Stay Together Chapter 6 by Maira Dawn
Chapter 6
(COPYRIGHT©2024 MAIRA DAWN)
Emily turned to her parents, who looked just as confused as she felt. But there was something else on her dad’s face. A wariness. A suspicion.
She glanced around the cabin of the plane, making out what she could in the dimmed light. Without overhead lights, the only brightness that filtered through the plane was the sunlight coming through the windows. The scene was a contrast of light and darkness as the bright light bathed certain individuals, while shadows hid others.
Mike scooted closer to Elizabeth, and she put an arm around him, giving him a tight smile. “It’s all right, dear. Just a little delay, is all.”
Emily frowned. It seemed like more that a little delay to her. Sure, she’d only flown once before. But it had been a really big deal, and she remembered all of it.
And nothing even remotely like this had happened.
No, this wasn’t right. She knew that for sure.
Emily studied her dad’s puzzled expression. “Dad?”
Almost absentmindedly, he said, “Yeah. I don’t know,” as he inspected the surrounding scene. Then he looked at her. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart,” he reassured her.
She nodded, her nerves soothed somewhat. If Dad said it would be okay, then it would be. He’d never let her down yet.
Emily let him turn back to his perusal and started listening to the murmuring of the other passengers, but it didn’t seem like anyone had any idea what was going on.
“Do you think they just need to gas the plane up?” one lady behind her asked.
“This doesn’t seem right,” a teenage boy replied.
“How long is this going to take?” a man called out as he searched for someone in charge.
A man in the third row stood and held his hands up. “This has happened to me before. It just takes a little while for them to sort it out.”
A few people clapped. The man bowed at the waist as if he were part of an acting troupe and sat down.
“Why don’t the captain or the flight attendants announce anything?” Mom asked.
“They will. As soon as they can,” Dad answered, giving her a warm smile.
He bopped Mike on the nose. “We’ll be in the air in no time.”
The lights overhead flickered on and off several times and the plane filled with gasps of excitement.
Emily shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness.
Without warning, the lights went out and stayed out.
Around her, passengers uttered groans and disappointed sighs.
Emily blew out a sharp breath and slumped back into her seat. “Oh, come on!”
“Yeah, come on!” Mike said, imitating her.
“We sure don’t need this kind of start to our vacation, do we, Mike?”
“Nope. We sure don’t!” He crossed his arms and frowned at the fight attendant who entered the cabin and prepared to make an announcement.
After giving them a few useless facts, the flight attendant said, “We are experiencing a power outage, but I’m sure it will be sorted out soon.”
“Hmm, that didn’t give us a lot of information,” Mom said as the flight attendant walked away.
“Probably on purpose,” Dad muttered.
Mom gave him an inquisitive look. “What are you thinking?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. I know nothing about airplanes. And I wouldn’t want to guess.” Giving her a long look, he continued, “But if I get a thought about it, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Good.” Mom nodded, giving him the warmest glance he’d gotten all morning. Which Emily felt was only a little less frosty than the others.
Dad smiled as if he’d won the biggest prize of his life.
Parents were weird.
Somewhere in the back of the plane, a baby began to cry. Emily’s heart sank. Babies cried. It happened. But it was hard to deal with in a tin can. Hours could seem like days.
They didn’t know how long they would be on this plane, waiting . . .
She’d heard news reports of boarded passengers waiting for hours before their planes took off.
If the baby started fussy now . . . well, it wouldn’t be good for them.
The plane shook, then rolled backward, slamming to a stop.
Cries of panic erupted around Emily and her family. People jumped from their seats, some fumbling with overhead compartments in the low light, and others rushing for the exit.
The blonde flight attendant reappeared and grabbed the PA. Almost breathless, she announced, “Folks, please sit down and remain seated and keep your seatbelts fastened.”
“We want out!” a woman in the back yelled.
“The doors are shut. We need to let the captain do his job and get this plane running. Please! Sit down.”
The plane jerked again. One man, who had been standing in the aisle, tumbled to the floor.
Another helped him up. “Well, he doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job!” he said.
“We want out!” the woman yelled again.
“I’m sorry but I must repeat that the doors are shut. And for now, they are going to stay that way.” With that, the attendant ended the conversation and rushed away.
A deep hush settled over the passengers. Emily’s heart raced. The attendant’s empty words had seemed more a threat than a comfort. Emily suddenly felt trapped, like a twitching insect in a jar unable to escape.
Ice ran down her spine, adding to her growing unease. She couldn’t shake the overwhelming worry that they might never escape this metal coffin.
Continued . . .
Please remember this is a developing story and in a rawer state than what I publish. As such, it has only been self-edited and you will see some errors.
In addition, some changes may occur between now and publishing, including major storylines. I try to avoid this, but it sometimes happens.
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