Kenton+O


 * Moonstruck **

**Chapter 1 ** ** Eyes Wide Open **


 * The sky was clear as a brisk summer’s morning. All was still outside; the birds floated in the breeze while trees stood lifeless as I looked past the airplane. The sun beamed through the wall of windows and shone into the airport, as people rush past worrying only about the simple things in life. A women’s voice then snaps me out of my wandering distraught. **


 * “Sir, may I help you.” **


 * It takes me a moment to realizing what she wants. **


 * “Sir, can I please see your ticket? You’re holding up the line.” Her voice also has the sense of urgency I am used to. Her lips red as the apple she had on her desk and as shiny as her name tag she wore. Sandy it reads. **


 * “Sorry ma’am, here you go” As I hand her my ticket my fiance’s hand entangles within mine and as I look up I remember why I love her. Her blue eyes sparkle, while her strawberry hair flows leaving a hint of watermelon lingering in the air. **


 * “Bora Bora, Tahiti. Wow nice place eh? Wish I could stay at a place like that. At least I will be able to see the view” **


 * Confused I ask, “How?” **


 * “Well I am a flight attendant silly. That view makes this job worth it. Anyways I hope you two have a great flight!” **


 * “Thank you. I can’t wait to get this vacation on with so I can just relax.” **


 * The clouds outside were dark and fierce. Lightning cracked across the sky and it’s flashes nearly blind me. My seat is now shaking as I look over at my fiancé. Her face seems calm but I know she cannot take it. I try and close my window cover but the plane suddenly drops. **


 * “AHHHH!” The entire plane screams just intensifying my fear. What are the chances of a plane crashing again? Oh I don’t know, what am I thinking! **


 * The plane drops again. This time the only sounds that crept in my ear were the heavy breaths of my fellow passengers. The pilot’s voice quivers over the speakers. **


 * “We would like everyone to please, stay calm. The co-pilot and I are taking a new route that is a much better option so please, remain seated and we will be out of this storm soon.” **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">This time a loud screeching noise cuts him off and the lights go out simultaneously. The plane once again goes silent except for the odd sound that comes from the rain and wind pounding on the outside. The horrifying sounds slowly fade away and soon disappear. I pull the cover over my window up and already the smoky clouds are in the distance and the sun once again brings joy to not only me, but everyone. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Now who is ready to go to Tahiti?” After the pilot brings back life to the plane, the flight attendant is next to speak. I look behind me and it is Sandy. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Everyone give a big round of applause for our pilots! Now please sit back and relax because in about one hour, that is all you will have to worry about. Yes you thought right we are now approaching your stop in your beautiful tropical getaway!” **



**<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 175%;">Chapter 2 ** **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">Sand In the Eyes **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%; line-height: 1.5;">The rough sand was stuck on my flushed face. The feeling reminds me of when **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> my cat used to lick my face in the morning. Except now it was dark. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> The cool breeze chilled my spine and my blue jeans now soaked with water. As I **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> looked up the moonlight enlightens my surroundings. Tall, tropical trees stand to my **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> right, and a never ending wall of water flows to my left. The moon, brighter then I have **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> ever seen, meets the water in a gentle alignment. The stars are amazing. I could count to **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> the thousands if my mind had not been swept out of the peace. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> An explosion takes over my mind. Behind me I see an enormous jet engine **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> floating on the ocean water, but a blazing fire is atop. In the distance just before the **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> wreck, a women’s flailing arm catches my attention and I immediately jerk upright. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> Just after my first step a siring pain jolts me up like a pogo stick, and I crash down the **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> same. From here on I must crawl to her rescue. I reach the point where land meets water, **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> and life meets death. I can now tell that water is not the only liquid I have been soaked **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> with. The waves pull me in like the flopping fish I appear as. Her head has disappeared, **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> and reappeared many times. I reach the jet engine and realize it is larger than you would **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> ever expect. My breath is suddenly taken from me and I feel a hand on my head. The **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> woman is using me as her life raft. I resurface and swim with her on my back. The waves **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> once again throw me on land and I breathe a sigh of relief. Now safe my senses realize **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> something I did not notice before. Behind me there were no more than ten other survivors **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> huddled within each other. Or maybe they aren’t survivors. Their silhouettes facing me, **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> watching as I crept along the beach. Not one looking as if to help me. But then an arm **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> embraces mine and I am jolted upright. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“The name is Zack” He said. “Just keep walking. We’ll get you warmed up” **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“How long has everyone been here for? How many people survived? Who are you?” **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> My mind is racing before everything goes black. The craziness I once dreaded, **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> now feels wanted instead of the silence I hear in the background. The last thing I hear is **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> the crash of the waves on the beach sending me into a magician’s trance. **

**<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">…. ** **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Hey!” I someone was shouting. “Hey, he’s waking up!” **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“What are you doing?” I then remember the others who had survived. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“What is your name?” I turn around and it is Zach again. This time he is accompanied by **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> a woman of the name Keira. She too has scars that mimic those of a warrior. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Does anyone know why we crashed?” I doubt anyone of these people would know. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Before the crash some people sitting at the front of the plane said they might have heard gunshots in the cockpit. Others are saying the pilot had a heart attack.” This time Keira was speaking to me though I could barely make out what she was saying. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">A gun shot? Or heart attack? I thought. “Are there any flight attendants that survived?” **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Yes.” **

**<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 175%;">Chapter 3 ** **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 175%;">Mind Games ** **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%; line-height: 1.5;">As I stroke my wife’s beautiful face, it almost seems as if her soul is watching me, **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">I whip my stiff neck around to see Sandy, standing there, my wife in her arms. This would be a joyous sight, but her body looked lifeless as her neck hung over Sandy’s arm, and her legs created trails in the sand. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> while I hold her in my cold and frigid arms. Oh how I wish this was true. I am used to her **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> face being so full of life, but now it is pale and just a body. I do not see my fiance, the **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> mother of my children. This woman that lays beside me, is someone I no longer **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> recognize. No, she is merely just a stranger to me now. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Should we bother him?” I can hear Zack ask Keira. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“I don’t know. Maybe one of us should just try talking to him. We need to start thinking **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> about survival, and fast. Who knows how long we could be stuck here.” Keira speaks as **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> if nothing has happened. Like I want to think about surviving, what is the point now? **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">Now they are speaking more loudly. It is Sandy. “What do you think he wants? To be left **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">alone with his now dead fiancé, or to be bothered by one of you two. Give him some **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">space, alright?” **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">I can hear a set of footprints disappear in the distance. It must be Zack and Keira. Finally **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">they left. Then out of no where a hand is on my shoulder. When I turn around I see Sandy **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">standing over me. Her body blocks the sunlight from shining on my fiance’s body. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“I don’t mean to bother you, but maybe it would be better to let go.” **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">Sandy, what are you doing! I thought you were on my side. But even so, I am exhausted **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> and want to get into the cool shade. “I feel defeated. I just want things to be normal.” As **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> that word comes out of my cracked lips. Sandy has disappeared. “Sandy!” I call out. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“Come on! Where did you go?” I jolt up and search all around me. She isn’t in my sight. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> I look up as to think maybe she is above me. What an idiot. Once I look down I realized **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> my eyes have been blinded by the sun and I have to rub then for a few seconds before **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> they will open. Once they are back to normal they pry open, and to my surprise, Sandy **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> stands right in front of me. “What is happening?” **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.5;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;">“What are you talking about silly? I’ve been here the whole time. Everything will be **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> fine.” But everything isn’t. In the back of my mind something, someone, is telling me I **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> don’t believe it. Sandy starts walking me back to the edge of the forest. I look over my **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> shoulder to make sure my fiancé still lays in the outline of rocks I placed around her body. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> Just like I guessed everything was the opposite of fine. Only the rocks lay on the beach, **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 115%;"> her body no where to be found. **