Sky High 10: Survivors

“Hello, everyone. We will need to make an emergency landing, which you’re probably not surprised to hear. But there’s one thing you need to know. We’ll be landing in a lake.”

Sky High 9: Preparing to Ditch

“Okay. Let’s talk business. I have no idea if we’re dead or alive but if we’re flying in circles someone must have programmed it and it wasn’t me.”

Sky High 8: Flying in a Circle

Rob’s wife, Gabrielle, chose this moment to try and burst into the cockpit. She hit the door with her whole body and started banging on it with her fists until Michael opened. Her face was wet with tears and her eyes shot daggers but it was her mouth that made both pilots gape. It had a thick ring of cold sores in full, painful bloom.

Sky High 7: Musings on the Subject of Death

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath.

“You know it as well as I do,” Michael continued while she fought the urge to tear the yoke out and smash her first officer’s head in with it. “Bianca?”

Sky High 6: The Rational Explanation

Gary burst in.

“Something’s wrong with the stewardess!”

Bianca started breathing again.

“What is it?” she asked.

“She was sitting next to me and she just doubled over and started moaning. It’s a bit scary,” the boy added, flushing.

Sky High 5: Blood

Bianca sat back in her seat and began cracking her knuckles. Michael wasn’t here to see her and he was the only one who knew she did this in moments of extreme tension.

Sky High 4: It’s Not an Experiment

Michael unbuckled his belt and stood up. As he walked to the door Bianca caught a whiff of freshly washed clothes. Michael’s smell, all too familiar even after three years.

Sky High 3: Surprises Keep Coming

Someone knocked on the door. A man of about forty, with a cleanly shaven head and a goatee, in a Rammstein T-shirt and jeans. He patiently waited for a signal he could come in. Bianca gestured him in.

Sky High 2: White Light in the Sky

The scenery was back. There was blue sky above them and dark grey peaks below them, some with snow caps, and a few probably deep blue lakes scattered here and there. Except the sky was now everywhere around them, too, because there was no plane to prevent the view. Bianca and Michael hung suspended in the air, both still sitting on invisible seats. Michael’s cursing stopped abruptly as both realized they were not falling.

Sky High 1: Before the Flight

What does it take to become a pilot? It takes numbers. A lot of numbers. It takes patience and focus, and confidence. But more than anything, it takes love. If you love flying, if you’ve dreamed about it since you were little, you’re halfway there. Oh, and learning early on to tap your head while rubbing your belly helps, too.