29D

something to think about

Johnny sat in the rather comfortable chair at gate C18 in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, seething, and gazing at the airline employee behind the counter some twentyfive feet away with a comtemptuous glare.

 

Contemplating the rather flippant way the middle aged man dismissed him as if he were some crazy man.  The question was a legitament one in Johnny's mind.  He had asked if there had been a Catholic priest that went through the locked door that led through the gateway to the door of the plane, to give the pilots and his crew last rights before takeoff.  Johnny could swear he saw the man go through that door.

 

Looking blindly at the half empty cup of overpriced colored water that was passed off as coffee, and caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the white collared phantom wandering through the travelers blessing their souls to eternity.

 

Johnny jerked his head to the right, half turning in his seat, only to see his fellow passengers struggling to their feet with oversized carryons in their hands and talking into cell phones before takeoff.

 

Feeling uneasy, he looked down at his ticket, something didnt feel right, beads of sweat started forming on his brow.  Seat 29D, an isle seat on this particular model and make of plane.  Would that be his final place of death?

 

Being startled out of his revery by the appearance of someone familiar sitting next to him on his left. 

 

"Gabe?  What are  you doing here?"

 

"Keeping you company."  The voice was full of even concern.

 

Gabe was a giant of a man, a musician Johnny had met some time back in the hospital when his heart had gone wild and he had a bunch of tests to tell him to slow down and take inventory of his life.  Currantly the man was taking a very new looking instrument apart and cleaning it.

 

"You on this flight?"

 

Gabe didn't take his eyes off the task his was doing, " I'm with you man."

 

"Oh."  The gate area was beginning to fill up as the preboarding process was coming to a head.

 

Feeling anxiety rise the beating of his heart Johnny gets up and starts to go toward the way he had come to the car rental area.  He looked back and didnt see Gabe get up, but felt him next to him on the his other side.

 

 

 

Driving just outside of Portland Oregon, heading south, Johhny looked sullen as there was breaking news interupting Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven.

 

"North and south bound lanes of Interstate 5 are being closed at the California Oregon border as we speak," you could hear the rotation of blades from the news channel's helicopter apparently overhead,  " There has been a major airline crash across the Interstate highway.  As we are getting word that it is Alaskan Airlines flight 526 out of Seattle Washington.  We also are hearing that the flight was a full flight save one seat, and all passengers have perrished."

 

Johnny pulls over to the side of the highway, pulling out his ticket, he looks closely at the flight number.  526.  He jumps out of the rental and goes the the far side, losing the colored water coffee on the ground, making retching sounds.

 

Looking back in the car he looks in the eyes of Gabe, tears streaming down his shocked face.  Johnny falls to his knees. Remembering a prayer he heard as a kid.

 

"Dear Jesus,  please forgive me.  Come into my heart and cleanse my rotten soul.  Be Lord of my life and let me live the life you want me to live, let me be like you."  Sobbing shakes his body as he looks back to Gabe who is now standing next to him and smiling.

 

"Now you're ready," Gabe whispers, putting his trumpet to his mouth and blowing into it.

 

In the twinkling of an eye, Johnny was gone, leaving a running car and a pile of clothes next to it, with a bumper sticker that read " IN CASE OF RAPTURE THIS CAR WILL BE UNMANNED ".

 

And another song being heard throughout the earth, " ...I wish we'd all been ready..."

 

  Not the end, just the beginning

Author's Note

Please excuse errors, just had to get this down before I lost it. Note this flight crash was fictional as I was on it. As for the rest, still waiting.

Reviews

[Mashairi]

Wow, amazing. I love this short story, especially the twist at the end. Well done :)

[Elizabeth]

Chills... I just got chills. This is beautiful and haunting. I loved the twist with "Gabe" and the bumper sticker was priceless. Definitely going in my favorites.

[darkgurl]

We all wish we could be prepared. We wish we knew our last destination. Oh but we don't. That is why we should live each day like there is no tomorrow. You ask if I am really a believer? YES! I believe in God and in angels. Wonderful story.

[Cherry Blossom]

Yes it makes You think for sure amazing story that I will never forget scarry for sure angles watching over us for sure

[Sara Mercury]

currantly, should be "currently."

WOW. This seems like part of that series I own called, "Left Behind." I once spoke out on this, but people began to think me some kind of derranged, Bible quoting, doomsday prophet. That's what they're making us all out to be. So I approach it all very differently now. Oddly, you speak of a "Johnny" in this. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.