Wingless Book Series (book 1) (37 page)

I knew enough to know that when
you saw chaos of any sort, that usually meant trouble. And seeing
the flight attendants whiz by to the cabin was not a good sign. I
stared at the ceiling trying to not freak out and scream for my dad
and Brother.

Just as I had a grip on my
breathing, the plane shook violently for a quick instant, and then
everything was still. This caused everyone to awaken and become
aware of what was going on around him or her. Sheer panic slowly
crept into the plane. My dad
looked around
to see what the deal was. He looked at me with a look of
calm.

“
I think we’re okay,” he said from
his seat.

Gray looked a little less sure of
the situation, looking a little pale. He didn’t speak, just closed
his eyes, peering at us every minute or so. My stomach was sick. I
was the one person on the plane that truly knew what this all
meant. It wasn’t an error or just one of those crazy things you
speak of later when you’re on the ground.

“
Attention everyone. The captain
would like for all of us to stay calm and remain seated. Seatbelts
on,” the flight attendant said.

Her hands were clutched to her
stomach, which showed how bad she was feeling, even if her face
wasn’t saying so.

My dad
rushed to my side, Gray moving to my dad’s seat to get as
close to us as he could. We all looked at each other with the same
look on our faces. I think it was obvious what we were thinking in
that moment.

“
Let’s not
panic,” my dad
said low.

“
I’m trying not
to. It’s hard,” I said, staring at my dad,
his face calming me down.

“
There is no way that God would
take us all no,” he said to himself, trying to calm
down.

I listened to him babble on and
on. He was certain that no matter what, life was all about God. He
would save us because it was too cruel to leave my mother with all
this to bear. I thought about this myself and thought, why would
God care about just one person? And why would anyone think
something like that right before they could die? I didn’t think it
worked like that at all. It was like a roll call.

Gray closed his eyes, once
again
stating
how
he couldn’t be leaving now because he hadn’t even seen
Lyric.

Although this was quite sad,
it was
yet another thing that never
mattered when it was time to die.

“
I love you
both,” my dad
said, sitting back in a
state of disbelief.

Gray was silent.

“
I love you guys, too. Let’s just
hope for the best,” I said as the plane shook again.

Screams erupted in the plane. I
closed my eyes, thinking about life and how I had learned so much
over the summer. I learned that it didn’t matter how hard you
screamed, it didn’t change the outcome. I learned that the
unbelievable was real and that what everyone feared, which was
death, was right under our noses, as Evan put it.

Seeing what death was like, I knew
that there was no hope if it was my time to go. And I wasn’t sure
if Evan would let me know this. It all made sense that he would
send me away when it was time. If he sent me away, then that meant
he didn’t have to endure it. Any one of the people on the plane
could have been the man who was there to take my life.

My one true question after getting
to know Evan was, did he love me enough to save me from my death?
That I didn’t know. I liked to believe he loved me that much,
enough to go against everything he was.

I thought maybe I was being stupid
and it was nothing more than a crafty web he wove to get inside to
take me out. Maybe he never loved me at all. And then this didn’t
make much sense either, because he had told me he did for the first
time when he was letting me go. But maybe it was exactly that,
maybe he was letting me go.

Ari was confused on why I
was there because she knew something more probably. And she had put
faith in him as well to not kill me. It all made sense. What didn’t
make sense was, if it was Gray or my dad,
why he would put me through all this? So I knew it had to be
me, and therefore,
I was
ready.

It was a rather well crafted plan
if you thought about it. He filled my head with thoughts of peace
and safety. He had me make up for all the regrets in my life, and
then he sent me away with the ones I cared about the most. What
could be more perfect than that?

I knew what was better than that.
Anyone in my shoes knew what was better than this. The only thing I
could do was hope all I was thinking was wrong. I was going to do
the only thing I knew how and that was to put all my trust into
Evan’s heart.

“
Please Evan, find it in you to
save us. I can’t lose anyone else,” I whispered repeatedly as the
plane shook harder and harder.

“
Please, Evan. If you love me, do
this just once. Help us out, just once,” I said, gripping the seat
as the plane jerked everyone around.

The screams were so loud it was
deafening.

“
Please!” I yelled as loud as
everyone else did. “Do this for me! You said it yourself, you love
me!” I screamed.

Chaos was running wild, death had
arrived. I didn’t care to look at anyone or try to help, there was
no helping. I gripped tight to my dad’s hand.

“
I love you kid!” he yelled at the
top of his lungs.

“
I love you too!” I screamed back.
“I love you Gray!” I yelled even louder.

I faintly heard Gray’s
voice.

If, after life was over, you were
asked one question about it what life lesson would you
give?

My life lesson was simple. Believe
with your heart, Fear is real, and no one ever is going to make it
out by the skin of their teeth. Death may be scary, but there was
one thing that death gave us, and that was blindness to not see it
coming until it was too late. And now I believed in everything that
I was told I was wrong to believe.

Read on
for an excerpt from

Polar

b
y Holly Hood

Now Available on Amazon Kindle

Polar

Isn’t it funny? That was a
saying that was heard a great deal
,
and
it’s always a casual
statement. It is almost amusing. Well, life is
amusing, and sooner or later, you sit back and say that exact
phrase.

Opening my eyes, I
thought, isn’t it funny that after all I went
through with Evan, he killed me like every other person he
had before, as
if I was no different? It
was if I hadn’t even mattered to him at all. That
was funny.

It was funny because,
after all this time, I thought I was a
person who wasn’t stupid enough to fall for someone’s lies
and deceit,
and I was. I was no different
from anyone who I tried so hard to not be
like.

“
I don’t think so at all,”
Marcus said.

I focused in on him,
realizing
that where I was, I would see
him always now. So, even if I was dead, I
guess I could say I had him to help me move on. Then I
realized that he
had spoken, and raised an
eyebrow, looking at him.

“
You don’t think what?” I
said, feeling grumpy.

Dead was not a good
look. I didn’t like dead. I was unfamiliar with
it and I just plain didn’t
feel like doing
it now. But I figured I would amuse Marcus and play

along with his
words.

“
I don’t
think you’re like everyone else, and you need to quit
beating yourself up about it. I know you have it
in you to look at
everything for what it
really is, so quit feeling so sorry for yourself,” he
said. He looked pleased to be hurling his sarcasm
at me.

“
Now is
not the time. I know you like to be cute and funny,
but
Marcus, it’s not working right
now,” I said.

“
I’m
sorry, but what I want to say is, I know that you have it in
you
to do what’s right. So could
you please pull it together for me and make
this happen?”

“
Make what happen?” I
said, getting annoyed with riddles.

“
Eve,
just do what’s right. That’s what I always admired about
you.
You always do what’s right,
not what is wanted. I think you got that from
me,” He said, smiling at me.

I smiled at him, feeling
peaceful.
“Okay, Marcus. If that is going
to make you happy, then I will,” I said,
trying to get him to drop it.

Marcus seemed to
disappear. I was a little confused on this seeing
once you’re dead what was the need for all the
eerie behavior anymore?
It wasn’t as if I
could be scared to death or something.

I looked at the
ceiling, trying to feel…
something
. There was nothing to
feel. I closed my eyes
trying to drift to
sleep, or whatever you would call it now.

Suddenly I
was blinded by a bright light. Very funny, I
thought, adjusting my vision
again.

I was looking at the
ceiling. This was a little odd because I had
looked at it before I closed my eyes, but it
hadn’t been
so bright
before.

“
It’s
okay, sweetie,” a Hispanic nurse said in a thick
Spanish
accent. Her long hair
practically dangled in my face. Even in a ponytail it
was super long.

I tried to focus but,
everything was so blurry, it was hard
to
make sense of what was going on. She seemed to poke and prod
me,
moving all over the room.

“
What’s happening to me?”
I asked, my voice coming out hoarse.

“
You
woke up. Stay still,” she said, taking my wrist to check
my
pulse.

“
I
what?” I asked, touching my head with my free hand. I
felt
woozy and weak.

“
You
woke up,” she
repeated
, looking a little agitated
with my
confusion.

“
I’m not dead?” I asked
her.

This time her face looked
agitated.

“
Of course not,” she said,
hurrying out of the room.

I was floored.
I was alive. I was actually alive. It was all I
could think of, a million
thoughts pouring
over me. I tried to sit up, but felt way too weak to even
lift my head.

“
What day is it?” I asked
out loud, my heart racing.

There was a short knock on
the door followed by Hannah, my
sister.
She almost ran to me. She touched my face, tears
falling.

“
I can’t believe it you’re
awake!” she cried.

I shook my head, feeling
even better now that I saw a familiar face.

“
Eve,
you’re awake. How do you feel?” she asked me with a
worried
look on her
face.

“
I feel
alright,” I said to reassure her. Even in chaos such as this,
she
still needed me to be the
strong one.

“
I’m so glad.” She
smoothed my hair, kissing the top of my head.

“
Where is Dad and gray?” I
asked, starting to cry.

I knew they
would be here if Hannah was, and she hadn’t
spoken of them.

Hannah became teary all
over again at this. She grabbed my hand.