Flight 104 (One Direction)

Chapter 9

        I used to think that the third time's a charm, but the fact that a rescue team found us on the fourth day was enough to change my mind.

        The sound of that helicopter started a fire in my soul, and despite us being nearly completely hidden by forest trees, the pilot managed to spot us. It was a miracle, that I knew.

        The four of us waved our arms like mad men, tears making their way down our faces for what felt like the fiftieth time since we crashed. I say four of us because Niall didn't show even the smallest hint of joy that we were being recovered. He was blank; dead inside even.

        I lost count of how many times I thanked the people in that chopper. An elderly woman named Juliet kept reminding us of how brave we were and telling us how excited the world would be to know that we were alive. I said I loved her a lot, and she laughed.

        Behind all of the happiness that going home brought me was a peculiar feeling that rattled my very being: a new-found fear of flying. I had never been so scared in all of my life as the helicopter rose in the air and flung dust on the forest that it left behind. My eyes squeezed together as tightly as they possibly could, and I held onto the seat that I rested upon.

        In all of One Direction's years of touring, I had never been fearful of plane rides. They were usually the only type of transportation that could get us from one show to the next in record timing. 

        I thought about what this phobia would mean for the future; what all of this would mean for the future. Would any of us be able to tour ever again? Would we have to break off and become solo artists that play at local coffee shops? Surely that would be a pity... and surely that wouldn't happen.

        The looks in the other boy's eyes said that they were afraid too.

        About halfway through the flight, Harry started screaming and demanding that we go back and get Violet because "We couldn't just leave her and the baby behind."

        He was losing it.

        The hours following were full of crying mothers and white walls and fans waiting outside of the hospital in which the five of us were being treated inside of. It got my adrenaline going in the best and worst ways possible.

        I remember wrapping my arms around my mum and dad. I was fond of the way their bodies conformed to my own, realizing that the three of us were meant for each others' embrace.

        I also remember the way Anne, Gemma, and Robin's faces dropped when they put two and two together and realized that we were the "only ones that made it out alive," meaning that Violet and the baby died in Flight 104's crash.

        Harry was sharing a room with me, as our injuries weren't as severe Niall's, per say. This wasn't a good thing, as I got to witness all of the heartbreak that him and his family were experiencing during this cruel time. He cried into his mother's shoulder and she cried into his, and I was glad that the two of them were so close; they had each other for support.

        Zayn did, in fact, break a majority of the ribs on his right side, and Louis had to undergo treatment for his poison ivy rash, as he was beginning to have difficulty breathing and swallowing. Niall was a candidate for a prosthetic leg subsequent to his limb healing up, but his parents, Maura and Bobby, said that the blonde boy was in no mood for this "good" news at the moment. I felt like a mummy, as my midriff was completely wrapped up in bandages.

        Between the five of us, we were a bunch of bruised apples, but at least we were all alive and could be bruised apples together.