The stewardess was being very slow. Annoyed that she was being put on hold, Miranda Davis turned and looked over her shoulder for the woman she had ordered a glass of wine from nearly fifteen minutes ago. The man sitting next to her, who had been buried in a book until now, glanced over with her movement.
"Business or pleasure?" He asked referring, no doubt, to the fact that they would be landing in Hawaii soon. Turning her gaze to the tall, broad shouldered gentleman, Miranda shifted her hold on the magazine she was reading so that her glittering wedding ring could be clearly seen. She had no interest in the man beside her, other then someone to talk to.
"Neither," She said with a small smile. "I'm going home." The man arched both brows and put down the book he was reading. Miranda glanced at the title,
Forbidden
, it said in fiery red letters featuring a very realistic and graphic depiction of a half nude woman tied to a stone alter. She felt a slight wave of unease.
"You're from Hawaii?" He asked, stating the obvious and Miranda smiled nervously, twisting the ring on her finger. "Yes." Just then the stewardess finally came over with her order and Miranda took it gratefully, wishing it were something stronger, but she wanted to greet her husband, David, with a clear head. She had missed him terribly in the three weeks she had been gone and frankly she was looking forward to a long, hot bath and a good fuck. Never having been with another man, Miranda had no basis for comparison when she said her husband was fabulous in bed. He was a gentle, generous lover who demanded very little and gave a lot. Thinking of what awaited her she shifted slightly in her seat and tried to get a look out the window. The man was still watching her.
"Homesick?" He asked, and Miranda paused to get a better look at him. He wasn't classically handsome but he had an interesting face. He had very short dark hair and stoic green eyes. She would have bet money that he was single, single and looking, it was apparent.
She tried to sound to impatient. "A little, yes." The man's gaze slid over her wedding ring that she was twisting. He smirked, as if amused by something.
"Miss your husband?" He asked in a tone that was more than conversational. Miranda eyed the man.
"Yes…very much." She said carefully.
The man leaned over, very close to her. "I bet I can guess what you miss the most."
Miranda's eyebrows shot up as she stared at him. How dare he? "Excuse me?" Her tone was cold.
He smiled brightly and picked up his book again. "Sorry, I'll just go back to my book now." Miranda frowned and rifled impatiently through her magazine. She was not reassured by the fact that they still had three hours yet to fly before she was home.
Miranda was a beautiful woman. She was turning thirty-four in three weeks but she looked ten years younger. Her long platinum blonde hair was most often seen in a sleek French braid that hung nearly to her waist nicely complimenting her copper complexion and clear blue eyes. Today she had it pinned up in a neat twist that completely hit the secret of its luxurious length. She wore a cream-colored travel suit that showed the delicious curves of her magnificent body. Miranda was proud of her figure. She was always sure to eat smart and exercise daily, mostly for David who couldn't stand an ounce of fat, but somewhat for herself too.
The dipping neckline of the silk jacket extenuated her deliciously heavy breasts and its cinched waist, held in place by a delicate gold chain showed her catlike slenderness. The man beside her took all of this in from the corner of his eye, and Miranda could sense him watching her. She scanned the plane for an empty seat but they were filled to capacity. She clenched her teeth and picked up her wine to take a sip. The plane trembled and a goodly amount of the dark fluid splashed across the front of her jacket. Miranda frowned deeply as she called for a stewardess. She dabbed soda water on the fine silk as she inwardly seethed. She had wanted to look nice for David and now her best travel suit was ruined.
"Everyone, we're going through a pretty bad storm and might experience some turbulence, the captain requests that everyone fasten their seatbelts and please refrain from leaving your seats." The chipper young stewardess smiled sweetly at the passengers aboard and a collective sigh was heard amidst the sound of two hundred seatbelts fastening.
Glancing out the window, Miranda's stomach clenched at what she saw. Dark angry clouds swirled all around them, lightning flashed and the plane groaned as it hit another pocket of air. The sighing soon stopped and was replaced by an eerie silence as everyone tried to stay calm. The plane bucked and dipped in the storm and people grabbed for airsick bags. The putrid smell of vomit filled the cabin as the plane veered off to the left, and then the right and the smell of smoke filled the air. People began to panic, steward call lights went off right and left but they were all buckled in and not responding.
A sudden nosedive had Miranda grasping the seat in front of her to keep from slamming backward. Oxygen masks dropped suddenly from the ceiling and Miranda felt a wave of panic as she struggled to put hers on. Someone screamed and the plane started spinning, making everything blur and distort.
We're upside down
. Miranda thought.
I'm going to die!
It was clear the plane was in trouble. It spun and flipped through the sky like a fighter jet, but unlike a fighter jet, it was heading straight for the ocean. Screaming was heard as through the windows the ocean was rushing up to meet them. A sickening crunch was heard as one wing was ripped from the plane. Miranda screamed and then the plane hit and her world went black.
It was the cold, not so much the water itself that awoke Miranda. Surrounded by flaming wreckage and huge, angry waves, Miranda surfaced in the frigid water and felt a wave of burning pain overtake her. Her vision spun crazily as a huge wave lifted her high into the air and sent her crashing back down, down, down deep into the water. She couldn't breathe, she panicked, and then as she surfaced, strong hands were lifting her, pulling her into a dingy. She passed out again from the pain.
Miranda awoke to a throbbing pain in her temples and the sensation of constant movement that made her nauseous. She slowly, painfully opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was yellow. Shiny yellow, pushing herself up on one elbow she realized it was very early morning and she was in a yellow, rubber life raft…lost at sea. Panic overwhelmed her and she spun about. There was only one other person in the lifeboat, the man who had been sitting beside her and he was staring out at the water.
"Oh my god…" Miranda's voice shook. "Oh my god, where are we?" Pain throbbed in her head as she spoke and the man turned to look at her.
"I really don't know I'm afraid." He said calmly. Miranda searched for signs of other life, anything, anything but the miles of flat blue ocean that surrounded them. There was nothing to see, nothing but water. At least the storm seemed to be over. They were lifted high on ocean waves but set gently back down to be lifted again. Miranda tried to calm down, to take stock what they had to survive and of her condition. Her clothes were wet, dirty, and torn, but still intact.
The gold chain dangled uselessly at her side. There was no blood that she could see, but her head throbbed painfully. A gentle examination brought her fingers away red and she realized that she had a gash above her ear. Considering everything that had happened, it seemed she had gotten away quite lucky. Her hair was still halfway pinned up, long tresses of it falling down, some streaked with red. She pinned it back up with shaking fingers and turned her attention to the man who was watching her.
"Are you okay?" She asked him.
He nodded lying back against the raft. "I have a terrible headache and I feel a little sick but I think I'm all right."
Miranda swallowed. "Did…did anyone else survive? Do you know what happened?"
The man shook his head. "No I just grabbed the flotation device under my seat, you can thank me later. I didn't see anyone and I don't know what direction to go so I'm just letting the ocean carry us."
Miranda felt a wave of sickness wash over her. "We're lost at sea." She all but whispered and he scooted closer to her to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, it's going to be okay. They'll find us, today probably." Miranda swallowed. Her throat was very dry.