I've Been Flying for almost Thirty Hours and The Flight Attendants Won't Stop Crying

I’ve been flying for almost thirty hours and the flight attendants won’t stop crying.<br><br>I long ago lost all sense of time. I can’t remember what time it was when I boarded this God forsaken flight, and I don’t know what time it is now, but it feels like I’ve been sitting in this seat for a very long time.<br><br>The flight attendants? I don’t know what’s going on with them. They just keep crying. They cry and they wander the aisles and they check people's seatbelts over and over and over.<br><br>I think they might be the only two on the plane who know the truth. I’m not sure even the pilot knows. <br><br>I don’t even know how I figured it out. It was just little things at first. The sun never sets. We just keep flying over clouds and ocean. The sky is always bright and the little screen above my seat says we’re still going in a straight line.<br><br>And then there’s the food. They served everyone a meal shortly after take-off. I’m not even sure what time that was, but it felt like they stopped serving food a long, long time ago. I’m so hungry I can’t even believe it. They only give us fruit and water; apples and oranges, nothing with protein. I’ve eaten so many oranges I can’t remember what chicken tastes like.<br><br>I try to keep myself occupied with the flight entertainment system, but most of the movies are old and I’ve already watched the new ones. The news is from weeks ago….months ago? I have no idea. I don’t know why I even still watch it. Who knows what the world is like on the ground now? Am I the last human alive? Am I the last human in the sky?<br><br>I can’t figure out how to get the flight attendants to stop crying either. Every once in a while I’ll get up and walk around the cabin and they always stop me. They check my seatbelt even though I’m not in a seat and then they smile through their tears and tell me what a good boy I am for being safe. One of them even tucked me in when she thought I was sleeping. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t asleep. I like the way the sheets feel against my skin. They’re soft, and they’re cool, and they remind me of home.<br><br>I miss home. I miss my mom. I wonder if she ever found my water bottle. I wonder if she ever figured out where I was or if she just thinks I’ve been kidnapped and will come back when I grow up. How crazy would that be? Me showing up at her doorstep twenty years from now, asking for my Nintendo DS back.<br><br>I think about that a lot. I think about my Nintendo DS back home sitting on my nightstand. I think about the game I was playing when my mom called me downstairs for supper. She had made my favorite: chicken and mashed potatoes. I had a big smile on my face when I put the game down, and that smile was still on my face when I ran upstairs to get my water bottle to take with me. <br><br>And then I woke up on a plane.<br><br>I don’t think I’m going to ever see that bottle again. I don’t think I’m ever going to see my mom again. I don’t even know where I am in the world or how I got here. I don’t know who the other people on the plane are or where they were before they were here. I don’t know anything.<br><br>I don’t even know how I’m still alive. It’s been days since I was fed. I’m not even hungry anymore, I’m just tired. Tired of the sky and tired of the clouds and tired of the movies and the crying and the endless walking up and down the aisle. <br><br>I don’t think I’m going to ever make it out of this place.<br><br>And then I see it. The screen above my seat flickers and blinks and then goes out. I look out the window and…<br><br>Well, I can’t even describe it. There are beautiful beaches and green forests and a mountain line so far in the distance I can barely see it. I stare for as long as I can without blinking.<br><br>I can go home.<br><br>I can fly.<br><br>Because I am a bird.