Saving Tin Man (#Wattys2014)

Chapter EIGHT

Another annoying note from me before you start reading. :)

Thank you to everyone who reads this and comments and votes, because without you I would still be staring at chapter one and thinking no one likes it. (I'd have Tin Man all to myself but he does like to get out and do things.) Thus, you make this story happen so a million kudos to you. Yes you, the person reading this sentence. *points finger through screen and boinks you on the nose.*

After you read this chapter you are going to kill me. I know it and soon you will want to. Please reach through the screen and strangle me with comments and punch your fist on the vote button. HAHA

That is, if you aren't so badly wracked with sobs that.... I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I?

Am I rambling?

Am I annoying you because your reading this crap and not the wonderful story below it?

hehehehehe

I've held you prisoner long enough with my words. I release you!

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Chapter Eight

Lightning. From the ground it's a powerful display of electrifying bolts, randomly zipping down as if Zeus is up in the heavens throwing them around like miscellaneous socks from an overflowing sock drawer. They are such pretty, little fireworks to light up the night sky. Back home, I'd often stare at them through my window. They were something dangerous that I could look at but never touch. It seems like I'd always had a thing for dangerous objects.

But suspended midair, crammed into a confined space with a drunk pilot singing "Under the Sea" from the Little Mermaid movie, they are terrifying. Gravity grabs at the plane and throws it from side to side, we sometimes free fall before lurching back up to barely avoid the sparks of lightning that are trying to chase the little plane out of the sky. One strike and we are all toast, the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I feel the goose bumps on my arms as a bolt forks out to the left of the plane, followed by the crack of thunder that threatens to blow out my eardrums.

There isn't any light in the cab except a faint glow coming from a few gauges on the dash. A sudden gust of wind hits the side of the plane like a charging bull and then the rain starts. Not little droplets or dainty sprinkles, but buckets of water all at once as if we've parked in the middle of a car wash...or a plane wash.

My mind is so scared right now that I'm not thinking all that straight. I'm holding onto the dash with one hand, to keep from being tossed around, and my other hand is still linked in Justin's for comfort. Behind me, Justin is perfectly still but his hands tremor. He's definitely got a plane phobia thing going and I'm not too far behind. I'm beginning to notice his fears are usually justified.

"I didn't think this storm was supposed to get here until morning?!" I yell, but the thunder is so loud it drowns out my words and all I hear is the beating of the rain trying to drive us down to earth and the snippets of the Little Mermaid song Rick is bellowing at the top of his lungs.

Is singing a nervous habit of his? Maybe it's his good luck song? All I know is the storm is getting worse, we have been flying for at least an hour now and if I hear the words "Under the Seeeaaa!" one more time, I can't be held responsible for what I do to make it stop.

KA-BOOM!

A sizzling white light explodes in front of me so brilliant and white hot that I can't hold back a scream and throw my hands up in front of my face. Justin wraps his arms around me protectively and a sound, like a million thunderclaps all at once, blows my ear drums to the point that everything is a dull roar now. My throat hurts and I realize I must still be screaming so I suck in a deep breath, forcing myself to stop. I open my eyes, blinking at what I'm seeing and my heart drops out of my chest all the way down into the forest below and hits with a bouncy thunk.