I’ve Been Flying for Almost Thirty Hours and The Flight Attendants Won’t Stop Crying

Thirty hours ago, I hopped on a plane from Chicago to Seattle. The flight was supposed to last just over four hours, but somehow I lost count. When I first sat down, a hydraulic warning flashed on the screen in front of me. I pressed the call button above me and a middle-aged flight attendant came over.<br><br>“Hi there, sir.”<br><br>“Yeah, no offense, but I think you’re supposed to be letting people know about the hydraulics,” I said.<br><br>Her eyes darted around and she smiled. “Of course. Thank you.”<br><br>She walked up to the intercom and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. This is Stacy, your flight attendant. As you’ve probably noticed, we are currently dealing with a small hydraulic issue. It’s nothing to be worried about and we will be continuing on to our destination as normal.”<br><br>There was a long pause and I watched an episode of *The Office*. That’s when a male voice came on the intercom.<br><br>“Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking. Just to reiterate what our flight attendant has said, we are currently dealing with a hydraulic issue. The flight is completely safe and there is no need to panic. We are currently flying over *ahem* water and we’re going to go ahead and fly over land to find the safest place to land.”<br><br>I looked out the window and stared at the endless blue water. *This isn’t right. The flight from Chicago to Seattle isn’t supposed to go over the ocean.*<br><br>I pressed the call button again and this time a different flight attendant came over. He was crying, but he was trying to smile through it.<br><br>“Hey buddy, what’s up?”<br><br>“Is your name Craig?”<br><br>“Yes it is. How did you know?”<br><br>“Your name tag,” I said, pointing to it.<br><br>“Oh, right. Yeah, I guess I forgot. It was back when I was still new.”<br><br>There was a long pause.<br><br>“Sir, you have to stop pushing the call button. It’s not safe.” He started to sob. I felt bad and decided to let him leave with a simple, “Okay.”<br><br>I watched another episode of *The Office* and then decided to go check out the lavatory. It was locked, so I pressed the call button again. The crying flight attendant came back, unlocked the bathroom, and walked back to his seat.<br><br>I walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. The mirror above the sink was slightly cracked and the lights flickered. It was surprisingly clean, but I still didn’t want to touch anything. As I finished my business, I heard someone knock at the door.<br><br>“Ready in here,” I said.<br><br>“You’ve been in there for a long time, sir,” the crying flight attendant said.<br><br>I unlocked the door and stepped out into the aisle. The flight attendant closed the lavatory door behind me and walked back to his seat.<br><br>I decided to go check out the snack cart. It was sitting in the middle of the aisle with the crying flight attendant sitting next to it. He was still crying, but he had stopped sobbing. He looked up at me and smiled weakly.<br><br>“You can take something from the cart if you’d like,” he said.<br><br>I walked up to the cart and started sifting through the snacks. There were a few bags of peanuts, a couple bottles of water, and a granola bar. I decided to eat the granola bar and drink the water. The flight attendant sobbed again as I walked away.<br><br>As I sat back down, I heard the captain’s voice come through the intercom again. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. In case you haven’t noticed already, all of the windows in the plane are currently covered. *Ahem*, I know some of you have been suspicious about that for a while now. Rest assured, the flight is still completely safe and there is no reason to panic.”<br><br>At this point, I had stopped counting the hours. It didn’t matter anymore. I decided to just enjoy the flight and stop worrying about where I was going. After the captain finished speaking, I decided to go try and chat with the crying flight attendant.<br><br>He was still sitting next to the cart, still crying. I walked over and sat down next to him.<br><br>“Hi,” he said.<br><br>“Hey. Mind if I sit down?”<br><br>“Not at all,” he said.<br><br>We sat in silence for a while and I could hear the sound of water pounding against the metal walls of the plane.<br><br>“How long have you been flying?” I said.<br><br>He smiled and sobbed. “Almost eleven years now.”<br><br>“That’s great.”<br><br>“Yeah.”<br><br>We sat in silence for a while longer, so I decided to try and break the silence again.<br><br>“What’s your name?”<br><br>“Craig,” he said, smiling weakly.<br><br>“Is that a common name for flight attendants?”<br><br>He sobbed again and I could feel tears coming down his face. “No, sir.”<br><br>I decided to stop trying to make conversation and just sat back down in my seat. Craig was still crying two rows ahead of me. I pressed the call button for what felt like the hundredth time.<br><br>Craig walked over to me, still crying. “Sir, you need to stop pushing that call button. The flight is not safe.”<br><br>“What do you mean it’s not safe?”<br><br>Craig stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Listen, sir. We’re not going to make it to Seattle. The flight is completely unsafe and I think it’s about to end. By some miracle, you seem to be the only one on the plane with a functioning brain. Everyone else is either comatose or dead.”<br><br>I started to panic. “What the fuck, Craig? How long have we been in the air?”<br><br>Craig smiled weakly. “Sir, I think it’s been a while.”<br><br>“How long?”<br><br>Craig started to sob and he fell to the ground. I watched as he crawled to the seat next to the cart and started to wail.<br><br>I have no idea where I am or how long I’ve been flying. My screen stopped working hours ago, all of the lights are out, and I haven’t seen Craig since we talked. The only sound I can hear is the water pounding against the plane. I’ve been flying for at least thirty hours.