in California
1: Work of Fate
Nathan Fields stared out the window of the plane as it rocketed into the jagged gray and white horns jutting up from the ground that were the Himalayas. He and his twin sister Jenny Fields were on a trip to see their uncle, who lived in China. The Fields lived in England.
Nathan was twelve years old. He had light, light brown hair was almost blond, but not quite. He had dark blue eyes and lots of freckles on his face. He was on the shorter side—only 49 inches.
Jenny was much taller than him. She had hair that was a similar color to Nathan’s but a little darker, and her green eyes were a bit brighter.
As Nathan gazed out the window, he noticed the dark clouds roiling outside. “Look at that, Jenny,” he said, tugging at his twin’s sleeve. “Look’s like there’s a big storm coming.”
“Yeah,” she agreed.
Nathan and Jenny were traveling alone. That is, without their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Fields knew that Nathan and Jenny were responsible enough to fly alone until their uncle picked them up at the airport.
The next hour passed with no interesting events. By the time it had begun to get darker, Nathan was getting really bored. He announced this, but Jenny just ignored him. She was day dreaming. Nathan noticed that whenever she was bored, his sister’s eyes went blank and she sat perfectly still, as if her mind had been stolen and taken to a different world. She almost never acknowledged that she heard someone speaking to her during this time. Nathan doubted that she even did hear anything.
Soon everything outside the plane turned to dark gray and purple. Night was falling. Dark storm clouds still swirled around the plane. Nathan’s eyelids began to get heavy, and soon he was asleep.
A giant crackling sound pierced his sleeping mind and suddenly woke him up. His eyes flashed open. The plane was rocking back and forth violently. Lightning blazed and thunder roared in the black night beyond the walls of the plane.
“What’s wrong?” asked Nathan, looking around at the worried faces of the people sitting around him.
“The wind outside is really strong,” said Jenny. “It’s blowing the plane off course.” Suddenly the plane flipped completely over. Everyone on the plane started screaming. Nathan yelped in surprise and fear. The blood started rushing into his head.
Another gust of sadistic wind flipped the plane back into its right position as quickly as it had been overturned.
“This is dangerous,” said Nathan, fear inside his stomach. “The plane could crash.” Suddenly wind from behind made the plane lurch forward. Then it dropped straight down without warning. Nathan’s stomach flew into his head.
“No kidding,” said Jenny. Nathan gritted his teeth and fought the urge to barf as the brutal winds tossed and hurled the plane in all directions. The plane plummeted downward again, and this time it didn’t stop after a few yards. It went down, down, out of control, spinning, turning, twisting. Everything became a blur of sound and dull color. Screams filled Nathan’s ears. He knew the ground was getting closer and closer, even though he could not see it because of the darkness outside and because his eyes were closed. He knew he was going to die. It was inevitable.
One thought raced through his head amongst all the fear and dread. If I live to tell this tale, no one at school will believe it. Then he felt pain everywhere in his body, and everything was silent.
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