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Another Chance

Chapter 1

The plane jarred slightly as it hit a bit of turbulence. Few people noticed, turbulence was just another annoyance of flying on top of the all too familiar crying children and arguing couple. While some hated flying due to these troubles that seemed to rear their ugly head on every single flight for some, Garret rather enjoyed it. The thought that he was traveling at six hundred miles per hour over the Pacific Ocean was exhilarating. He was making a trip that would have taken weeks before the invention in under a day. He was always a half glass full kind of person, trying to find the good in the bad in everything. He found being pessimistic just a quick way to depression and he wanted none of that. Depression seemed to run in his family. His father had died when he was young from a mining accident which he could not recall. It had dragged much of his family down. He and his brother had to work after school while his mother slaved away, working as a maid. No one was happy during those days, but when he had finally gotten out, he made himself a promise never to be like that again.

Another bit of turbulence shook the plane, shaking some people awake from their awkward slumber. They stretched their bloated les out as much as they could, fighting off cramps and grumbling. Garret ignored it and went back to his book. It was just something he had picked up at the airport. It was more of a biography than a story that went over the early life of Mozart in a third person narrative. It wasn't good, in fact, Garret never would have touched it if he hadn't forgotten his own books at home on his bed, ready to be packed. He was nearly finished with it now and there was only a few hours of the flight left.

Pressing on the screen that was built into the back of the seat, Garret brought up a map of the flight path. They were in the middle of the ocean with nothing for hundreds of miles around. That would change once he landed in Australia which was where his brother lived. Somehow, his brother, Jeremy, had convinced him to go Down Under for a get together since they hadn't seen each other for a few years. They weren't as close as many brothers, but they weren't distant either. After Garret had moved out after high school, he had sort of fallen out with everyone he had ever known for some time while he focused on his own life. Now he had time to fix all of that and he was rather excited.

Garret turned off the screen and went back to his book. He flipped through a few pages until he couldn't concentrate on it anymore. It was just too dull for him. The book was by some historian who decided to put a long list of degrees he had on the inside of the front cover. It just made the man seem condescending.

Leaning down, Garret picked up a small backpack he had as a carry on and unzipped it. After shoving the book in a random pocket, he gazed down into the dark maw, using the overhead light to help him see if there was anything in there which he could use to help make the last few hours go by faster. He had a few snacks, cookies and gummies along with his mp3 player which he had carried around for five years despite never using it. Maybe now would be a good time. He could go down memory lane by listening to the horrible music that he used to be in to.

"Why not." Garret said to himself quietly, not wanting to wake up the bear that was sleeping next to him. The Ursine had been that way for most of the flight, only waking up when the lunch of greasy noodles was served. He had a blanket draped over his lap and a pillow on his shoulder with a small, but growing wet mark on it from drool. He was a big guy, taking up both armrests and even a bit of Garrets seat. Luckily, Garret was the opposite. He was a small puma, the runt of the litter and didn't require much room to begin with.

Garret drug out his headphones and the old, red mp3 player which was covered in scratches from having a near permanent residence inside a pocket. He popped one of the rubber buds into his ear, pushing it in a bit so it wouldn't fall out if there was more turbulence. He scrolled through his long list of music. Most of the names and artists were no longer recognizable, so he started on a random shuffle. The sound of light jazz began to filter into his ears. It was nice.

It wasn't long before the sound of bass and a saxophone lulled Garret to sleep. His head rolled to the side where it came to a rest on the pulled shades of his window which had been keeping the glaring sun out. He didn't get to sleep long as the plane jumped. Those who weren't buckled in like they were supposed to were thrown from their seats. An otter flew over his seat where he landed face first into the aisle. His nose broke on impact, leaving a splotch of blood as he rolled around, holding onto his face. Those who weren't thrown about like dolls, held onto the nearest thing for dear life. In Garret's case, he grabbed onto the bear which was slowly coming awake, unsure of what the commotion was.

A bit too late, the seatbelt sign above everyone flickered on, but then turned off several second later along with every other source of light. The cabin was thrown into darkness and screaming as the plane shook more and more. The poor otter's claws slashed at the floor as he went sliding down the aisle until he disappeared into the back of the plane, his screams slowly dying away behind the rest of the passenger's panic.

Garret reached for his window with and arm that was being pulled back by g-forces. He extended his claw which gripped the bottom of the shades which he cracked open. The bear was now holding onto his arm as well, a look of shock on his face. As the shades came up, Garret was blinded by the sun. He squinted to see what was going on outside of the plane.

He had a seat next to the wing... if the wing was still there. The giant piece of painted white aluminum that had carried a jet engine was gone. There was nothing but air where the essential flying apparatus once was. All Garret could see was the world go spinning by, the clouds swirled around the plane as the blue ground rapidly approached them. It wasn't ground though. As it got closer, the grand expanse of the sea came into view. Nothing for hundreds of miles.

As the plane dropped, gravity stopped its greedy hold of everything in the plane. Cups, luggage, anything not strapped or bolted down began to levitate. It would have been amusing under better circumstances, but it wasn't, for obvious reasons. Those who had been previously tossed around, if they were still conscious, flailed their arms around uselessly as they bumbled through the air. Those that were unconscious listlessly drifted about, bumping into other floating refuse such as cups and orbs of liquids. They were all totally helpless to do anything about it.

Garret couldn't believe his eyes as precious seconds flew by just as fast as the water below got closer. He could only stare out the window with his mouth agape and eyes glassed over. The screams and panic of the cabin was drowned out into just background noise as the sound of a heartbeat... his heartbeat, pulsed in his ears. His body tensed up as a few other people close by saw the same view. It only confirmed their worst fears, the plane was going down.

It was the last few moments, no longer than a few seconds before the moment of impact that was the longest. While Garret didn't know exactly what to think, his head was filled with images as his life flashed before his eyes. The hard, the easy, all of it up to this point zipped by so fast and yet, he had never seen them so clearly.

The plane hit the water at terminal velocity after tumbling and spinning nearly thirty thousand feet out of the air. Everything slammed down with great force as the water turned as hard as concrete, shredding the plane apart and killing most of the inhabitants instantly, their bodies smashed down and scattered into the sea that began to rush in and swallow everything.

Garret was not one of those who died on impact. Somehow, he was still alive and unscathed apart from a deep scratch on his arm where the bear that had held onto him was torn away. He didn't know where the bear went, he was simple no longer there and the whereabouts of the other passengers was hardly on his mind as he was engulfed the white, salty waves of the ocean. The water, despite being in the tropical Pacific, felt cold and harsh.

The plane then began to seep as the bits and pieces that were still held together by frail bits of metal and plastic became filled with water.

Garret gasped as he was continually smashed into by water and debris. He struggled to regain some form of lucidity. He looked about. Most of the plane was gone, in fact, the row in front of him was gone along with the entire front half of the plane which had already sucked down into Davey Jones' Locker. Soon, Garret would be going down as well if he didn't do something fast.

Realizing that his seat belt was still there and attaching him to the doomed wreckage, Garret tried to undo the simple latch, but it held fast. He pulled at it while the water reached his neck, it wouldn't budge. He cursed at it until the water went over at his head where he was forced to hold onto a little bit of air. It was only seconds before his lungs began to burn, all of the adrenaline and fighting with the buckle was draining his precious oxygen supplies fast.

See that it was pointless to deal with the buckle, Garret used his claws to attack the straps. He dig them into the material, thinking that they would tear away easily, but there was a reason why the straps fared much better than the plane. His claws left little holes in the fabric, many little holes, but whenever he tried to rip them, they straps remained intact.

At this point, thirty seconds after impact, Garret's cheeks were puffed out as he fought the urge to inhale what would be his last breath. His struggles grew more desperate and frantic and his claws ripped more violently until the belt just seemed to disintegrate under his assault.

Garret immediately began to float upwards as he kicked off of his chair and out of the plane. He didn't look back at the wreckage as it sank since he had seen, in his peripherals, another person struggling. He didn't see who it was or if they were struggling with their belt like him and he didn't want to see. He kicked with his legs as hard as he could, propelling him towards the surface that seemed so far away. His arms reached for the barrier that separated air from water, each kick getting him closer but using up more of his depleted oxygen.

Just meters from the surface, Garret's lungs gave out and his reflexes kicked in. As CO2 rushed out, salty, burning water came in. He swallowed mouthfuls before his face broke out into the air. He sputtered and gagged, puking out a stream of water before he took the sweetest breath of his life. It had never felt so good to do something as mundane as breathe. He took in lungful after lungful of the life giving gasses. After the panic of drowning finally went away, Garret was able to look around at the truly hopeless sight around him.

There was very little around him from the crash, most of it sunk, but some of the life vests had popped free of their hidey holes underneath the plane seats and floated up. Some luggage was there as well along with a lot of trash. Past that was just water, water as far as the eye could see, going on to the horizon where even more ocean was. It seemed hopeless to him as the reality of it all sunk in. That reality was short lived however.

A shadow, at first small and easily missed, hidden among the waves, grew to encompass the floating cougar as he swam towards the nearest life vest. He looked up just in time to see something come crashing down right on top of him.