Sarah's Story
The passengers cried out in horror as the ground came surging towards them. There were children crying. Adults screaming and the intercom repeating “ Please don’t panic, can you all please stay seated.” in a metallic voice. Then all at once it all went black.
I began to open my eyes. The plane had obviously crashed. I let out a moan of pain. I heard a voice calling for help. “Help. Help. Is anybody there? Please somebody answer.” “I’m here “ I called out. “Where are you sitting?” Raise your hand,” said the voice. I raised my hand and attempted to get out of my seat. “Are you able to get out?” I asked, with hope in my voice. “No the overhead locker across from me flung open and all the luggage fell on top of me,” explained the voice. “I think I can get out.” I said.
I knocked away my briefcase that was on my knee, which should have been under the chair in front of me, kicked away a piece of rubble, blocking my exit, and made my way into the aisle. “What is your seat number, can you remember?” I asked again with hope. “No sorry.” replied the voice. I heard the voice coming form the back of the plane, I made my way to the back of the plane, avoiding pieces of rubble, fallen luggage and ducked under a fallen light.
Eventually I came to the owner of the voice I had heard. She was a young girl, I would say only around the age of twenty or twenty-five.
“Are you OK?” I asked her. “Well my leg is quite sore, but I’ll be OK…once I get out that is!” she added with a chuckle. I saw the pieces of luggage on top of her. I attempted to take them off of her. They were very heavy, no wonder she could not get then off, because I am about thirty-five, and I just got them off her. She got out of her seat and fell. “Are you OK?”I said worried as I helped her up. I looked at he leg, and it was badly hurt, “I think we should get out of here fast!” she said pointing at the door.
We made our way to the back of the plane to the back exit. The plane had tipped over a little, so it was only a small jump to the ground. When we got out we walked a few metres and then sat on the ground for a rest. I looked at her cut, it was terrible. “Are you going to be OK, you know, with your cut?” I asked worried. “Don’t worry I’m a trained desert survivor.” she said positively. “Just my luck, I ‘m stuck in the desert with a trained desert survivor.” I chuckled.
I rummaged in my pocket looking for something to clean the girls wound with. I dabbled the wound carefully and cleaned it. “I’m Maria, by the way. What’s your name then?” I asked. “ I’m Linda” she replied.
Hours passed. I began to become agitated. “So do we just wait for the grass to grow or what?” I said irritably. “We just wait,” she said calmly. We waited for another hour, I began to get thirsty. Suddenly we heard a rumbling in the sky. We looked up and saw a helicopter above us. It landed in front of us.
A man came down from the helicopter, followed by three paramedics. “ Hi I’m John,” the man said, while the paramedics helped Linda. “I’m Maria and this is Linda,” I said.
“Well, you interested in a glass of water?” he asked. “I would LOVE one,” I said.
by Sarah S |
Roisin's Story
All the passengers were yelling in horror, the babies screaming and a red light showing "Please Sit". The air hostesses were trying to calm everyone down by giving out free peanuts. The ground came surging towards the plane. The plane was spinning hopelessly and people were shouting "Do Something!" Suddenly everything went silent. People were groaning as the cockpit of the plane stuck into the ground. People were groaning helplessly as the metal pieces were showering them in pain. Jerry was speechless as he was trying to wipe some blood off his new white cotton jeans.
Slowly and painfully Jerry stretched to the window to peek out. They had landed in a hot, hopeless desert where the only thing around was some cacti and a crashed plane. It was a scorcher and it wasn't Jerry's idea of a business conference. Jerry heard a woman calling, "Please, someone, help!" She finally got out and her name was Lucy.
"So", said Jerry, as he was sitting on the hot sand.
"We are in a very bad situation, this is no time for you to be silly’’, Lucy said anxiously. Suddenly a voice shrieked from the cockpit, "He’s gone". They decided not to go too close because they both knew that the woman was getting very upset.
"Soon a helicopter will come and rescue us, it's no biggie!” said Jerry calmly.
“You’d better hope so, Mister", said Lucy anxiously. After a while, Jerry went off to try and get some food and water.
"Hmmm" said Jerry suspiciously, “I wonder what I could find?" he said proudly. Jerry kept on yapping to himself to keep himself company. He kept walking on.
Lucy was sitting uncomfortably on the sand trying to think of a way to get out of the desert. "I know", Lucy said smugly, "If I kept walking on, I might find a camel and ride off in to the sunset. Wait, am I going crazy?’’ sighed Lucy. She kept looking around hopelessly, "Oh I wish one of those celebrities on the tv Show Survival would come and rescue me.’’
"Grr", roared Jerry as he was kicking the sand, "I'm sick of it, just sick, I'm glad Lucy isn't here or she would have a fit. Where are the free peanuts when I need them?"
The smoke was still rising and getting everywhere. Lucy was getting very frustrated."No food, no service and no luxury!"wailed Lucy. Suddenly Jerry came wandering back."Well, did you find anything or...anyone?" suggested Lucy. ‘’Umm..yeah..sure!’’
‘’Really” said Lucy joyfully.
"No. But I did find some dry grass!" sighed Jerry. Lucy was getting very red and anxious. It was getting late and the sun was setting."Well do you think a helicopter will come and rescue us now Mr. No Biggie?! "roared Lucy.
"Well....."
Suddenly they heard a motor. They looked up and saw a helicopter circling overhead. "You were saying?" said Jerry smugly.
"Grab on to the ladder!" said a metallic voice. "Are you kidding me?" asked Lucy.
"Look, do you wanna be rescued or not?" laughed Jerry. Lucy went first trying to stretch up in her new designer dress and hat. Jerry followed her. They climbed up but they were struggling! They finally reached the top step. "Yes we are free!" screamed Lucy. Jerry was trying to act all cool but he knew he was so relieved inside. Then the pilot offered them a drink of water. "Wow, that was some Desert Disaster!" thought Jerry.
by Roisin M
Eimear's Story
The seatbelt light flashed red. The three hundred passengers on the Aussie Airways 747 braced themselves for impact. Outside the windows the sea of sand was getting closer and closer, until it was all one could see. Seconds later, John felt a jolt than made him bash his head off the seat in front of his, and then everything went black.
When he came around, John was aching all over and blood was dripping from a long cut on his face onto his authentic leather briefcase. But looking around he saw that he looked a lot healthier than the other passengers in first class. A lot of them were bleeding, most of them had limbs twisted in funny angles and all of them seemed pretty dead.
The deathly silence was freaking John out, plus he knew that the plane could blow up at any second, so he decided that he’d live longer if he exited the aircraft sooner rather than later. The most obvious exit seemed to be the emergency exit door situated beside his seat. With a grimace, he pulled himself out of his seat and hauled open the heavy door. The drop to the ground was only a metre or two but because he was still in a lot of pain, it hurt a lot when he hit the ground.
Groaning, John wiped the sand out of his eyes. It was searing hot and all around him. Looking around he saw an overweight, middle-aged woman on top of the nearest dune screaming at the top of her lungs:
“Help! Help! My plane’s crashed, the Captain and everyone else in economy is dead, there’s no cell signal and my ticket is non-refundable!”
Mary was freaking out. She had fallen asleep on the plane as she usually did whenever she had a chance. But she had woken with a jolt and turned her head, expecting to see the smelly back-packer seated next to her complaining about her snoring. However he was asleep too along with all the other passengers in economy. Feeling groggy, she pressed the call button for an air hostess. When none came, she decided to go up to the cockpit and give those ‘good-for-nothing time wasters’ a good talking to, the kind she kept for special occasions. Confused, dazed and still half asleep, Mary stumbled up the aisle through the silent cabin. When she pushed open the cockpit door, she noticed that the cabin crew along with the pilot had nodded off too. Taking a curious step forward, Mary slipped in some spilled tomato juice and fell through a hole in the windscreen. Unfortunately, the second jolt she got as she landed in a pile of sand woke her up enough to gather her thoughts. Mary was screaming her head off when she saw a figure walk towards her. Looking closer, she instantly recognised the face from an episode of her favourite TV show, “The Upper Half”.
“Excuse me”, said the man she recognised as John O’Brien, owner of Aussie Airlines. “I know you are probably upset because the plane’s crashed, we are lost in the desert and have no mobile signal but could you please quiet down so I can think?!”
This was too much for Mary. “You can talk!” she screeched, “You’re only heading for some stupid conference or somethin’. For me, this has totally ruined my holiday!”
John was getting exasperated. In his entire career, he had never had to deal with a more difficult person. “Look. All my planes are fitted with an SOS radio which sends out a signal when you push the button in the cockpit. While I go push the button, will you make us a shelter of some sort?” John sighed as he pulled himself back into the wreckage. He doubted this woman could make anything but someone lose their temper.
Miles away in Darwin Sam looked up from her crossword as her boss ran into the room, red-faced and shouting “We have an SOS from a 747 gone down in the Great Sandy! Alpha Team will move out at 18:00 hours.” Sam smiled as she put down her newspaper. Her day had just gotten a whole lot better.
John’s suspicions were confirmed as he dropped himself out of the plane. The woman had only managed to build a feeble structure out of pieces of wrecked fuselage and pieces of other people’s luggage. As John set himself to work, the Woman stared on in awe. “Where’d ya learn ta do that?” she asked in her rich American accent. “Boy scouts” John replied, a smile lingering on his lips for the first time that day.
Sam was really looking forward to this rescue mission until she learned that they were going in by helicopter. “I should have guessed this earlier, seeing as the journey takes half a day, even by helicopter” she thought. Helicopters were her Achilles heel and she hated them.
It was getting colder and darker but the fire John had built would see them through the night. He noticed that the overweight woman had fallen asleep. John figured he should do the same.
Sam took a deep breath as the helicopter came in to land. She felt a bump and the nightmare was over. Her brain kicked into action mode. Stepping out of the ‘darn helicopter’ she saw the wrecked plane, a homemade hut and two figures asleep by a campfire.
When Mary opened her eyes, she saw that she had been shaken awake by a ‘young so-and-so’ in a rescue team uniform. Mary was about to give her good talking to, the kind she kept for special occasions, when she noticed the helicopter. People in her favourite TV show, “The Upper Half”, always travelled by helicopter. “Luxury, here I come!”
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