Kathleen reached out reflectively, grabbed the woman that was almost flung against her seat, held her tightly against her chest and tried to calm her down.
She bent down only to discover that the lady had passed out.
At the cockpit, the captain tried manoeuvering the speed of the aircraft. He quickly turned on the ignition but it was unfortunately too late as the engine was already flaming out.
The next few minutes seemed like hell.
The plane started rattling and cries of passengers rang out throughout the entire plane. It was heart rending.
The closest airport was still far away and the pilot feared they might not make it there, so he veered off the main course towards the Caribbean, which was the closest place to land. Spotting an island in sight, he prepared for an emergency landing. He knew their survival now depended on his wise judgement from years of flying experience and divine intervention as he had completely lost signal and was unable to communicate with the air traffic control.
The intercom buzzed again, "This is the captain. Please everyone, hold on tight. we'll have to make an emergency landing right away."
About ten minutes afterwards, the plane hit down with a loud bang.
The noise was so loud that it sounded like a rumbling earthquake.
The hard impact threw everyone forward.
The front of the plane was fiercely ripped away from the body as it bounced across the rocky earth.
When the plane finally came to a stop, there was almost total silence save for the sound of the rotating propeller until it came to a gradual stop. The wailing, screaming, and crying that was audible throughout the aircraft appeared to have also stopped.
Kathleen blanked out and was plunged into complete darkness.
Few minutes later, Kathleen slowly regained consciousness and felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
She also felt a bit lightheaded, so she lay down to stabilize herself. After a while, she felt better and the pain in her stomach gradually subsided.
She opened her eyes gradually and studied her surroundings. She found out she was under a pile of debris and tried climbing out but something pressed down heavily on her left arm.
With great effort she was able to extricate her arm from the weight, cleared away some of the debris and crawled out.
Rising to her feet, she looked around and saw from a distance of about 100 meters that the front part of the plane was already on fire.
There were few dead bodies, Some other passengers were trapped underneath the plane wreckage that covered the area. Some had survived with far worse injuries and were bleeding profusely compared to herself that had few cuts and scratches. They might have been smashed against the jagged edges that broke off from the plane during landing.
'These are the same people who had been chattering excitedly as they boarded the aircraft in anticipation of seeing their loved ones. What an awful fate?' she lamented.
She suddenly came to the realization that there truly was a thin line between life and death and one has to treasure each moment one has to live. There was no distinction between rich and poor, social class, gender or age when it comes to death. What matters was what one does with the time and life they have to live.
At this point she completely forgot about her personal injuries and the slight pain in her stomach.
She was naturally inclined to help and would never look away from someone suffering if she could help, so she started working right away to see how many injured people she could pull out of the rubble.
Suddenly she heard a slight groan coming a little from her left.
Slowly turning around to see what it could be, she was met with a gruesome sight and got so shocked that she nearly passed out.
She opened her mouth to scream but no words came out.
She found it difficult to accept that the young girl that sat next to her on the plane had been pierced through with one of the shards from the aircraft.
Blood was dripping out of her body and mouth, there was no doubt she was already dead.
It was just like a horrifying scene in a horror movie.
She was yet to recover from the terror that gripped her heart when she heard the groan again but this time, louder.
Although she was trembling with fear, she summoned courage and turned to the direction of the sound.
An unknown force seemed to be pulling her towards whoever was making the sound.
Cautiously, she inched closer and saw someone apparently a woman lying on her sides but was unable to move.
She slowly turned her over. It was the lady whose boarding pass she had found and also saved from hitting against her seat earlier on before the plane crashed. They must have been separated from each other during the terrible crash as she remembered holding her close.
Something seemed to snap in her mind. It was a strange but painful sensation that tugged at her heartstrings.
She didn't know why, but felt she needed to ensure the lady stayed alive.
Kathleen pulled her out carefully from the rubbles; she was severely injured on her right leg but thankfully, nothing seemed to have happened to other parts of her body.
"How do you feel?" Kathleen inquired, still holding unto her, concern written all over her face.
"Ah.. ah…mmm.. " groaned the lady even more.
" I.. I ...feel sore. all.. over," she faintly squeezed out as she gradually opened her eyes.
She squinted slightly from the bright sunlight as she eventually opened her eyes.
"Stacy, is that really you?" The lady asked, her eyes narrowing in disbelief.
"Huh…?" Kathleen's eyebrows raised questioningly.
"Those eyes….." the lady mumbled, "they appear so familiar"
Kathleen could sense that the lady was a bit delirious.
"Where…. am I, …. and what happened?" The lady asked, frowning,
"We just survived a plane crash Ma'am," Kathleen responded softly.
"Plane crash, plane.. huhhhh!!!" She gasped as realization dawned on her.
"Am I really alive? How come? But…."