The Flight

The Flight
by
Raman Jalota

   George looked at his wife still asleep at 6 o’ clock. Must have been really tired. She didn’t look too good last night.   He put his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her.
   “Come on Kim, lazybuns.”
   She didn’t budge. He wrapped a tie around his neck and gently slapped her shoulder again.
   “Jesus fucking Christ!”
   He grabbed the bedside phone and dialed 911.
   “Hurry, my wife’s not moving.”
   “Is she breathing?”
   He threw off the blanket covering her and realized she had turned very pale - almost completely white. He followed the emergency operator’s instructions and tried to revive her. The ambulance arrived and Kim was wheeled into it while two technicians alternately tried to breath life into her unmoving body.
   He stared at the white walls of the emergency room as his worst fears were realized. Now, I must make funeral arrangements as the doctors perform an autopsy on her. Why is this happening to Kim? What will I do without her?

…..

   The phone kept on ringing, insisting he wake up. Mik held the phone to his ear and looked at the bedside clock. 2 O’ clock!
   “This is Mik.”
   “Doctor Skram?”
   “Yes this is Mik Skram. What is it?”
   “We have a very sick passenger that we need help with and she mentioned your name.”
   “Passenger?”
   “Sorry sir, let me explain. This is Captain Marcus. I am calling you from American Airlines flight 322.   We are making a detour to Stapleton. We will land there in twenty minutes. Can you come and help us? Our passenger has asked specifically for you.”
   “O.K. I’ll get dressed. I’ll be there as soon as you land. What are her symptoms? Where do I go at the airport?”
   “She has difficulty breathing. She’s fading in and out of consciousness.   We will be at concourse E, Gate 16. See you there, doctor.”
   He got dressed in a hurry and wondered which of his patients was in trouble. I think the guy mentioned it was a woman. Not breathing … I hope it’s not terminal.
   He was in his Lexus within five minutes and on Interstate I-225 within twelve minutes. As he turned to I-70 east a strange feeling hit him. The captain had mentioned landing at Stapleton. That couldn’t be. Stapleton has been closed for three years! Of course he meant DIA.
   He parked his car next to the entrance and rushed in. He looked around completely puzzled. The airport was deserted both inside and out. He walked up to the only person he saw in the airport; a female airport employee walking across the floor.
   “Excuse me, how do I get to concourse E?”
   “Did you say, concourse E?”
   “Yes!”
   “Sir, there are only three concourses at DIA. A, B and C. And there are no flights at this time anyway. No arriving flights and no departing flights either.”
   “No, no, this is an emergency. I am a doctor. I got a call at home from the Captain. He was going to make a detour and land here. There’s a passenger … a patient of mine … she is having difficulty breathing …”
   The unbelieving look on her face gave him a shock. She thinks I am crazy. What should I do, now?   He stayed in the concourse staring at any sign of a plane trying to land. Nothing. Did I dream this up? He slowly walked out to his car and sat gripping his wheel. There’s something wrong here? I couldn’t have imagined all this. The clock ticked past 3 O’ clock and he realized there was nothing he could do whether it was real or not. Slowly Doctor Skram drove back to his home and into a maze of unanswered questions.

…..

   “Mr. Marks?”
   “Yes, this is George.”
   “Sir, I am calling from the Holy Lady mortuary. We are terribly sorry, Your wife’s body … we can’t locate it.”
   “What do you mean, you can’t locate it. You picked it up yesterday afternoon. I saw her in the mortuary last night. What are you saying?”
   “We think it has been moved from our mortuary without our knowledge. I am terribly sorry. We have called the police.”
   “The police? I … I don’t understand this. I am coming down there.”

…..

   Kim Marks blinked her eyes. She felt overwhelmingly uncomfortable and tired. Am I drugged? Where am I? Slowly the hard seat of the airline dug into her back waking her up. She removed her seatbelt and stood up. A feeling of nausea hit her. She looked at the rest of the plane. It was almost half full. Most passengers seemed to be asleep.   She was alone in her row. She felt weak and confused. She sat down and rang for the attendant.
   A young woman came up to her and sat down in the empty seat next to her.
   “Yes miss?”
   “I … I am very confused. Where are we going? Why am I on this plane? All I remember is going back to bed last night …”
   “Oh dear! Am I the first one you have talked to on this plane?”
   “Yes … why?”
   “O.K. I’ll explain everything as well as I can. We are taking you home.”
    “But I was in my home! Last night … I remember clearly. I went to bed around ten and …”
    “Kim, you ended up in a place where you didn’t belong and we are trying to get you back to your home. You have been on this plane for twenty-four hours. You spent last night in this very seat!”
   How does this woman know my name? What does she mean? I wasn’t on this plane last night, was I?
   “I … I don’t understand.”
    “Everyone on this plane is going home. It’s a long hard flight, but we try the best we can. We hope everybody gets home before it’s too late.”
    Kim sat in her seat more confused than before. She tried to talk to the old woman sitting behind her but didn’t get a coherent response. She seems to be half-dead. Is everyone on this plane lost and confused like I am? As she walked to the bathroom, she realized that only a few of the passengers seemed to be healthy. Most were pale and sickly. Even the little kids seemed lost and confused. Some were sitting in contorted positions as if they had lost control of their bodies. She splashed cold water on her face and looked in the mirror. An ivory white Kim stared back at her.
    “Dear God! Am I sick?”
    She splashed more water on her face and rinsed her eyes. Her face remained deadly white and her eyes had no spark in them. She felt weak and exhausted, slowly she stumbled back to her seat.
She concentrated really hard, trying to remember what had happened. All she could remember was feeling very tired and wanting to sleep. What else? Think hard … harder. A name kept dancing in her mind. Skram … Dr. Skram … Dr. Mik Skram … who is he? Why do I remember his name?

…..

   The phone rang just as Mik drifted into deep sleep. He jumped up and stared at the clock. 2 O’ clock again! He rubbed his eyes and reached for the phone.
   “This is Dr. Skram.”
   “Sir, this is Captain Marcus. I asked for your help last night. Do you remember?”
   “I … I don’t understand. I went to the airport and I found out there weren’t any flights at this time. Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?”
   “Dr. Skram, listen carefully. I want you to come to the Stapleton airport. I’ll ..”
   “What do you mean Stapleton? Stapleton has been closed for years.”
   “Please sir, I can only land at specific times and places. If you fail to make it to the airport, Kim Marks will die. Please be there in twenty minutes.”
   He dressed slowly. I don’t have a patient named Kim Marks. This is very confusing! What does all this mean? What am I getting into?
   He was in his Lexus within five minutes and on Interstate I-225 within ten minutes. As he turned to I-70 west a strange feeling hit him. I am going to an airport that has been closed for years based on a phone call from who knows where from. A patient who isn’t my patient anyway! I wonder what kind of danger am I walking into?
   He turned left on Quebeck and immediately turned left again. This is such a familiar place. Familiar but deserted!   He drove using his memory. This is where I need to make another left to get to the ramp. This looks like the gate for United.   This whole damn building is so dark. What am I doing here? How far down is American?
   Suddenly lights flashed ahead and faded entrance doors numbered 12 were visible. He parked at the gate and opened the car door.   The sound of a plane overhead was loud and clear. He watched it mesmerized. The plane seemed to be pitch dark, descending to the runway.
   He walked in. The airport was deathly calm. Whatever it is, I must see it through. He walked towards the stairs. Before he reached them, the escalators on both sides started. Stunned but pleased, he rode the escalator up and followed the lighted corridor to his left and then the lights to his right leading him down concourse E. The silence was overpowering. Quickly he walked down to Gate 16 and looked through partially boarded windows.
   A plane was taxing towards the concourse.   As it got near, he could make out a few lights inside the plane. It stopped near the gate and the gate moved enveloping the airplane door in its canvas and metal arms. He walked up to the door and watched as the plane’s door slowly swung open.
   Two attendants dressed in deep blue clothes with red stripes were helping a woman down the slight incline of the connection.   She seemed barely conscious. They came up to him and stopped. Instinctually he put his arm around the woman and stared into the dull gray eyes of the female attendant on the other side of the woman he was now holding.
    “What’s going on? I don’t ….”
    “Are you Dr. Skram?”
    He was shocked by the monotonous metallic voice of the attendant.
    “Yes. Is she the one I was called about?”
    “Yes. Her name is Kim Marks. She is recovering from death. You have to do just one thing and one thing alone.”
    “What?”
    “You must get her to a normal life – back to her husband within twenty-four hours. We can put her back without catastrophic problems.”
    Kim opened her eyes, “Dr. Skram?”
    “Yes, I am Dr. Skram.”
    “Please help me. Only you can help me. Don’t ask me why, but all I can think of is your name. You are the only one.”
    The attendants started to move back towards the plane.
    “What’s wrong with her? Where do I take her?”
    “She is coming back to life. She will tell you where you need to take her. You are the only connection she has in the living world that can save her. You must. After all you are a doctor!”
   He slowly walked her to the red plastic seats by the gate. She sat down. He felt her pulse and lifted her eyelids.
   “Your pulse is a little weak and your eyes a little dull, but you don’t seem to be in too bad a shape. You do however look terrible, you do look like you are walking dead.”
   Kim tried to smile, ”I now understand. I must have been dead. That’s what the attendant had tried to tell me. She had said that I ended up in a place where I didn’t belong. This must be the only means to bring someone back.”
   “Let’s get to my car. Can you walk? Walk slowly, we have quite a ways to go.”
   Slowly she moved her feet and with her hand on his shoulder and his arms around her they walked down concourse E. As they neared the main corridor, her body seemed to straighten up and she started walking almost normally. He watched in amazement as she stood on the escalator and rode down without his help. He ran ahead of her and opened the car door for her and looked at her face.
   “Amazing, your face seems to be getting a little color. How do you feel?”
   “I feel … well, I feel alive!”

…..

   George sat on his living room sofa with his head in his hands. What’s going on? First Kim’s body is missing and now the hospital can’t find her death certificate or the autopsy report either!
   His confused mind slowly overloaded and he drifted into sleep. He could see himself lying in bed; and right next to him – was Kim. She looks so peaceful as she sleeps. A fog was creeping into their bedroom. Kim slowly drifted up. She was in the bed and drifting over the bed. It was as if she had split into two. She turned and looked at him and slowly went through the ceiling.
   Now she was over the roof of the house and shooting upwards at a fast speed. He stared as hard as he could – when he blinked, she was gone. The clouds had darkened, hiding her from him.
   He screamed, “Where are you Kim? Come back Kim.”
   The night slowly turned everything into black. Then the sun started to creep into the darkness and like a ray of light a white patch of fog came drifting down from the clouds. It slowly took shape and Kim drifted back into his bed. He awoke soaked in sweat and alone.

…..

   By the time George arrived to pick her up, Mik had solved part of the puzzle accidentally as they were having a cup of coffee.
   “You said that you kept thinking of my name for some reason, but can’t figure out why.”
   “That’s right. I kept thinking of Dr. Skram, over and over again, as if my life depended on it.”
   “Well, ‘Kim’ is of course ‘Mik’ backwards … and Jesus; ‘Skram’ is ‘Marks’ backwards. Your name is exactly my name except backwards!
   “What do you suppose it means? Why would I think of my name backwards as I sat in a plane full of half dead people?”
   “You know, that woman said something that was very puzzling. She said you were recovering from death! And this whole thing has been very bizarre. That plane landed on an airport that hasn’t been used in years and the same plane seems to have come back to drop you, two days in a row.”
   “I remember something about one of the women on the plane telling me that I had ended up in a place I didn’t belong … and they were trying to get me back.”
   “Do you suppose, you were somehow mistakenly removed from this world but before it was too late?”
   “And thanks to you, I was able to connect with someone who could bring me back.”
   She got up and with tears in her eyes kissed him thankfully. Dr. Skram fidgeted.
   “How old are you Kim?”
   “I am forty-five, why?”
   “I am just trying to see how it all fits. When were you born?”
   “Fifty-three, I was born on May third fifty-three, 5 – 3 – 53.”
   “There it is again! There’s a definite connection between the two of us. I was born on March fifth nineteen-thirty-five! 3 – 5 – 35 … again same as yours but backwards!”
   Kim stared at him, this revelation was more confusing than before but somehow cemented her rationalization of the events of the last three days.

…..

   “ I don’t believe this.” George screamed as he held Kim in his arms and kissed her repeatedly.
   Kim explained quickly, “Mik and I are soul mates. There’s a connection so strong between the two of us that he was able to bring me back from death.”
   “I was angry when the mortuary lost your body but amazed when the hospital couldn’t find your autopsy report. It was as if the death that I had witnessed was being erased from the world I was living in!”
   Mik patted him affectionately, “We are two separate beings but are as close as twins in the womb. There’s no other way to explain it. I feel Kim and I are one person living two lives in separate bodies.”
   They slowly departed, tears flowed from their eyes as the two of them embraced for a long time.

…..

   The phone rang almost immediately after Mik had found a way to get into the bliss of sleep. He lazily rubbed his eyes and stared at the Clock. His heart started racing … 2 O’ clock again! No! This can’t be happening. It’s over and done with.
   “This is Mik.”
   “Doctor Skram?”
   “Yes, this is Mik Skram. What is it?”
   “This is captain Carmus. I am calling you from American Airlines flight 233. We will be landing at Stapleton airport in twenty minutes. Be there. This is your flight. The one you missed three days ago.”

THE END    2888 words

Copyright © 2004 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.

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