Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 3
Here is the next chapter. It’s pretty short, but I decided you guys would want to read it anyway. 🙂
Annette awoke to the sound of Stephen stepping into the cabin. His tall stature forced him to bend awkwardly underneath the roof. Annette massaged her eyes, trying to wipe the sleep away.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” Stephen apologized. “I was just getting a soda. You want one?”
“Uh, sure.”
Stephen walked to the back, opened a small fridge, and took two cokes from it. Turning around, he covered the few feet between them and handed her a coke.
“How was your nap?” He asked, finding a seat across from her.
“Good, I guess.” Annette replied as she sipped her drink.
“So… are you from Florida?”
“Uh, yeah, I was from Florida, but I go to college in New York. I…I was just visiting… sort of.”
             Stephen raised his eyebrows but didn’t pursue the topic further. “I see. Yeah, I’ve lived in Florida practically all my life. Kind of sad to leave, but you know, can’t stay there forever.”
“So, what are you going to do in New York once you get there?”
“I was accepted by a missionary agency to go and be a missionary. I get my briefing in New York, where the headquarters are.” Stephen stated, with a strange light in his eyes.
“Where are you going? For the mission, I mean.”
“South America.”
“Neat.” She was fascinated; she had never heard of anything like it before. Yes, she had heard of missionaries in newspapers and old books, but she had never actually met one and never thought of real, modern missionaries. “What do you do when you get there?”
“Stephen. Can you come up here a sec. It’s important.” The loudspeakers crackled with Jimmy’s voice. Stephen got up to go.
“I’ll tell you in a minute.” He left with that, leaving Annette in silence.
Annette put her coke down and turned to gaze out the window. She wondered what Jimmy needed help with and what it would be like to be a missionary. Handing out medicines and meeting new people. Was that really all they did? She didn’t know; or were these people out just to see the world?
“I’ll just have to ask before he leaves.” She whispered to herself. Curling up in her chair, Annette settled for another nap; staying up until three o’clock the night before was not a good idea.
Minutes passed until finally Stephen reentered. He wore a serious expression, and then said.
“The left engine just broke for no apparent reason. Jimmy is super worried, hopes that the other one won’t give out—”
Suddenly the whole plane shook, knocking Stephen to the ground and a weird grinding sound filled the air.
“Stephen we’ve been hit by a bird! The right engine is going out.” The loudspeakers confirmed their worst fears.
“I’m coming!” Stephen yelled as he tried to sit up, only to fall once again. The plane was falling fast, they would probably reach the ground to their impending deaths in seconds.
“Lord Jesus, save us!” Annette heard Stephen call, then they impacted.
Annette felt a wrenching pain and had one thought before she lost consciousness.
Who is Jesus?
