To The Surviving Future

The Flight

There were 10 of us that day.. On the plane; coming back to Qudrish after studying 10 months in Erham.
Completing the first year of med school really bought us down to earth; both me and Zohra. But now we were back in Qudrish ready to enjoy our summer vacations beside the beach.
I close my eyes imagining the warm sun and cool shallow waters, where we would often go in groups. Usually four families would together drive to the beach. We would take floaties and simply lay on them in the water enjoying the light waves crashing and pushing us around. We would stay in the shallow side which had clear sands just to sit or kneel in the waters cause only a few dads knew how to really swim. As I would remain lazing on my floaty I would ask my sister to pull me around. Sometimes though I would get unlucky and have a guy try to steer my floaty. One of them in particular Wajid; notorious and never respected anybody's boundaries.
I wouldn't have had such enimity for him if he were acting age appropriate. His brother Wahab on the other hand was younger than me but a very respectful guy. He was never troublesome and the type of friend I would enjoy going to the beach and making fun of.
I initially hated going into the waters. The sharp stones and salty water only scared me more. My good glasses were the icing to that cake. Only those who have a weak eyesight as bad as mine will know the pain of trying to roam around without glasses. Later on I figured I will simple wear my glasses into the waters and not dive in; I also realized there were less pointy stones when I went further away into the water which also was so much more pleasant.
Oh how much I wish to have those days back.
And suddenly I was shook awake by Zohra, our food for the flight was here.
At this point Zohra pointed out something I had failed to notice we had only one flight attendant. It was weird as even flights smaller than our would have at least 2-3. I tried reasoning with Zohra "Maybe cause we are a few passengers"
Zohra seemed to nod trying agree "Hmm..but Iqra we are all students so wouldn't it be safer to keep 2 attendants. Plus I also noticed the attendant mention us having only one pilot which sounds like it could be an offense against law"
I simply brushed all claims saying how they probably forgot about this flight and assigned the pilot and attendant in a rush.
That seemed to have given Zohra reassurance, but deep down we both knew something wasn't right.
I then mentioned how my parents booked my ticket all of a sudden and informed me only through texts. "I haven't been able to call them since last week. We only are communicating through texts"
Zohra seemed surprised as she admitted she wasn't able to call her parents either and had gone through a similar booking process.
I tried making the excuse " Maybe they are just busy"
"Or maybe the service towers in Qudrish are having an issue"
Me and Zohra stared at each other a bit uneasy as we looked back at the one who made this comment. " You havents been able to call your parents either?" I asked still in disbelief
"No. And it seems the last I talked to my parents was the week before the
Last. My dad just simply texted me last week saying my tickets booked for today and he expects me to be on time"
"That's a bit cold don't you think" Zohra emphasized "What's your name by the way and which course were you in?"
"I am Riaz. I was in medicine aswell though I don't think we were in the same university" Riaz replied
"Ohh so what year were you in?" Zohra started interviewing him
"First. What about you guys?" Riaz asked to which replied the same.
At that point the air hostess had picked up our trays and we asked her why she wasn't accompanied by any other attendants but she brushed us off and went about her work.
Around 20 minutes later we were given the signal to fasten our seatbelts and prepare for landing.
"Alhamdullilah we landed safely" I said while stretching." Who's coming to pick you both up?"
"I will probably book a ride home" Riaz answered
" I will need to text and ask my parents if they will come. What about you?" Zohra asked
"I will aswell need to ask mine, they will probably ask an uncle to pick me up if they are busy" I replied.