Day 1

Dec 31st 09:59 AM

The plane rattled for a moment as it dropped a bit unexpectedly and a quick gasp of panic filled the aircraft but not as much panic as one sleeping passenger who suddenly woke with an obnoxious shout like he was about to die.

That passenger was me and unfortunately I was delayed on my startled wake. Delayed enough that now that I was looking around at the already settled cabin they seemed more alarmed with the nose I made than the unexpected rattle that didn't even cause any emergency precautions to go off.

Of course this is what I get for staying up all night playing a dark, spooky game knowing I'll end up sleeping on a plane. Though the worst I thought I would do is snore a little too loud but this was more embarrassing than that.

"Dude, it's just turbulence" The man beside me claimed.

Looking over I could only narrow my brow to him, because he wasn't a stranger. This man was Toad, not his real name but he was a fellow gamer and close friend. His gamer name was ToadLord700 and the Toad stuck for short. His real name was Dimitri Smith, he was the sporty type who ended up being a real big nerd out of the locker room. He's a little younger than me, only twenty two, however he's basically the same size as me and honestly everyone thinks I am younger so I don't ever mention our small age difference.

We don't live in the same area, he lives in Dallas and I live about an hour south from him. We played in the same league together for a while before we learned we live close to each other. So every once in a while I'll go out my way to do something with him in Dallas.

"Dude, I was asleep" I retorted, thinking this should be obvious, of course I wouldn't have reacted this way while I was awake.

Toad shrugged, "What ever, we're about to land soon anyways. It's probably because we're descending." He responds trying to reason for the rattle of the plane as he looked back down at his handheld console.

"Oh so you're a flight expert now?" I mocked him while sitting up and stretching out my arms, trying not to invade any other passenger's space except Toad's. Even though it didn't look like it, I was a bit on the tall side even though I wasn't very fit, my arms could easily reach into someone's face by mistake.

"Man- tsk quit it" Toad hissed, pushing my hand away.

I chuckled lightly, taking the blanket from my stomach, leaning over I placed it on the floor between my legs. I remained crunched forward brushing my hands through shaggy brown hair as I tried to adjust to being awake. Giving a groan I looked over to what Toad was playing. A plane simulation game, of course. "How are you playing that?" I questioned.

"It's not online," He responds a bit half focused seeing as he was trying to land.

I watched for a little bit even though I wasn't too interested in those kinds of games. I was still curious if he could pull off the landing. With a gasp from him I looked up and could see the panic on his face though I didn't know what this meant by the time I looked back to the screen the plane was in the middle of crashing. Now I see that he must have known he wasn't going to make it before it even landed.

Looking at the plane that was on fire I shook my head and sat up straight in the seat, "Ugh, you make me uncomfortable flying with you" I picked while looking around at the rest of the passengers on the plane.

A flight at six in the morning had a lot of people napping on the trip. They were either not morning people or they were just getting in the rest they would need now to stay up till midnight. Either way it was going to be a long day for everyone.

"Hey," Toad called out to me as I felt a tapping on my shoulder, "See if you can do better," he challenged knowing I wouldn't even if I tried. However there was always the chance that I could get lucky and land the thing the right way and get to gloat.

I grin holding out my hand, "Give it here" I demand. Only as he passes it to me the game glitches for a moment then begins to restart, "Weird," as soon as I mutter this the plane leans far to the left making a groaning sound as the engines sputter to turn back on.

Everyone braced and this time I'm not the only one to shout. However, that wasn't something I was proud of at that moment. I don't know why but me and Toad reach out and hold our hands on each other's chest pushing us against the seat as if that's going to change anything if we actually make an impact. The emergency gear is going off as the drifting to the left begins to descend down. Fear finally sets in as the realization that the engines hadn't kicked back on and we were already closer to the ground because we were going to be landing soon.

I looked over to Toad to see out the window past him, I don't know why but the thought of knowing how close we were was something I wanted to see. While I watched the ground getting closer there was a bright blue flare along the horizon line followed by yet another push against the plane tilting it to the left once more. Only this time the engines kick back on and slowly but surely the plane readjusts itself.

There's an announcement to come on and they tell us everything is fine now but even in their voice they didn't sound convincing. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, mentally I was not prepared for there to be an actual drop.

"What was that?" Toad questioned looking past me to the stewardess who was holding onto the seat on the other side of the aisle.

"I… I really don't know. Just keep your seat belts on until we land." She claimed while walking towards the head of the plane to meet with another stewardess.

"The least you could lie" Toad grumbled because of her response. Somehow the idea of the people working the plane not knowing what was going on upset him more than if they knew. It bothers me either way.

"You wouldn't have believed the lie anyways" I mumbled in response, opening my eyes again I looked up to the woman and then back to Toad. "Did you see that flare before the plane moved the second time?" I questioned wondering if he had seen what I saw or if I was losing it in what I thought were my final moments.

"What?" Toad responds clearly confused by my question.

"Never mind" I groan knowing it didn't matter I just wanted the plane to land