Survivor

Crash Pt. 1

Kevin really counted himself as a patient, caring, loving, amazing, and a hundred other positive adjectives, individual. But he was seriously considering strangling Marshall now.

He had thought that everybody had a limit when it came to talking. That everyone had a point when they would tire out and admit defeat.

That didn't seem to exist for Marshall. Once he opened his mouth, there was no chance that he would close it anytime soon. Kevin wondered if he had even learned how to breathe.

"Did I tell you about the time that I went skydiving? I don't think I did. I can't keep track. I'll tell you the story. It was a long story, and I don't think I have a lot of time. So anyways, I jumped out of the plane and the parachute didn't open!"

"Wouldn't you have died then?"

"Oh no, it did open. In the end, that is. Have you ever gone skydiving?"

"No."

"Well you should. It's really fun. Super fun actually . . ." he continued talking. Kevin tried to imagine the glorious silence that he was missing so terribly. What he would do just to enjoy the beautiful peace of his own thoughts.

"Did you ever... like just sit quietly and enjoy some peace ever?" he managed to cut in once.

"What?"

Marshall nodded. "Yes, when I was back in high school, we had this drama teacher that always told us about the beauty of silence. Like, something about how we need to be quiet sometimes to really be able to understand the world."

"Maybe you should take that advice."

"I do," Marshall exclaimed. "I always make time for myself. In the morning, I always wake up one hour earlier than I have to, just so I can drink some coffee, think to myself, have some quiet time-"

There was a ding. Kevin nearly cried out of happiness. A flight attendant came in. Unfortunately, she only came in for a few moments to ask what they wanted to eat and whether she could get them anything, before she left again. Kevin forgot to ask for a paper towel to stuff into Marshall's mouth.

You know those people who have never once in their life been told to shut the hell up? You can just tell.

Oh, Kevin could tell. And he would remember.

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The headphones slid down Jungkook's face. He had fallen asleep, despite all his previous speeches that he wouldn't. Hoseok was awoken by the loud volume coming out of his screen.

Sighing, he reached over to switch the screen off for him.

He turned the map on for himself just to check where they were. They were just about to head out over the ocean, but at the moment they were flying over the mainland. Thick green surrounded the little airplane icon. A forest, maybe. Hoseok imagined what it must be like down there.

Outside, it was nearly thirty-three degrees below zero. Seeing that made a shiver run down Hoseok's spine and he pulled the thin blanket over himself. It wasn't enough. He had always told himself to wear sweaters to the airport, but he always seemed to forget.

He turned off his screen. He tried to close his eyes and get some sleep. They had been on the road for so long. He couldn't wait until he was back in his own bed.

-------

A sudden violent jerk broke his sleep. Hoseok's eyes flew open. He heard people scream up, down, and far around him. By instinct, he grabbed onto the armrest. Jungkook was beginning to stir.

Oh no. What was going on?

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"What's going on?" Marshall asked.

Kevin's lips were pressed into a thin line. The autopilot had suddenly disconnected without warning, and now, a bunch of errors were showing up on the main screen.

Marshall read one out loud. His face scrunched up in confusion. "This doesn't make sense."

"I have-"

Kevin's words died in his mouth when the plane suddenly violently jerked downwards. The sky from the artificial horizon disappeared - they were nosediving downwards. Instinctively, Kevin pulled back on his yoke, trying to regain altitude.

"We're going down, oh no, oh no..."

Kevin pulled on the yoke harder. Come on, he prayed. Come on, come on, come on. No. I can't let this happen.

Marshall was saying something on the radio. For whatever reason, his voice sounded calmer than Kevin felt. He could still hear the fear, but Marshall was doing a better job at controlling it. For the first time, he felt thankful that Marshall was by his side.

An overspeed warning lit up their screens. They were going way too fast. As the plane continued to nosedive, it continued to pick up speed. It wasn't designed to fly this fast.

"Quick, open the manual, check what to do," Kevin said.

"Yes."

He glanced up the altitude indicator, only to see the chilling sight of the number falling.

Marshall was thumbing through the pages. He was flipping faster and faster. It seemed to match Kevin's heart rate.

Pulling back didn't seem to be doing anything. In dismay, Kevin let go of the yoke. The plane's descent seemed to slow down. The altitude indicator's numbers slowed down as well. They weren't falling as quickly anymore. They seemed to have levelled off.

"What was that?" Marshall asked.

Kevin shook his head. The words were stuck in his throat.

Unfortunately, the moment of calm only lasted a moment. Kevin's heart was still racing when the plane pitched down again. He didn't touch the yoke this time.

This time, another warning lit up their screens.

"It says we're stalling," Kevin said. "We can't be!"

"We can't be stalling. We can't be. We're literally nose-down right now. No," Marshall mumbled. The manual was useless now. There was nothing to look up when they didn't even know what to look up.

"Pull up, pull up," he said.

Kevin grunted out a yes. He tried to pull back on his yoke. The plane reacted horribly, only going into a steeper dive.

"It's not working!"

"Fuck, man, what did we do?"

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Hoseok screamed. He gripped onto what he thought was Jungkook's hand and held on tightly for his life.

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i wrote this on a plane hehe

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