When I was about thirty one, after being married for ten years, my parents were both tragically taken away from me. Even more tragically, there was no drunk driver, or truck driver that fell asleep at the wheel, to blame. I wish it had been that merciful for them. Not my poor parents.
They had been driving home during a storm, and the rain went from bad to flash-flood level. My dad never even saw it coming. The car’s brakes failed, or so the cops said, and they drove through a barrier and into the river. It had so much water rushing down it, that the car was immediately swept away.
Their car was carried down river, and eventually got stuck on a rock mid-river, almost a quarter mile from where the road had been. The police told us that the cause of death was drowning. I cannot imagine a more horrible way to die, to KNOW you are running out of air and will die.
I still get nightmares sometimes, although not as often as I used to. I would dream that I was with them, in the back seat. The car flies off the road, catapults into the river, and bobs like a cork until we go under. The water is flowing around the car so fast we can’t open any of the doors. One of the windows breaks and the water comes rushing in, filling up the inside. That is usually the part where I wake up.
Caitlin used to comfort me in the middle of the night, just hugging me tightly and whispering in my ear, that everything was going to be ok. Thankfully, I hadn’t had that nightmare in a long time.
Imagine my shock when I jolted awake, in the pitch black, after having that horrible nightmare again. This time it had been different. This time, it was Caitlin and I in the front seat, and Maddy was in the back.
My heart was pounding a mile a minute, and I was sweating profusely. I looked around, and barely saw my hands in front of my face, although I could feel there was some glass on my lap and the floor, crunching under my boots. I couldn’t make out much else, due to no moon and the complete darkness that comes from having no lights at all around.
I shook my head, and it started pounding, hard. That was a mistake, but it did clear my vision some after the spots went away. I unbuckled my belt, and thankfully, didn’t feel hurt too badly. Now I wish I had gotten a newer plane. This older style obviously had been lacking in some of the more advanced safety features that the newer ones had.
I looked around my seat, and found what I was looking for on the floor, my flashlight. I unclipped it, and turned it on. Instantly, I was blinded, but it cleared quickly. I took a look at myself for the first time since… well, since I crashed. I had no idea how bad the damage was, but the pontoons on this bird hit the water pretty hard. My legs hurt some, and I had the worst headache ever. I felt my head, but didn’t feel any wetness from blood, just a huge knot on my forehead. Pointing the light at my legs and arms, I had some minor scratches, but nothing looked serious.
After standing, and feeling the plane shift some, I made slower movements. I didn’t know how badly off I was yet, so needed to be very careful. I pointed the light outside, and could make out some palm trees to my right, and a beach out the front windows. To the left I saw a reflection of water, so the plane must have made it to shore, and lodged in the sand sideways. That was a relief. I could have been out to sea yet, bobbing along and hoping the plane didn’t sink.
Looking towards the engine, I didn’t see any evidence of smoke or fire, so whatever damage had been done to it, was done. I felt the plane rock again slightly, and figured that one of the pontoons must still be in the water. I would need to secure it before the tide came in or out and pulled my bird with it.
I walked to the right side door, and looked out at the ground below. I saw sand, and not much else. Opening the door, I jumped down and fell straight to the ground in pain. My right leg hurt a lot more than I had previously thought, and had buckled completely when I fell on it. I stood up again, and tried to put some weight on it. It hurt, but held. I thanked god for small miracles that, at least, I didn’t appear to have any broken bones. It still stung like a bitch though. No more jumping for me anytime soon.
I limped to one of the rear compartments, and got out some of the emergency supplies, along with the rope stored there, and then shut the compartment. I put the emergency kit on a seat in the front, then walked away from the plane to find something to tie on to. There was a palm tree that might be within distance, so I went for it. I wrapped the rope around the tree, tying it off as tight as I could. I walked the rest back to the plane, and managed to get it around the front strut of the pontoon enough to tie it off there as well. It was a miracle that it had been long enough. I think I might have had about two feet to spare.
With that done, I felt a complete mix of emotions, so took stock. I had crashed, god knows how long ago. I was on an island that didn’t appear inhabited, at least, not near my crash site. I was hurt, but not critically. My plane likely wouldn’t fly again without repairs. I had some emergency water on the plane, but that was about it. With no food to speak of, no immediate sign of people around, I realized I might be stuck here alone for a while. I pulled out my cell phone, but naturally it had no signal at all. I put it on airplane mode to conserve battery.
Ok, think James, think. THAT’S IT! The radio! I had radioed my position, at least what I had thought was my position, to traffic control. The problem, I now realized, was that this island didn’t have the dirt airstrip they thought it did, so they might start looking in the wrong place. I slowly climbed back into the plane, and flipped the switch for the radio. Sadly, the lights came on, and then went dark almost immediately. Either it was broken too, or my battery had drained sometime while I was unconscious.