It sounded exactly how I had imagined it would. A thick, terrible white noise. That’s how it ended, with a deafening roar.
I awoke from my sleep 10,000 feet in the sky somewhere over South Carolina, at least according to the erroneous map appropriately located on the back of each seat, with sole reason for existence being to hypnotize and distract from the obvious danger of traveling five hundred plus miles per hour some ten thousand feet above terra firma. Nobility can be derived from such an existence but that’s beside the point. Tendency has it to be distracted by mundane details or eccentric train of thought. I attempt to stay focused on the central pieces of my life, but such is life. My life at least. Towards the beginning of our decent the flight captain announced over the PA system that he had received reports of pretty rough turbulence from earlier flights. No big deal.
The sleepy plane ride began to grow steadily more uncomfortable as the lumbering aircraft moved deeper into the unsettled atmosphere. Still no big deal.
Ten minutes after the comfort of the flight had been compromised by turbulence the other passengers grew more apprehensive. A mother heeded her natural instinct to comfort her uneasy child. “It’s just a little bumpy, no big deal.” There was no way she could have known. The last conscious memory the child has of his mother was that of an untruthful assurance. But hey, what are mothers for?
The bumps progressively grew in to bangs, sudden loss of altitude triggered weightless cries. Soon enough the predictable release of the emergency masks dropped from the overhead compartment, serving a terrible suggestion that this was all real. Beeps and warning sirens cried out from every direction, only aiding the terrible sensation of rapidly loosing altitude. The frame of the aircraft began to whine as if all of its vigor was rapidly absconding. These horrendous audible truths seem to fuse together into a culmination of staggering cacophony.
Then, just like that it was over. Hmmm, makes sense I suppose, in my musing I became so enthralled with the goings-on that I completely and unintentionally forfeited a goodbye to the most important person in my life seated directly to my right.
:D