5 Glimpse of hell

Her feet wandered until faced to her, a wooden door that stood firm. Before she could reach for the metal knocker, the door slowly opened, revealing the darkness within the house. The opening of the door were the only noise that echoed in the entrance. In the dark nothingness, was four glimmering, striking eyes looked through her. She stood frozen, her feet dug on the wooden floor and unable to move, as if the stares were draining her slowly, until there is none.

Lilith gasped rising her chest from the back of her seat.

“What’s happening? Hello?” she shouted, mocked by hearing her own voice as a response.

The plane’s lights were flickering. The plane was steady, it does not seem the plane is falling. She got up, grabbing the edges of the seat for safety. She walked out from the corner of her seat and began to wander around.

But the switching of lights made a terrifying ambiance. Her heartbeat was racing.

But she was tough, she was brave. She believed no superstition.

She would have though, if she had seen when,

The lights flickered on for a second, but only for a second, several heads filled those seats, and they were gone.

Her phone resting in her hands glistened red, it was shaky and static. Continuously showing the previous search – Tophet. The lights stopped dancing. Beside the red screen in her phone, there was a complete darkness.

Alone in the vast air vehicle, with no way out.

She knew she had to deal with this until the plane land. Her breathing was unsteady, every step was full of hesitation. Upon searching through the plane, she was totally alone. No one but hers.

Now her heart pounded hard, If the plane crashed and there was no one in the plane but her, nobody will ever know. The thought of death, coming to see her husband so soon, terrified her to the core.

But first, her situation was odd. She tried to rationalize everything, but her mind was filled with the aftermath of the plane crash—death.

One foot and another, she walked between the coupled seats, flashing the red screen on her way. She was heading for the crew room. The heavy door opened. It was spacious, but there was no single person.

Confirmed, she really is alone.

What about the pilots? Who drives the plane? What was that voice that welcomed her earlier in this damned plane? Was it only a recorder?

She hurried to the cockpit, and surprise, surprise! None.

The plane is moving, yet no pilots, there were two seats, yet empty. Her face was plastered in a quizzical look. A conundrum for her to solve, she sat in the right seat and pondered about the situation, the window before her was covered with clouds of ink. Clamoring of lightning, a bad weather.

Is this plane being controlled? Lilith placed her fingers under her chin. Her heart is starting to calm now.

Strange. Even if it is, there were no crew nor other passenger but her. She closed her eyes for a minute to ponder her situation. She tried to remember every detail she had gathered upon investigating the plane but come up with none, everything was too impossible to happen. From booking to riding-- the plane ticket price, missing crews, and passengers.

After coming up with nothing, she opened her eyes.

Several red handprint tainted the window before her, at a flash of lightning. She jolted and gasped from her seat and stood up, another lightning strike, and the prints were gone.

She leaned towards the window and traced her hand to the previous prints, she squints her eyes and sat once again.

Upon setting the belt, she turned to look at the window in front of her,

The plane decline, before her eyes shown a glimpse of hell. There were thin red-fleshed ‘people’, their mouths were widely open as if their jaw will fall out, some were held back by something hot, steaming, and thick—lava.

One crawled out to reach for her.

Her eyes were glued on the scenery, as if there were hands holding her lids wide, like forcing her to witness everything. She wanted to move, but her body would not listen to her command, she stayed seated and frozen.

Perhaps seating there was the thing she regretted or strapping her belt tight.

But then, it was the intuition she could have listened to her guts. That one moment of hesitation, stepping in the plane, was one step away from this hellish experience.

She would not have dared to book in this plane, everything was suspicious starting from the plane name—Flytophet.

Then a realization hit her.

Though her lips did not move, she shouted in her mind “Flytophet!”

It slowly disappeared, the hands that held her eyes open. The screaming of these tormented, melted people were fading away. Her eyes could finally blink.

She unstrapped her belt and arose from the seat. She looked at her phone’s red screen, still with the previous search ‘tophet’

[Tophet- a term for hell]

“Haa,” Lilith sighed “Flytophet huh. You mean, ride to hell?” She tapped her forehead quite harshly with her palm.

She exited the search bar and her phone screen turned back to normal. She blinked and turned back to where she originally sat, it was packed with people now.

The attendant was demonstrating in the front, people were seated. As if it was all a dream, that it did not happen. A nightmare.

The noise was unconsciously blocked by her ears as she looked through her phone and the plane, it was identical to her dream. She turned to look at the man that sat beside her.

“Excuse me, do you know the name of this plane?”

“Airpazz?” he informed her and was preparing for a nap.

“I see, thank you” Lilith felt relieved.

Her right hand held the phone and shut it down. Between her fingers were the keys, aligned of it was the mortice key. She sighed and looked through the window. Over the course of 23-hours flight, she did not dare sleep, fearing the nightmare might occur again.

She stayed awake, lost in thought, gazing through the window.