Class Act (Book 1)

Act 10

"Matt, what I'm about to tell you is so incredibly hard for me. The detail is gross, and it kills me to explain what happened. And-" 

"Justin, it's okay. Look, the only reason I'm asking is because legally, my parents are now your guardians, because your father left you and Sammy, but they're not adopting you. Make sense? We need to know everything so we know what to do from here on out. Okay?" I looked up at Matt. He was something, I knew I could trust him, it was what I was about to tell him I wasn't trusting. But I told him anyway. "I'm all ears, bro."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "I believe we left Auckland on October 12, which was five weeks ago I believe.  I remember sitting down at the Starbucks, which was just outside the gait to the plane. We were delayed nine hours, and my mum and I wanted to catch an earlier flight. She called my dad and was telling him what we were gonna do, but he insisted on us staying the flight we were booked on. So we waited. I was happy because I didn't want to move in the first place, so maybe we just wouldn't leave. But I hated airports and airplanes, so I wanted to get the hell out of there.

Around two in the afternoon, we finally boarded the plane, and forty-five minutes later we took off. All was good, there was some turbulance here and there but that's normal. About twenty hours into the flight, something felt off. I knew we still had two hours left, but you could feel the plance become different. I don't know how else to explain it other than that. Then, I started to smell something that smelled like it was burning. I let it go, only because I thought it was food that was just over cooking. But it wasn't. All of the sudden there was a loud bang sound and imediatly the plane pitched down. It would go down, then it would climb back up, and down again, and up again. I looked over at my mum and could tell she was worried. I looked around the cabin and every passenger had the same terrified look on their face. I plugged my head phone back in and turned my music all the way up, hoping that I could drown out the worried words and thoughts that were spreading around.

About twenty minutes later, the plane pitched forward again, but this time it didn't stop. It just kept going, and going, and going. I must've been asleep because I remember being startled by the forward motion, and this awkful grinding noise and smokey smell. I also remember looking over to my mum and asking what was going on, and what do I do. She said 'the plane is crashing, J. You fell asleep and the pilot came on and said both the engines had failed, and we were crashing.' I know I was speechles, because I knew we were all gonna die. I asked her what I should do, and she said 'hold my hand.' I grabbed her hand and told her that I loved her, and she told me the same back. You know how they say when you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes?" Matt shook his head.

"I remember seeing everything. All my birthdays, my friends, school, vacations, pets, family. This went on for four or five minutes, and finally, there was that God awful sound of metal shattering into the earth and this horrible, unforgiving darkness." 

"Oh my God. The newspapers lied. It was a plane crash, and just outside New York City too." Matt sounded like he was in some sort of state of mind, as if someone had broken the news that his friends house had caught on fire.

"Wait, what did the papers say?"  I asked. How could the papers had lied? It's not that hard to miss a giant hunk of metal fall flaming out of the sky. 

"From what I heard, you were in some sort of boat accident.." Matt's voice trailed off.

"What!? That's absurd! Why would they lie? I mean, a plane crash is a place crash, nothing else. Besides, we didn't even land in or near any water." 

"What ever, I'll look into it more in a little bit. Just finish telling me your story." 

"Okay, but first, can we eat something? I feel like I haven't eaten in days."

"Sure, and that's because you haven't!" Matt smirked as he walked off to get a nurse to bring me my food. Although the hospital food  was repulsive, I was starving and ready to eat nearly anything.