chapter 1

The family sat fiddling with their phones "hey everyone smile" an 18-year-old in casual clothes ran to the group "why are we doing this now" the camera snapped as his 16-year-old cousin asked "because now we're all together like grandpa wanted" they were spending Christmas break in New York with their grandparents. He showed the family the template he was going to use and the pictures that were taken within 30 seconds "gate 34 is boarding" he quickly closed his computer and put the camera away "Aiden boarding pass" he closed his phone running back to grab the pass from his mom "thank you and Kayley's coming on tomorrows plane" she was off spending this time with her parents so Aiden's family was going on the plane first. The group made sure they had the room "here sit still" his aunts and uncles put down the little ones for the movies while he let the family decide on one picture together deleting the rest, the plane took off and half the people were asleep. Aiden was the first to get up and grab his 2-month-old niece after his 24-year-old cousin started complaining about the cries "you're the one that got knocked up" he bounced the baby on his lap grabbing toys from the bag "who's my beautiful, little niece" she started to laugh and yawn at his silly voice. His cousin wasn't even excited about being a parent so the two got into an argument ending with her refusing to take her daughter back "ok fine, I'll take her" everyone else ignored them yelling across seats like they were a crazy couple. Aiden held her tight as he fell asleep staring out the window waking up to turbulence afraid to wake the baby "it's getting worse" he saw the fan looking a little wobbly and alerted the flight attendant "here's your keys angel" he shook plastic multi in her face wrapping her In blankets and stuffed animal cushioning just in case she bumped into the steel. The plane was about 2 hours from landing when the wing started coming loose "um is that normal, I usually have the window closed" the flight attendant assured him it was fine because he was the only one freaking out.

He held the swaddled baby trying to be careful looking back at her mother kassy "don't worry luna, you got me" he kissed her forehead when in a split second people started staring at the right-wing almost detaching from the body "ladies and gentlemen we seem to be having some trouble, there will be an emergency landing" Aiden raised his brows and shut the covering. Aiden could feel that was about to happen he started fashioning something small enough for a baby just in case "tried to warn you" he tried to pull the cover to the breather off "sir even though we're falling that's still inappropriate" he reached his arm up and punched it open covering luna's ears "I was a boy scout fuck you" at that moment a huge jagged hole was blown through the cabin "I'll be right back" he was holding onto the handle with luna strapped to his chest making sure she wasn't facing anything dangerous as he glided to where they keep the parachutes taking one more lookout as he was pressed against the wall. In the short time, it took him to get to a safe area every person in the cabin were gone "well I guess it's just us" the remaining pilot was too busy trying to keep the plane up to notice he was taking the pack and slip out "ready to go" he was blown back into the metal edge almost completely exposing his spine. He managed to roll-off the edge holding back a heavy wail in pain continuously assuring luna they'll make it as several tiny pieces embedded in his skin leaving almost invisible scars "this is gonna hurt me more than it will you" he covered the baby with his chest landing backward with the cloth protecting his wound from the dirt, grass, and debris before seeing the front of the plane nose-diving to the ground. Aiden used whatever speed he had held the child he wanted to protect not noticing the two massive cuts on his left leg dripping with blood every step only to drop again a few feet away from the tip of the plane.

He popped in and out only seeing a bright light and hearing muffled voices almost panicked "he's losing a lot of blood" he knew his body move but couldn't feel it as they pressed on his chest, Aiden woke up to the sun on his face unaware of the time or date. His right arm had third-degree burns on it and it hurt to move "careful sir, you've only been out of surgery for ten minutes" he flipped on the television showing the gruesome sight and showing pictures of the deceased "what a great reminder" he tryed chunking the remote but ended up hitting himself in the face. His grandparents came into the room after announcing themselves "do you have luna" he attempted to jump up pulling out the iv "no but we're working on it" the nurse came in settling him back down. They eventually let him stay as long as needed "flight 268 had only 5 survivors and one none other than a young baby and another just lucky to be alive" the interviewer talked with Aiden's doctor going over every injury until getting to the extensive amount of surgeries they did to save him "is Mr. Adien well enough to tell how he survived" he leads him to the room pulling him to sit up kindly asking to be nice this gave them good publicity. Aiden told his side of the story being one of the five survivors that could still sit up and wasn't paralyzed "now he's got to rest" his grandparents came in strolling a mystery child "guess who we have" they picked luna out of it watching the smile spread across his face "my beautiful girly" he was almost in tears and in no time she was falling asleep in his arms again.

Aiden's grandparents brought in a bassinet for luna to stay with the one guy that acted as her father whenever he was finally able to walk even with a big limp "hello professor" he giggled rocking her to sleep "I called to make sure you're ok and to see if you needed schoolin' help" his professor came from a southern state and had a thick southern accent "sir im fine and ill call if I need anything" he just calmly told him not to worry, he stayed under hospital care for 6 more weeks according to the number of injuries then spent time in an old room with a cast and careful movements doing his online schooling and working to get luna in his custody with the help of his grandparents "were just too old to start over and we've seen how you are with her" during his downtime he would sometimes fall asleep on the floor in the middle of playing but woke up after having a quick baby slap to the cheek. Aiden never slept too good, to begin with, but now with PTSD and child care, he got maybe an hour of sleep a night learning to live off that. He was getting his doctorate from the beginning but it was so much more now as he worried about everyone back home too afraid to see the house and old room. His friends at home that had keys would go over and clean once a week sending pictures to him after seeing the interview "hey Aiden, I hope you start feeling better soon" his brain was just focused on how the other side of the family was taking it, it was going on 2 months since the accident happened and his grandparents sued the airport leaving him the money from it.

After a few months, he finished school and was trying to sell his childhood home and get a job in the meantime. He retrieved what he wanted from the home to put in the new apartment not too far from his grandparents. He ended up getting a job as a doctor at the same hospital he was in and had custody of his niece in a good-sized two-bedroom apartment figuring he doesn't sleep too much anyway. Luna was ten now and saw adien as her father "daddy I found this who are they" she ran into his room as he sleep "yes sweety that's wonderful" he rolled over still half asleep without looking at what she was holding "but dad that looks like you" he jumped up accidentally snatching the picture "where did you find this" he felt terrible looking back on that day "in the drawer in the hall" he just called it an old picture and saved it for a special album whenever he thought she was old enough to know. Once he got home from dropping her off at school he pulled out a secret album labeled 'how my life changed' moving a few pictures around to put them in order of how it happened from the airport, the crash site, and the parachute with a lifeless looking face sticking out and a pile of blankets on his chest to the pictures of the hospital, his injuries, and recovery. The pictures were taken by the investigators and his grandparents mostly used for the lawsuit years back, even to this day he tried extra hard to not show his limp not wanting questions from luna.