The New Crown (in-progress)

Book 1: Detritus

Terminal Beginnings

• Looking up, I see the sign for my gate !. I walk to the far end and take a seat by the window looking inwards at the terminal.
• I bend over to grab my eBook reader from my carry-on to pass the time until my flight, but decide against it. There will be plenty of time to read on the plane.
• Looking out I see a large lineup for a terminal shop selling overpriced coffee. Deciding that I have nothing better to do at the moment, I grab my bag and head over to the line.
• After a few minutes in line, I notice that the young woman at the front is struggling to juggle her child and coffee on the floor while trying to simultaneously access her suitcase.
• After a few moments, I leave the line to approach her and offer to hold her coffee. She glances up from her awkward position and lights up, handing me her coffee cup.
• “Thank you!” she exclaims, proceeding to insert her wallet into one of the many pouches inside her bag. I patiently wait then hand her back her cup, wishing her a good flight.
• Feeling a little self-conscious (I’m not one to normally stick my neck out), I head to the back of the line again to get my own cup of caffeine.

• I head back to my little corner of the gate by the window (luckily still unoccupied), this time electing to grab my eBook reader.
• After a few minutes, I notice someone approaching me from the corner of my eye. I look up, and there she is, waiting for me to notice her presence. Cherry-blonde and radiating beauty.
• She tells me that she was ahead of me in the line and saw what I did. She thanked me for stepping in, saying that she was about to do the same thing.
• She tells me that her name is Katherine. I tell her mine.
• I notice she looks at me expectantly, lingering. I wonder if she wants me to invite her to join me. But that’s silly, I’m sure she just wanted to say thanks and then go back to her friends. After a moment’s hesitation she says that it was nice to meet me, then turns around to leave.
• I watch her as she heads towards the center of the gate’s seating, and takes a seat alone. Looks like I blew that one, but no real harm. It’s not like she would have been interested in me anyway. Back to my book.

• On the plane now, I see that the plane has three aisles. The outside isles are two-seaters, and the middle isle is 3. My seat is an aisle seat in the front-right of the plane, just before the wing. I only have my small carry-on, so I make sure I have my eBook reader and stow the bag in the above compartment before taking my seat.
• Looking out the window to my right, a voice from the aisle catches my attention. Katherine is standing there with a wide smile on her face, saying how it really is a small world and gesturing to the window seat next to me.
• I quickly stand up and hold out my hand for her. She takes it and I help her into her seat.
• Smiling wide myself, I laugh. She looks at me with a quizzical look. I tell her that I was actually offering to stow her bag, but I’m glad she made it safely to her seat.
• Turning a little red, she grabs some things out of her bag and then passes it over to me to stow above. Seeing her a little flustered like that makes my heart skip a beat.

Falling In Flight, Paper Airplanes

• It’s been a few hours into our flight now and Katherine and I are like the oldest of friends. It feels like we’ve known each other since we were little kids. You know how you have that friend that you used to be inseparable from, but the years pass? But when you finally see each other again, it’s like that massive temporal distance never was. We just “clicked”.
• She tells me that her aunt lives on the island and that she spent a lot of her summers there when she was younger. She even invites me to meet up with her and her island friends, if I want. I tell her that I’ve never been to the island before, that I recently sold my company and wanted to go somewhere far and nice to reset. It seems I’ve made the right choice.
• A stewardess comes down the aisle with the cart, and for what feels like the hundredth time, hits me in the shoulder as she passes. I’m far from what anyone would consider a large man, but I have broad shoulders that attract anything that moves in the narrow aisles.
• Taking pity on me, Katherine raises the armrest between us and tells me to slide in closer !.
• It’s funny how much this simple act breaks me. On one hand, I’m impressed, surprised, and grateful that she even noticed my discomfort. On the other hand, it’s not like we’re holding each other, but this is definitely not a situation that two strangers would normally find themselves in. This obviously means that she feels safe and comfortable around me, but is that just as a friend – that guy she met on a flight one time – or does she like me? Wait, this isn’t school; how old am I?
• A few minutes later, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom. Upon returning to my seat, I instinctively buckle up my seatbelt.
• Katherine notices, and looking almost a little disappointed, asks why I have my seatbelt on. Realizing that my stupidity makes it look like I wasn’t comfortable or even didn’t want to sit close to her, I lamely tell her that it was just instinct.

• Before I can start unbuckling again, everything changes.
• A large BANG followed by the worst sound I’ve ever heard pierces the air. The plane starts to buck, like a wild stallion in the air. And then the screams began.
• The plane begins to pitch down and rotate counterclockwise. Oh god, the NOISE. The air is a tornado, whipping sounds and loose items everywhere. It sounds like the shrieking of a banshee. I can hear the sound of the metal frame bending and twisting under the strain. The passengers scream, but I can’t hear them over everything else. I can’t breathe. I’m surrounded by air, and I cannot breathe.
• As the plane rotates, Katherine is suddenly above me holding onto her seat for dear life. She wasn’t wearing her seatbelt! She begins to slip, practically on top of me now. I reach out and grab her by the waste, using every ounce of strength and energy I have just to hold on. The plane is completely out of control, falling who knows how fast.
• I feel something moving behind me, but there’s no way for me to look. It feels as if something massive is sliding, scraping across the floor !. Something else hits me in the back of the head. Pain wracks me, but I can’t afford to pay attention to it. My focus is completely on holding on to Katherine.
• Now it feels almost as if the plane has been sling-shot forward. Moments later I realize what has happened. My end of the plane is no longer attached to the rest of the plane.
• Completely spiraling now and hurling towards sea level. I finally allow myself to wonder if this is it, my last moments alive. Still holding onto Katherine, and her facing me holding onto my seat, I focus my whole attention on her. But not even those hazel-green eyes can stop me from noticing people being whipped out into the void.
• I wonder how much time we have left. How much further there is to fall. I figure we’ve been falling for almost two minutes, but who really knows in all of this chaos.
• Call it ego, call it arrogance, but I’m not going to die.
• I try my best to pull Katherine in closer, but it’s too hard. So I yell, loudly as I can towards her ear. I ask her if she trusts me. I have no idea if she can even hear me, or what she would have said if she could, but I know doing nothing is a 100% guarantee of death. Doing what I’m about to do… well, still probably going to die – but probably is distinctly different than absolutely.
• I steadily move my right hand down towards my seat. A brief look of panic appears on Katherine’s face, but I don’t think she’s figured out what I’m about to do – I think it was just that she had less support keeping her close now. I unbuckle my belt and push forwards.
• Still holding onto each other, Katherine and I are sucked into the darkening sky. When you’re this high up and the ground is so uniform, it’s hard to tell distance.
• Approaching the water now, I let go of Katherine and straighten up to pencil dive into the ocean. It’s funny how at this moment my thought was that I’m glad to be wearing shoes.
• I think I let go a little too soon though. I’m gaining more speed and the water is still a way down.
• I pierce the water and plunge deep into its depths. How far down I am it’s hard to say. It’s hard at this moment to even know which way is up. I begin to swim to the surface, at least I hope I am. As I swim I notice that my right arm is weak and I’m not able to use it well. I hope it’s just dislocated and not broken.
• I’m approaching the surface now, but it’s still so far away. I’m not sure if I can make it, my lungs burning for air. After an eternity, I breach the surface and take my first full breath.

Jetsam

!

• Looking around, I start to panic. Where is Katherine? Is she OK? Did she even make it? Did I kill her?
• A few short moments later, a head appears above the waves a few meters away from me, golden hair shimmering in the now fading light. She made it! I begin to kick my legs and slowly swim towards her.
• I ask her if she’s injured. She says she doesn’t know and asks me in return. I tell her that other than my head pounding and my right arm being useless, I think I’m doing well, all things considered. I start to laugh; we survived!
• Looking around, we spot some random wreckage and debris we can try to use for buoyancy. We gather as much as we can and form a mini barge of sorts. Not enough to support someone’s full weight, but we can hold onto it to help keep us afloat.