Flight 426 Gone Missing, Alex Wittenauer

ALEX WITTENAUER, 11

-Michael Wallace-

“I’M tired of this Michael! I feel like I’m the only one trying here!” Lori screamed as she aggressively threw over a box of jewelry; all of her fake diamond earrings and wedding ring falling out onto the fl oor. “What do you want me to do?” I said, raising my voice. “You know this has been a rough past few months for me!” I said reminiscing on the old life I had. Times were simpler at the beginning of our marriage, I was set fi nancially, and I had everything I wanted. I had my college sweetheart and two young beautiful children. Things began going downhill after I had been laid off of my job, and Lori had to go back to work. We downsized to an apartment, and pulled the children out of their private school. Things just were not the same. “I shouldn’t have to harass you everyday to get a job and support your family! I’m sick and tired of this! I need a break.” Lori violently yelled, walking towards the closet to pack her bag. I tried everything I could to stop her but she seemed as if she already had her mind made up. She packed her bag furiously, stormed out the door, slamming it behind her. I had switched from the man she loved most to her biggest adversary . This was the last time I saw her. It was a week later I got a call from a disclosed number, “Is this Michael Wallace at 1729 King Drive?” A serious voice questioned. “Yes” I responded, “Who is this?” “My name is Kyle Schwartz, I work with the LFCU, Lost Flights Control Unit. Are you the spouse of Lori Wallace?” “Yes”, I hesitantly replied thinking of what possibly could have happened the night Lori left. “I am sorry to inform you that fl ight 426 to Las Vegas has been lost, and is assumed to have crashed. The lost fl ight is currently under investigation from my unit, but I would like to inform you that your wife is presumed dead. I am very sorry sir.” So much shock came to my body I nearly fell to the fl oor. I grabbed the chair next to me in fear that I might faint. My brain wandered and created an illusion that she was not really gone. It did not seem real, initially I thought this was some sort of cruel joke she was playing on me. Stuttering, I responded “That’s impossible, I don’t believe it.” “I’m sorry sir, we are looking further into the accident to see what happened. You will be alerted as soon as the investigation is complete.” The phone hung up, and I found myself sitting on a cold wooden chair feeling as lonely and broken as I had ever felt in my life. I had no job, wife, or hope to move on. That night was the most lonely night of my life, as I laid in bed I began to ponder what went wrong, where the trouble started, and how I could do nothing now. The next morning I found the strength to call the kids down, and tell them the wretched news. I saw the same reactions in my children that I found in myself, at fi rst disbelief, then realization of the situation. They were both struck with grief and sadness. A few weeks had passed, I had not found myself, and things were getting worse daily. I had no motivation to wake up in the morning, no drive to be successful, and no end goal in sight. I kept telling myself that it was all my fault that she was gone. On this same day, 22

something very strange happened that startled me. It was toward the end of day as the sun began to go below the horizon when I saw a strange car arrive at the house. I had never seen it before, and none of my friends had told me prior that they were planning to come over. I got up from the couch for the fi rst time in hours, and I did not believe what I saw. Walking towards me in an old, beat-up outfi t was Lori. I did not believe it was her, and that my mind might be playing tricks on me. I ran out of the house and looked at her, the real her, walking up to me with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. No words were spoken as we both grabbed each other, something I never thought would happen again. After a long while I looked at her and said “How are you here? Everyone was saying you were gone.” Whimpering in disbelief and joy. “Let’s sit down,” she responded.

-Lori Wallace-

That day was the worst day of my life, and the surprising part of it was that leaving my husband and kids was not the worst thing that occurred that day. I felt that I needed a break, things were getting complicated, and seeing Michael lay around all day, and me working to provide made me feel as if I deserved a break. I left screaming and throwing things, the last straw had been pulled. I packed an overnight bag and went to stay at my girlfriends house in Las Vegas. Once a year I would visit my longtime friend, Sarah in Las Vegas, and I fi gured that this was one of the best times that I could see her, and have time to myself. I headed straight to the airport with a bag that might last me a few days. As soon as I was on the plane, something felt off, I had never done anything like this before, and I thought that maybe it was my nerves getting to me; I was surely wrong. In almost no time into the plane ride, I woke up to hearing two men shuffl ing around their bags no more than two rows ahead of my seat. In that same moment the men stood up, and things began getting crazy. Both boys, one young and one older, began to threaten the fl ight attendant, and were pointing guns at them discoursing volubly “Get us to the cockpit!” The fl ight attendant hesitated in shock and did not respond in the same instant. “Now!” They screamed at her. The lady was now moving faster with her hands up, and leading them to the cockpit, where only seconds later both pilots walked out towards the aisle with their hands up. What appeared to be the younger boy was pointing the gun at them as the other one began to reroute the plane. “We will not be going to Las Vegas anymore!” He said with a mischievous grin on his face. Hours passed, and the foresight in my head predicted this was going to end very badly. We landed in a wasteland place that seemed a lot colder than the weather I was used to. Immediately the men started shuffl ing people off of the plane, and we became their prisoners. All around me were pine trees, pine needles, and the pungent smell of pine trees and pine cones. There was no civilization besides the other men that were there when we arrived, seemingly working with the men who had hijacked the plane. As night fell, the men would rotate a person to always be watching us with the same gun they had on the plane. For the fi rst time in a long time I missed my family, I missed coming home to my husband and kids, and I was sorry for the way I acted. Over the next week or two, I began to talk to the other people on the fl ight, and unlike others that had lost hope, I decided that I would try to get home to my family or die trying. I met two men, Don King who was a former electrician, and Bill, the original pilot of the plane. Both were very experienced in their jobs, both had worked for 23 years in this department. I began telling them about my plan to successfully leave this place and go back home. Throughout the last week, I noticed that every day around noon there would be a

thirty minute period in which all of the men that were keeping us would go into a room to eat lunch. During this time there were different poles that they would tie our wrists to with ropes. As soon as I noticed this I began making a knife to be able to free myself and others. Every day I would use this knife to make a small incision in the rope small enough to get my hand out and free myself. We quickly realized that our only option to get out alive was to steal the plane, without it we were lost. Don and I talked every day discussing the type of engine, fuel, and what we would need to get the plane running again. Every day for weeks we worked on gathering fuel by extracting gasoline from the men’s cars, and stealing different supplies to get the plane in the conditions it needed to be in. When the day fi nally arrived while the men were at lunch I untied my wrists and everyone else and we sneakily got in the plane. It was one of the most nerve racking things I had done in my life. Once in the plane, we found the GPS on the plane and realized that we were only an hour away from where the plane had taken off. We fi red up the plane, making a loud noise that I was sure would draw attention to us. Sure enough, I immediately saw the men that were holding us captive run outside and begin yelling at us. I frantically started moving around, taking orders from the pilot. As we began to take off, the men jumped in their cars and followed us as far as they could until they hit the tree line. “Pull up!” I screamed as we fl ed from the area. We got away just barely, and from then on the trip was short, and the landing was hard, but the crew and I rejoiced in the exciting moments we had with each other. I arrived at the airport, everyone shocked with the impossible journey we had somehow completed. As everyone stopped to ask us questions, I ran away with the determination in my head to make things right. I got in a cab and went straight home, and there I saw Michael for the fi rst time in so long. We both grabbed each other without saying anything, and I saw a look of disbelief in his eyes. I invited him inside to calm his nerves and hopefully make things right again. “Michael I am so sorry for how things ended, and now I realized how much I truly love you.” I said as I began to tear up. Still in shock Michael responded, “You are right we have been given another chance. I can admit now that I was being lazy, and the reason this didn’t work out was my fault.” “Michael don’t say that, we were both at fault, and all that matters now is the present, no longer the past.” He looked at me and smiled. At this moment the kids came into the living room and our eyes met. A screech of joy came to them as they ran towards Michael and I. Our arms locked, and Michael joined in on the big family hug. I wanted nothing more than to hold everyone I loved in my arms, I could stay there forever.