me tight.
The overhead speakers crackle as the pilot begins to speak.
“Folks, we are going to ask that everyone remain calm while we try to make an emergency landing. We are experiencing equipment failure, and neither of our engines are currently responding. We are going to land on a beach about two hundred feet ahead of us, but it is going to be a bumpy landing. Please ensure that you are wearing youroxygen masks, as the aircraft is rapidly descending and our cabin pressurization is experiencing a failure as well. Should we have to make a water landing, please follow the instructions provided to you earlier in the flight. Until then, remain in your seats with your seatbelts tightly fastened!”
“Oh my God, Nate,” I cry out as complete and total fear replaces everything else.
“Listen to me,” he yells above the screaming passengers, “just hold on to me, okay? No matter what, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Just don’t let go of me!” he demands, calm and sure, his voice muffled by the oxygen mask.
I wrap myself around him the best I can while still being strapped into my seat. My tears soak the fabric of his shirt, staining the light-colored material with my mascara. I try to focus on that. I try to think about how I am going to remove the stain when we get home.
The plane begins to shake violently. The metal framework creaks and moans as the outside air expands within the cabin. Carry-on items fall from their overhead bins, assaulting some of the passengers as they drop at the same rapid speed we are descending.
My cheek is hard against Nate’s chest as he holds me to him. I look down the other side of the aisle and see a man passed out and bleeding from the head. I sob uncontrollably, digging my nails into Nate’s arms. I should go help him. I’m a nurse, and he clearly needs medical attention, but I’m far too terrified to let go of Nate.
A loud pop cracks through the air, followed by a suction so intense that my hair whips back behind me, pulling it at the roots. Nate extends his neck, looking behind him to check out what caused the noise, and I watch as his expression morphs into terror. I lift my head from Nate’s chest so I can see behind me, but he shakes his head and pulls me back to him.
“No, baby…just hang on to me.” How he’s managing to stay calm as our plane is literally crashing is mind-boggling.
The side of the plane by my seat starts to screech and groan, the volume nearly deafening. I turn my head back toward the window and see a strip of sand far off in the distance.Too far.At the rate we are declining, we will never make it.
The groaning at my side gets louder, and I notice the side panels begin to flutter in and out. Within seconds, the wall enclosing my window is ripped from the plane. The remaining panels fly away as the structure destabilizes, creating a large hole right next to my seat. I lift from my chair, my safety belt snapping from the force of the wind as I am suctioned from the plane.
I don’t even have time to scream before Nate has his arms around my waist, pulling me back to him. His feet are wrapped around the metal bar beneath our seats, holding him in place. My oxygen mask is torn from my face, exposing me to the thinly oxygenated air outside of the plane. The force of the wind causes me to gasp for breath, the feeling of suffocation causing me to panic. Nate pulls me closer, fighting against the suction trying to rip me off the plane. He yanks me hard, and I collide with his solid chest before he lowers us to the ground. The new position allows the intense pressure to pull others toward the large crater. We are low enough to the ground that we evade the passengers being vacuumed from the plane.
Nate lays himself on top of me, and we stretch our hands out, grasping the metal bars of the seat in front of us. Our legs are spread out into the aisle, debris landing on Nate’s lower half as he shields me from the assault. We’re facing the back of the plane, and I can see the massive hole where the tail-end used to be.
“Listen to me,” Nate yells, “nod if you can hear me.” I nod. “We are going to crash into the water. As soon as we hit, I need you to move! Swim toward the open panel and get out of the plane. Keep swimming as fast and as hard as you can, okay? Weneed to get away from the plane so that it doesn’t suck us under. Can you do that for me, Pip?”
I let out a whimper, terrified that Ican’tdo it.
Terrified that I’m going to drown.
“Ellie,” he says gently, but urgently. “If you can’t do it for you…do it for me.”
Those words, that promise, they will forever break through the pain and the panic…for both of us. With revived confidence, I steel myself for what’s to come. Iamgetting out of this plane. Iamgoing to live. Nate and I arebothgoing to live.
I resolve myself to this fate just as the plane hits the ice-cold water, sending shockwaves through my system. My head whips back from the force of the water and hits the top of the seat in front of me.
My vision fades, and I’m surrounded by darkness.
CHAPTER 15
NATE (PRESENT)
The screams begin to die down as more and more passengers are sucked from the plane, plummeting to the ground below. My hold on Ellie tightens. I pin her down with the weight of my body, protecting her from falling luggage and debris. I will throw every single fucking person off this plane if it means Ellie remains unharmed.
Watching my girl get ripped from her seat as the vortex of wind tugged her away from the safety of the plane—it brought out a demon inside of me. A fear like I’ve never known erupted from my chest, birthing a beast from the very depths of my soul. I would have boarded that hole with the bodies of everyone around me, dead or alive, to keep her safely aboard this plane. Thank God my instincts kicked in and I grabbed ahold of her, wrapping my legs between the metal frame below our seats.
