3 2

2:30PM

Emily woke up from a dreamless nap and sleepily looked around. Emily was such a heavy sleeper that she did not even feel the heavy turbulence that occurred in the first thirty minutes of the flight that even made the flight attendants nervous.

She called the attention of one of them and asked if she can have a meal from the in-flight menu, she chose chicken when she was asked. She looked at the seat right next to her and the package was nowhere to be found. Panicking she looked under the seat, it wasn't there. She then stood up and walked around as it might have rolled off somewhere. It was cylindrical, the shape of a large wheel of cheese. She walked down the other end of the plane disturbing some passengers as she apologised as she was looking for her package. Emily then walked back to the other end of the aisle towards where the flight attendants were stationed and near the toilets.

She pulled back the curtain of the galley and looked around. There was the flight attendant she asked for a meal from, unconscious and lying on the floor with her eyes wide open as if in shock. Next to her was the package that she was supposedly not to leave her sight with the sealed opened and the contents nowhere to be found. Emily screamed. She shouted if there was a doctor on board. A man she thought was a businessman but identified humself as a doctor, rushed over and checked the flight attendant, he checked her pulse and said that she was unconscious but barely breathing. Most of the passengers who rushed and created a small huddle by the curtains of the galley gasped in shock and wondered what could have happened. Already they were going back to their seats and murmuring thus spreading the news of the non-responsive flight attendant. It was a small plane and the remaining flight attendant went to the captain of the plane to report what happened. When she came back, Emily and the other passengers were in their seats and the flight attendant over the PA system informed them that they would need to land prematurely to the nearest airport an hour away to have her colleague receive medical attention. She apologized that this would further delay their flight to Atlanta and asked for their patience.

This news was received with mixed feelings, especially from the businessmen as they were going to be late for their respective meetings. Emily was still in shock as she tried to convince herself that what had happened was unrelated to her package. The package was now next to her and she examined on how it was opened. She noticed that the container was not cold anymore, the motor that had held the inner parts of the container had died. Upon close inspection the container was a small cooler and the seal was cleanly pried off. Emily did not have a moment to get a second thought however as there was another scream that came from the front of the plane.

The flight attendant who was unconscious before was now in the middle of the plane standing awkwardly with her knees pointed inwardly and her head bent backward. Her arms were longer and thin as if stretched out and it was more terrible that her skin was turning black and blue all over her body. Her colleague who was standing behind her called out her name, "Alice?"

Alice, or the grotesque bent, version of her walked towards her. Noone spoke, the plane was quiet and only the rasp and rapid breathing from the thing that was not Alice anymore resounded throughout the plane. Emily saw that the other passengers were sitting dumbfounded in their seats, in shock at the sight before them. Emily came to the realization that the reason why it was too quiet was because the plane's engines could not be heard. She watched in horror as the thing finally came face to face with the flight attendant. The alien thing let out a terrible scream, almost a desperate cry for help as its non-human arms reached out for the woman just as the plane dipped forward, free-falling towards earth. Emily watches in horror as the clouds break to reveal fields and open spaces through one of the windows and the other passengers panicked cries for help, crying for the captain, crying for each other, crying at God, clutching their loved ones or just those near them as they near their death.