Jetlag

The lights kept going on and off... his world shook like an earthquake... screams were piercing his ears... pandemonium was all around him. His worst fears were coming to life.

He was in an airplane which unfortunately was going to crash.

He got up from his seat and searched for someone. Someone who could help him, somebody who could take him far away from this horrible place and put him somewhere safe; the sofa in his office, the grass on his porch, the bed , or even the toilet seat of his bathroom... Anywhere but here. His eyes fell on an air hostess, he approached her,grasped her tightly and asked her, " What is happening ? We are all going to die aren't we ?" In her monotone yet trembling voice, she replied "Sir, I advise you to sit down, the captain is going to get everything under control." He looked deep into her eyes and saw what he expected.

Fear

Fear of the fact that the pilots had no clue whatsoever and that they had all gathered their Bibles and started to pray. As he slowly let go of her arms, he suddenly started realising the obvious.

This is it. This is what the ends feel like. He had never wished for an end like this but he had no choice. It was God's way of saying...

"Life is unfair and so is death"

Whenever he used to watch the TV news and hear of airplane crashes, a chill would go down his spine and he would quietly pray for those poor souls but also pray that an end like this would never come to him. But in a few hours time, he too would be on the news, nothing more than a mere statistic.

His thoughts came back to present as he looked at the passenger sitting next to him. It was a girl of not more than 10 years with a little teddy grasped in her arms and a two colourful butterflies clipped onto her hair. Her head was held low and tiny drops could be seen sliding down from her eyes over her soft cheeks and falling into the grey carpet beneath her feet. She did not panic nor did she wail, she sat there quietly, as though accepting death in the best possible way, in silence.
As she lifted her head, knowing that she was being watched, she looked at this man who was staring at her for quite some time and asked " Are you okay mister ?".

The man was taken aback by such words coming from a child. He was thinking of helping the girl by saying something soothing but he failed to utter a word. Afterall, what could he have said ? And now, after hearing this girl, he couldn't do anything but silently nod looking into the girl's hazel eyes and shed a tear.

He cursed God for ruining such a beautiful creation of His own but at the same time, he believed that it was the love for this creation that made him ask for it back. He was happy that he was not alone and he had someone to be by his side in this journey that he was to embark on. Ignoring the screams and the shouts of the passengers, ignoring the wings of the plane that tore apart, ignoring the violent shaking of the entire aircraft, he held out his hand in front on the girl.

Noticing this gesture, she took her own and placed it in his. As she did so, a feeling of warmth spread from his hand to his arm and to his shoulders, to every part of his body till it finally reached his heart.

That is when he knew that this was heaven.