I’ve Been Flying for almost Six Hours and We Just Hit Turbulence

It was a bit of a strange flight, but hey, anything to get out of the airport. I’d been stuck in that airport waiting room for twelve straight hours without any reasonable update or food. Only water and some stale granola bars to keep me alive.<br><br>The waiting had been so tedious. An announcement blared through the speakers every half hour to tell us that our wait would continue. After the fifth announcement, I was certain we were about to board. But when the sixth came, I knew they’d lied. That’s when the waiting room started getting really crowded.<br><br>People were sitting on the floor now. The seats were all taken, and it wasn’t until a few minutes ago that someone finally stood up and left. I took the seat in an instant, and even though it was right next to a toddler who wouldn’t stop crying, I was overly grateful to sit for the first time in hours.<br><br>So when they made the announcement that our flight was finally boarding, I stood up immediately, as if some invisible string attached to my head was being pulled upwards. I followed a few dozen people who stood up at the same time as me, and we all walked towards the exit of the waiting room in a hurry. We all knew that we’d never reach our destination if we didn’t get on this plane.<br><br>We all crammed through those thin hallways and made our way onto the plane, most of us taking the first empty seat we could find. The flight attendants were running around frantically, which I thought was odd, but I was too distracted by the exhaustion and the relief of final departure to notice. <br><br>I sat down in my seat and looked around at the unfamiliar passengers. Each one of them had likely been stuck in the waiting room for just as long as I was. A young woman was sitting next to me, likely in her mid-twenties. She had long black hair that was now frizzy from being in the airport waiting room all day. She was typing away at her phone, completely distracted from all the commotion around us. I felt a sudden urge to talk to her so I tapped her on the shoulder.<br><br>“Hi,” I said. “My name is Mark.”<br><br>“Oh wow, sorry,” she said, startled. “My name is Emily.”<br><br>“Nice to meet you, Emily. I couldn’t help but notice you sat down in the waiting room at the same time as me.”<br><br>“Yeah, we both sat down at the same time.” She looked back at her phone.<br><br>“Hey, sorry to bother you,” I said, tapping her shoulder again. I realized that I might have come off as a little overly chatty. “But it’s just that I noticed something odd.”<br><br>“What’s that?” she asked, putting her phone down.<br><br>“Well, I don’t think anyone got off the plane when we got on.”<br><br>“Oh?” She tilted her head to the right, emphasizing her confusion. “What do you mean?”<br><br>“When we got on the plane and I passed the other passengers who were already on, it seemed like all of their names were on the seating list. I saw everyone’s names. The old lady, the crying baby, the young couple, the middle-aged man… everyone. Do you think they were waiting in other waiting rooms?”<br><br>Emily shook her head. “I was in the same waiting room as you.” She looked around the plane. “Everyone here was.”<br><br>The pilot spoke over the speakers, “Thank you all for getting on so quickly. We’ll take off momentarily. Please make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened and that your electronics are off.”<br><br>The words echoed in my ear for a second before I spoke up again. “You see? I think there’s something going on here.”<br><br>“I think you’re just overly paranoid,” Emily said. “I’m going to sleep. Wake me up when they make the food announcement.”<br><br>I decided to quiet myself down. The flight attendants were still running around frantically, but at least the pilot seemed to be acting normally. I decided to trust that all was well and that there was nothing to worry about.<br><br>As we taxied down the runway, I decided to explore my surroundings a bit. The crying baby was a few rows up from me, the mom trying her best to keep him quiet. There was a young couple sitting next to each other in the row directly across from me. Every once in a while I could hear the TV blaring from behind me. An old man and an old woman were sitting together in the row behind me, and they were watching some old black and white film.<br><br>I decided to stand up and walk to the bathroom at the back of the plane. On my way, I passed by the middle-aged man methodically staring out the window at the ground below us. As I walked, I couldn’t help but notice the old man and woman behind me, who were watching some black and white film. I recognized it to be some old cartoon.<br><br>I got to the bathroom and locked the door behind me. It was a bit cramped, so I had to squeeze my way in front of the toilet to reach the lock. There was a small window above the toilet. I was about to do my business when I saw something that gave me pause.<br><br>The ground outside the window was getting smaller and smaller. We were already thousands of feet up in the sky.<br><br>I left the bathroom and headed back to my seat. I passed by the old couple watching the cartoon again, and when I reached my row, I had to step over a few people in the aisle to get back to my seat.<br><br>The crying baby had stopped crying and fallen asleep. The middle-aged man was still staring out the window. The flight attendants were still running around frantically. The flight hadn’t even lasted twenty minutes yet.<br><br>The young woman next to me was sleeping. I sat down in my seat and hoped that we’d make it to our destination safely.<br><br>That was about six hours ago. I’ve been flying for almost six hours. At first, I thought it might just be a normal flight that took a lot longer than normal. But that couldn’t be it. We’ve been in the air for six hours. We would have gone through entire oceans by now.<br><br>The flight attendants are all sitting in the seats now, buckled up. The pilot just made an announcement over the speakers to fasten our seatbelts because we’re about to hit turbulence. <br><br>I gripped my seat rests tightly. This flight has been strange enough, but now it’s about to get even stranger.<br><br>We’re about to hit turbulence.