Priya+N

__Deviation__


__Chapter One-Stockholm, Sweden__

Blinking away sleep, I look at the people around me. To my left, is the smartest looking boy I have ever seen. In his lap he holds a thick, hardcover book, and he absently pushes up his simple square-framed glasses as he reads.

Catching me staring, he smiles, “Hello there, I’m John Kim.” Awkwardly, he reaches out a hand, which I shake.

My gaze floats past John Kim to two girls sitting a few rows ahead. The first is wearing an enormous, oversized Vancouver Canucks jersey, and her titian hair is up in a giant, eye-catching, red bun. The second, I hear before I properly see. Hysterically, she laughs at a joke shared between only the two of them.

I brace myself, getting up carefully and make my way down the narrow isle. Squeezing between seats, I try to keep my balance long enough to go over and meet the two girls. Failing, I tip to the side, landing in an empty seat. Looking around, I notice this isn’t the only empty seat. Apart from John Kim and the two girls, there is no one else on the plane, and there are several empty seats. I pull myself up, just in time to see the seatbelt sigh on, flashing noticeably. With a sigh, I give up, and pull on the belt.

Suddenly, a voice is heard, filling the plane with instructions. “Hello passengers, this is your pilot, Albert Rosenau, speaking. We are experiencing some slight turbulence, but are ahead of schedule, so we should arrive at our destination on time. A quick reminder: we are set to arrive in Stockholm, Sweden, at 3:45, Swedish time. Sweden is 9 hours ahead, so don’t forget to change your clocks! Please remain seated until the seatbelt sigh switches off. Thank you, and enjoy the ride. We should arrive, safe and sound, in approximately four hours.”

I sigh, again, and sit back. The plane ride already feels tedious, and it is barely half over. Sleep had occupied a few hours, but now I feel rested, and very bored. The plane jerks, and unease spreads through me. //We are going to die.// No sooner does the thought enter my mind that everything turns black. Blinking in panic, my eyes search for a light. I focus on a small, blinking button along the side of the cabin. One seconds later, the lights return. Shaking, I reach out, grabbing the seat in front of me. Then, we fall.

My stomach throws itself to my throat, and screams echo off the walls around me. And suddenly, there is only silence.



Time passes in slow motion. It is as if our last few minutes are meant to be the longest minutes of our life. Hours pass, it feels, slowly wasting our last breaths. It is beautiful, how smoothly we fall. There is no turning, tumbling, or turbulence. It is all over, and we fall flat, floating down through the skies.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the fall is over. No longer peaceful, we crash into what feels like solid rock. Skidding and sliding, the plane tries to stop. The impact is unbelievable. I feel stunned, and my chest is tight. Even breathing is a struggle.

Suddenly, the entire plane is still. No one moves, or speaks, or even takes a breath. I break the silence, jumping up and rushing to the door. With a hard shove, the door opens. To my surprise, water rushes in//. We landed in the ocean?// //If that was water, what would hitting a rock for real feel like?// The water envelopes my legs, but doesn’t come much higher than my knees. We didn’t land in the middle of the ocean; we landed near shore.

Relief pours over me, and, forgetting every other thought, or person, I run out. I fall immediately, painfully blinded by the sun. Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to get up. With great effort, I slowly open my eyes, regaining sight. I wish I hadn’t. I’m not on a safe shore. I don’t know where I am at all.

There is land all around me. Unfamiliar, untamed wilderness, surrounded by a scattering of rocky islands blocks my view. Behind me, and the crashed plane, there is nothing but wide open, desolate ocean. Feeling hopeless, I wade through the sparkling water, towards the biggest island. I hated the way my shoes slowed me down, so without a second thought, I take them off, holding them in one hand, and my socks in another. As soon as I feel the warm, dry sand against my bare feet, I collapse. It occurs to me that I should have helped the others, or at least checked to make sure they were okay. But before I have the chance to consider, exhaustion takes over. The adrenaline runs out, and I fall into a deep sleep.

__Chapter Two-In The Water__

In and out, in and out, I feel myself breathe. My chest rises and falls heavily with the effort. Painfully, I squint into the sun, trying to get my sight back. It’s a useless effort though, and I give up, collapsing back into the grainy sand, which swallows me up.

As soon as I do, I notice something is different. No longer can I feel the dazzling light, because something is in the way. Sunlight touches only my toes now, teasing me with its warmth. Peeking through my fingers reveals the disturbance. Standing in front of me, looking down, is a person. Blinking, I recognize her. It’s the girl from the plane; her bright hair, blazing and tangled, catches my eye.

“You’re up,” she offers as introduction.

I clear my throat, “Uh, yeah.” My voice is scratchy but the words come out. “W-what happened?”

“The plane crashed,” redhead girl says bluntly. “But it’s not destroyed; we’re going to fix it. I’m Taylor, that’s John, and Mariah’s around here somewhere,” she explains, pointing to the smart boy from the plane, who I hadn’t even noticed standing behind her. “There was a pilot too, named Albert.” At last she shows emotion, looking worried. “We don’t know where he is, though. Nobody’s seen him since the crash.”

I blink, absorbing the information. “So, it’s just…us? We’re all alone?” My chest constricts and I begin breathing heavily again.

John joins us, handing me a bottle of water. It’s the fancy kind that you buy from airports, after security, but before boarding the plane. Grateful, I gulp, then ask, “Where did you get this?”

“The plane went down not far from shore, and the currents brought it into even more shallow water. We went back earlier and gathered supplies. There’s plenty of drinks, and even food. We should be completely fine until we fix the plane.”

My head spins. Suddenly, I’m remembering. Everything that has happened rushes forward, consuming me.

//I won a trip. I was supposed to go to Sweden, and meet Henrick Sedin. I got on the plane, and Mariah, John, and Taylor were the other contest winners. Albert was the pilot. We were flying when suddenly everything got rocky, and we crashed. But it wasn’t a real crash. The plane sort of, died a little, and we fell. But it was gentle, and when we landed I wasn’t hurt.//

My thoughts spill out in fragments, with no real details. My memory improves, becoming clearer. //After the crash, I got out of the plane safely. My head hurt but that was all. The water was shallow, and I got out. When I looked back at the plane, I thought it looked so peaceful. Not like we had crashed, but simply, we glided into the ocean, and it had welcomed us. I waded to the land, dropping in the sand. I had chosen this land because it was closest, but there had been other islands. They were smaller, but they were there too.// That was it; I didn’t remember anything else.

Finally, I understand everything. Feeling better, I take another sip of water, and clear my throat. “How can you be so sure we can fix it?” I ask. “Do any of you even know anything about planes?”

Before anyone gets the chance to answer, Mariah comes bounding over. “You’re up!” she exclaims. “I was so worried! We didn’t know why you were sleeping after all that excitement! I thought you had died, but you were breathing.” With that, she wraps her arms around me, trapping me in a powerful bear hug. Squirming, I try to escape, but find it an impossible task. Finally she releases me, and I take a step back, just in case.

“Thanks for making sure I was alive, Mariah,” I say politely, though somewhat sarcastically. “I guess I was just… tired.” Honestly, I couldn’t believe I had fallen asleep after a place crash (no matter how gentle it had been, for a plane crash of course) either, but this girl intimidated me, and I just wanted to end the conversation. She was so open and unafraid, it was unnerving.

John spoke up again, “Should we go back to the plane? Priya can check for any belongings of hers, and we can take a look at the damage.”

In agreement, we all followed him, trudging through the water toward the wreckage.

A few short minutes later we arrived at the sight. At second glance, the plane seemed even more serene than it had the first time I saw it. The wings were fine, not even a dent on either of them, and the cabin was in similar condition. It was as though Albert had perfectly landed the plane in the ocean, and there had never been a crash at all.



Inside the plane was a different story. Though nothing was destroyed, exactly, the place was a mess. Things had fallen everywhere, and I began to straighten everything out. Eventually I gave up, seeing that no one else was helping, and I was making no difference in the disaster.

The others were in the front, where the pilot sits. They were inspecting all the buttons and gears, trying to figure the machine out. We were at a loss, with no experience whatsoever with planes. But we all wanted one thing: to get home. Hours passed, and we made no progress. It was then that John came up with a solution, “We need to find Albert.”

He was right. Without Albert, we would be stuck on this island forever. We would never get home.

__Chapter Three-Relief and Prayers__

Blinking away sleep, I realize where I am. Sprawled out in the uncomfortable seats, I never left the airplane last night. I must have fallen asleep waiting for the others to fix the plane. They obviously had had no luck though, and we were still stranded. We needed to find Albert.

Directly overhead, I feel the scorching sun against my back, as I make my way through the grainy sand. John and Mariah had been adamant on fixing the plane, choosing to stay inside fiddling around. Taylor walks beside me though, as we search for Albert. He has to be here somewhere. We all crashed in the same place, from the same plane. How had Albert, absentminded as he could be, disappeared?

“Look! Over there!” Taylor breaks into a jog, trying to point out what she sees.

I squint, and see it too. //Albert?// There’s something out in the water, floating towards the island. “Is it him?” I ask excitedly.

We do our best to sprint; treading through the sand, trying to get a closer look. If only the sun wasn’t so bright…

Finally we see what it is. With crushing disappointment, I realize it isn’t Albert. //Of course it isn’t him. That would be too easy, and we’re all cursed. Nothing works out for us.//

Taylor lets out her breath beside me, and I hear it go out sadly. “I really thought that was Albert over there. It’s only driftwood,” she realizes out loud.

No sooner had she said, we hear somebody behind us. I freeze, and so does Taylor. “What?” says a very confused, Albert-sounding voice. //Could it be him?//

It is! Turning around, I see the familiar face, with his wild hair sticking out in all directions. He tries to smooth it, asking, “What happened? Have either of you seen the plane? We have to get out of here. This island has nothing on it, and the others are even emptier.”



“What? You’ve seen the other islands?” I look over at Taylor as I say it, and laugh at her expression. She looks shocked, relieved, overjoyed, and disbelieving all at once. Obviously she had been feeling about as optimistic as I had.

“Yeah, I’ve been on them this whole time. I’m starving-do you have anything to eat? Anyways, I got pretty lost the night of the crash. I don’t even know what happened, but somehow I woke up and I’d lost you all, and the plane. It took me a while to figure out that you were probably all on the biggest island. So once I did, I just kind of, swam over. It’s a good thing I can swim. But back to the plane…where is it?”

I can’t help but laugh at all this. Albert lost his way? Albert, the pilot, got confused and went the wrong direction? He was here now, though, and I had never felt more relieved.

Taylor and I led the way to the plane. Upon seeing it, Albert exclaimed, “Nothing’s broken! It’s completely fine!”

We laugh, agreeing with him. Then, the three of us enter the plane.

Seeing Albert, Mariah begins to scream, and John starts laughing. We’re all so relieved to have him back.

Without another word, Albert goes to the pilot’s seat, and begins working away. We all sit, waiting expectantly. Half an hour passes, then an hour. Nervously, I bite my lip. //What if he can’t fix it?// I want to get up, go for a walk, and stretch my legs. None of us move though, and we can’t tear our eyes away from Albert. So much is at stake, and I can’t make myself look away.

Suddenly, he speaks, “ I think…”

That’s all he says. We don’t press him, but pray he’ll explain.

Then, with a rumble, the engine starts. We hold our breath, waiting for Albert to speak.

“I got it, guys. Let’s go home.”

We cheer through the entire take-off. Albert saved us all, just like we knew he would.