In The Arms of Love

“It is alright.” One of the flight attendants said with a smile on her face to the passengers as there was a little shake on the plane.

“It might be a good idea to keep your seatbelts on.” Another flight attendant told them softly to calm them down.

The lights flickered off and on and the passengers all gasped, there was fear in their eyes as they all glanced at each other.

“Please double check your seatbelt.” The other flight attendant told them as they helped a few with their seat belts. “Seatbelt sir,” She pointed and the man fastened his seat belt as they walked around.

A little girl who was asleep, her cheek was rosy and her hairs were curled up, she gently opened her eyes as her eyelashes fluttered. “Uncle, what is happening?” She asked as she looked at her uncle who sat next to her, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands.

“Nothing dear, we will be home soon, you will see your parents soon okay.” Her uncle said softly as he squeezed her hands gently.

“Okay,” The little girl smiled as she looked out of the window. “Uncle, look, it is blurry outside the window…” The little girl pointed but before the uncle would look over there was a loud noise.

Boom!

There was shaking as the oxygen mask was deployed in the entire cabin as everyone took the mask to wear.

“Uncle, what is happening?” The little girl said as fear gripped her and there was panic and there was a crack on the window as the plane started going down.

“Mayday! Mayday! Our plane is going down...” The pilots were saying something as they tried to steady the plane, but…

The little girl looked over at her uncle, the mask was on her face but her uncle who had just hit his head was already bleeding on his head and not conscious.

Tears filled her eyes as she began to cry, there were dead people around her, passengers screaming and everything was blur, everything was moving fast and in one hit she fainted not aware of what happened next, then blackout.

…

“My baby,” A woman screamed in tears as she rushed over the scene with her husband behind her. There were police officers and search parties dispatched as they searched the place of the crash for any survivors.

“You can’t go in there, ma’am.” One of the police officers told her, there were few people also around crying for their dead ones.

“Please search for my daughter, she took this flight, she was with a man, she…” Her voice choked as her husband held her hands. “Albert, ask them to search for Rose…”

“We are still trying to identify the bodies ma’am and there are no survivors yet, none for now…”

“My daughter is alive!” The lady barked at the police officer. “She is alive!” She held his clothes. “I only spoke to her a few hours ago before she boarded the plane, she told me she was coming, I told her I was waiting…”

“We would keep searching ma’am.” The police officer told her.

Albert held her shoulder and pulled her close to him. “Aisling, they would find our daughter, Rose would be found okay.”

Aisling looked her husband in the eyes. “I want to see my Rose, she is only four years old, I shouldn’t have left her… I shouldn’t have…” She held her husband’s shirt as more tears streamed down her cheek.

“Ah….” They heard a loud voice and both turned to see one man who was alive but almost unrecognizable as he was carried into an ambulance.

Aisling clasped her hands to her lips as she fell to the ground. “Rose, Rose...” Her heart rate quickened, if this was the state of this man, what more her child, if this was the state of the passengers who had boarded the plane, how then would her child be?

Albert squatted close to her as he cups her face with his hands. “She will be found, Aisling, our Rose is still alive and will be found. Let's trust the officers, let’s trust them, they will find our child.

A few hours later there were tons of bodies lying on the floor white sheets over them as families came to identify the bodies. Aisling who was with a blanket wrapped over her was still waiting for her child to be found, she has made up her mind not to leave until they find her child.

The police officer walked over to them and Aisling got up immediately as did Albert. “Did you find her?” She asked as she searched his eyes in fear of what would come out of his lips.

The police officer hesitated for a while before parting his lips. “Ma’am, due to your description of your daughter, we found a kid…”

“My Rose, where is she?” Aisling cut him off immediately as the officer paused. “Tell me.” Aisling looked around, she had kept her eyes wide open all this while for a sign of her daughter.

“I am afraid the child was burnt beyond recognition.” Aisling staggered back as Albert held her to steady her. “Would you like to identify the body?”

Aisling’s lips quivered. “That can’t be…” She shook her head. “My child…” Her voice was hoarse as the office signalled them to bring the body over and they did as he gently opened the face and Aisling who couldn’t stand the look covered her face on her husband’s chest as she fainted.

***

A hunter at the eastern coast of America who had set out on a trip to hunt for food for his wife and four-year-old daughter saw a deer as he chased the deer with his gun, his thoughts were to catch this and make a lovely meal for his family.

“This way Paige wouldn’t have to nag me all day and it would last for a whole week if we store it properly.” He muttered to himself as he chased the deer, but lost track of it at the end. “Shit!” He shouted, running his hands through his hair.

“This is so tiring, but what else can I do, I better catch something big to make her happy.” The hunter wiped off the sweat on his face as he turned to go search for another animal.

He stopped when he saw smoke from afar close to a riverbank so he hurried over. He gasped when he saw some part of a plane that had crashed.

“What happened here?” He clasped his lips as he saw a few dead people next to the crash. “Oh my god!” With trembling hands, the hunter took out his phone and dialled an emergency number. “I did my job.” He nodded to himself and turned to leave when he heard someone sneeze.

“Huh!” The hunter turned around as he gently stepped close to the crash. “I think someone is alive…” He looked closely as his eyes dilated when he saw a child covered with black coal from the crash fingers moved. “She is alive!”