Chapter Ten: Diane

My eyes are shut. I hear sparks and the wind. Where am I? I don't want to open my eyes out of fear. Just open your eyes Diane. Maybe you're in Heaven. I haven't thought about it before, but I sure do now. I take a peek and know it isn't the case.

The seat in front of me has pieces of shrapnel in it. I feel something wet on my forehead and gingerly touch it. I look at my hand. Is that some of Gracie's sauce from her sandwich? Why do I have two hands? I shake my head to clear the ringing in my ears and look again. That's not sauce, it's blood.

I gag at the thought. I'm bleeding. I don't hear anything. My ears are still ringing. But I can see, so I look around more.

Gracie and Tina, my two closest friends are still next to me. Tina is cut in multiple places, but not enough to have killed her. She died from lack of oxygen. She's dead. Wha-

Gracie still has her mask on, but it's coated in a brownish goo. She was hit by a bigger piece of metal and blood was mixed with the puke. I can barely take how much blood there is.

The people in front and behind me are all dead. I don't seem to have a whole lot of blood on me, except my forehead and my side. After testing it for injuries, I realize it isn't mine. The red liquid coating my top; it's Gracie's.

I feel my airplane lunch and Pepsi come up. I bend over and throw up all over the floor in front of my seat. My shoes got some on it, too. I gag at the taste and feeling of the concoction and throw up the rest.

"H-hello?" I hear someone ask quietly. It sounds like it came from behind me. Someone's here!

"Over here." I try to say. But my throat is sore so I barely make a sound. I vaguely remember screaming at Gracie.

The person moves toward me. It's a girl. I would have thrown up again at the sight of her. She's covered in blood, lots.

"Do you need help getting out of that?" She says, pointing to my lap. I look down and see I was still buckled in. I jerk at it, but it doesn't budge. I look up at her and nod. My voice won't cooperate.

She bends over Gracie and Tina and tugs at my seatbelt. When she finally gets me free, I try to stand up. But I'm overcome with dizziness and stop. She helps. I whimper from the amount of dizziness I feel, but I push through it. As I stand, I slightly slip on the mess on the floor. She groans from the effort to keep me up.

She gets me away from my deceased friends and puts my weight on her. She's limping and her shoulder is sticky. There's a hole in the plane where it broke apart. She stops at the edge. It's a big drop from my point of view.

"You go first, I'm going to look for survivors. Stay at the bottom." She says. I was going to object, but she was already squatting to help me down. I ease my way over the edge and drop about a foot. She makes sure I'm okay, then leaves.

I sit down on a rock. The world is spinning. I close my eyes and try to stop it. I shift my weight so I'm not on the rock, but on the dirt. I hope she finds survivors. I start thinking of Tina and Gracie. I start crying when their memory reminds me of home, home reminds me of my family, my mother in particular. I could use one of her tight hugs right about now.

I look myself over, trying to ignore Gracie's blood. I have a few bruises. The seatbelt made a mark on my torso. Nothing severe or fatal. I'm okay, I'm okay.

The girl comes back. I look up at her. She shakes her head, no one else made it. She comes down to me, falls, and looks at her foot. Then she sits next to me.

"What's your name?" She asks. She's still quiet. Maybe she was screaming, too.

"Diane." I reply, managing to say something. I don't know if she heard me. The whole thing comes down on top of me. I must have had something still in my stomach, because I puke again to my right.

Author's Note

My chapter.