One of the most beautiful sounds in Sophia’s mind has to be her own breath. At least, at first it was. It became a precious thing to breathe in and out in a calm and peaceful manner. Unlike the last few moments, where her whole world spiraled out of control, she seemed to be dizzy with new possibilities. After all, she survived the last few moments right? And, her heart, bless it for not exploding entirely, beat like a light feather with the wind and the whole world beneath it. She looked to her left, as the lightheaded feeling washed over her every limb, and her eyes closed as the sensation overwhelmed her.


She couldn’t bare to stand, let alone feeling anything at all, as the man beside her had his own silence about him that hung like his head between his legs. In a moment, he’ll be embarrassed that he was seen that way in Sophia’s presence and hoped that no one else saw it. A small comfort was that some people were doing the same thing right now. Not that it helped him any, not now anyway. In a moment, Sophia will register that she is still on a plane, sitting down and unable to move because she can’t feel anything. Sophia breathed deeply restoring feeling to her lungs, heart, chest and stomach. Just then, she realizes that nature has been suspended due to the extreme physical pressure exerted on her body and just now, it was suddenly very apparent that the restored sensation in her legs and arms were a sign that they needed to be used, and quickly. Why couldn’t she retain water like men with a built in canteen? She looked to her middle aged man and found it was easy enough to climb over him. As long as he kept his head down. Though, the thought of being caught letting daily Mass out early while the plane suddenly took a nosedive didn’t appeal to her at all. There was little choice in the matter though, not now.
She looked about and everyone was coming down off of the high that the sympathetic nervous system gave the body after moments of extreme stress. She could go now and avoid a mass rush and so she unbuckled her seatbelt and shook her legs for a moment to make sure they worked. And then, as they regained feeling, in a chilling rush of sensation all the way down to her toes. Then she checked her companion and he was still in the quiet moment by himself coming to terms with what happened. She carefully brought her legs up and then a thought came over her, she said quietly to the man. "Hey, I gotta go. So, just stay exactly like you are right now." She then proceeded to climb over him and onto the walkway.

A moment later, she found herself walking toward the ladies room with a lot of concerned faces as she passed. She was scared, but at the same time, relieved. She lived, and this trip to the ladies room, would be the best in her life. Perhaps ever, and it reminded her, of all the times she risked her life willingly and come out with a bullet wound, or a cut, or sometimes with nothing at all to show for it on her body. There was a moment of real nostalgia there when she had her heart in her throat once more.


A few minutes later, she was back at her row finding her seat companion cleaning something off of his shoes. The smell of food was evident and Sophia did not have to put two together to come up with what it was. Sophia was lucky, she didn’t have daily Mass exit a little earlier than expected. Thank heavens for small favors. She stood tall and said, as if to dispel the nervousness that everyone felt. "Just think everyone, now we can all go home and pay the heating bill". And everyone chuckled that was coherent enough to listen. She heard a few replies, "Thanks, yes, just what I always wanted to do" from an elderly woman, and another voice said, "Yes," sarcastic groan to boot, "I certainly can. Oh joy." Came from a young woman sitting a few rows behind Sophia’s seat. And then she looked about, taking a gauge on how scared everyone was around her having a good grip on fear herself having led the life she did. A few were crying, women mostly with children beside them sobbing in their mother’s chests. Others were quietly staring into space as if having an out of body experience unlike any in their entire life. There were a few that, despite all their rigid maturity and social graces were giddy with laughter and chuckles as if venting their nervousness by laughing it away. Overall, people were taking it well, they survived after all right? Somehow, despite everyone’s latent fears about flying being that it’s unnatural for the body to be in the air this way they were taking the situation rather well. She had to wonder how the pilots were doing. In fact, she expected a general announcement by now about the situation and most importantly, what the hell just happened. This slightly concerned her.


Sophia looked about for a stewardess and found one at the tail of the plane in a daze. Sophia walked up carefully looking at the thin woman who had a dark blue dress and a white blouse underneath her dark blue matching jacket. Sophia was pretty sure that she was catching the stewardess by surprise and decided to say something beforehand. "Hey, are you alright?" Sophia said with a tone of compassion in her voice. The stewardess turning around revealing her tear stricken face. The stewardess said, "I’ve never been ... in a plane crash before... not that it crashed, it didn’t.. I’m alright, really. I’m fine. Was.. Was there something you needed?" Sophia just smiled knowing that she caught the stewardess in a weak moment and her natural composure was lost. "Oh, I just wondered if the pilots were ok. Um, we half expected an announcement soon. It would be nice for everyone if we could hear their voice." The stewardess nodded saying "Yes, your right. Um, just for safety’s sake could you return to your seat and remain there until you hear otherwise? Just, incase..." And Sophia nodded at the sincerity of that statement, as well as the logic. There was no sense being overly confident at the sudden good turn of events.


Sophia strode back to her seat finding the man, having cleaned up most of the remains of his dinner from his shoes and the floor and the airport garbage bag was full. Sophia did not want to elaborate at what could be in there, but she had her theories nonetheless. Not wanting to explore possibilities she smiled at him and said, "Hey, you ok?" And he said, "Yeah.. Yeah, I am now. I dare not take the Lord’s name in vain now, or ever again. I swear." He said with conviction. Sophia did not hear him say the Lord’s name in vain, but then again it got pretty loud there for awhile. "I agree there, entirely." Sophia agreed.


"Oh, I imagine you want to get back in, eh?" And he rose without waiting for her to respond and she backed up to give him room. She smiled at him, as if to appear warm and unburdened. Though, she was sure there was some nervousness coming through anyway. She did feel nervous, as if somehow, the distraught nature of what had happened finally caught up with her. She sat down and with a sinking feeling realized that she had nearly died once more, and unlike her earlier nostalgia, she caught herself in the pit of her stomach.


She blinked and her stomach felt like it sank several leagues into the earth. She felt her tears well up and she broke down into tears in her seat. She was happy that only her companion saw it, though that was enough to be embarrassing. He was quiet for a minute and then ruffled through his pockets bringing out some napkins. He laid them on her left leg and she picked them up quietly with a simple "Thank you." He smiled at her and said, "We can’t be nerves of steel all the time." And Sophia had a rebuttal, "But we can damn well sure try." He laughed at that with a nod. "That we can." Sophia knew, through her sobbing, that he was speaking from experience. She was happy he was here, even if he saw her cry like this. He knew what it was like. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose with the napkins and said, "Hey... um, you won’t tell anyone I... turned the sprinkler’s on?" And he shook his head with a nod, a knowing look. That said it all, "Thanks." Sophia said without waiting for a reply. Somehow, she knew deep down, he meant to keep her secret safe.


Sophia took a deep breath and said, "Hey, at least we have a real story for our folks eh? They’ll be amazed." And they both agreed there. The pilots came on the intercom then and said, "We’re alright folks, sorry for the delay. The equipment here has been acting funny. The systems are all perfectly normal now, however because of the mechanical failure we experienced, we’re going to land soon. We want everyone to sit in their seats until we come to a complete stop at the terminal. Again, we’re all grateful that we’ve pulled through that and rest assured we have everything well under control now." Sophia liked those words and she sat back relieved.