Unexpected ever after chapter #1
Chapter # 1 The plane crashed my life into pieces.
I saw that
plane coming towards my neighborhood knocking off my entire world. As it strikes
the neighborhood the world went black. At first, I could hardly hear but then
the voices cleared out.
On June 24th
around 8:45 to 9 in the morning. I woke up early, it was Sunday. My wife and my
six-year-old daughter were still sleeping. I had toast with a cup of coffee for
breakfast. I kissed my wife and my daughter and headed towards my garage, for a
usual weekly car wash. I parked my car near the entrance gate. Where the sun
shined bright. My neighbor who was my distant relative too was back from somewhere.
Mehmet was holding his toddler while his wife who had their daughter in her
hands walked past greeting me. I shook hands with him. We had a brief chit-chat,
and then he went inside since they were tired. I headed back to my car to
continue. I sat in the car and switched the radio on while I started cleaning
the dashboard. At first, I thought I heard something but then I ignored it and
got carried away with the song playing on the radio. Something was off. I
lowered the volume to experience this shrill sound. I looked up in the sky
where I could see this enormous plane coming towards our neighborhood. It was
quite shocking because we had no airport nearby. That plane continued to get
even closer and much more massive. I could barely move in terror. I knew it would
take a few seconds to strike our neighborhood, but I prayed it wouldn’t.
“No, no, no
…” I chanted.
It was
getting closer and closer. I knew just a few more seconds and it was going to
crash. Alarmingly I froze with my eyes wide open and chanting turned into a cry
“God Please
no, no, NO … “ I screamed my lungs out.
A
tremendous flash with a loud bang of destruction, it’s like a thousand
lightning at the same time with unbearable sound. Massive explosion, so strong
that could cause perforation in the eardrum.
The world
went black. At first, I couldn’t hear anything as I got my consciousness back.
Gradually I could hear voices coming from a distance but then the voices
cleared out. It turned out to be howling, children screeching hysterically. My
ear was hurting. I could still sense that shrill sound. And my ear suffered
severe throbbing pain.
I was still
shaking in terror. I tried to open my eyes. I could feel tears running down my
cheeks. I coughed. I could feel heavy weight all over my body. The howling
continued. Eventually, I opened my eyes to see complete darkness. I couldn’t
even move. I wasn’t sure if I’m alive by then. I tried to ask for help from the
people I could hear but I couldn't occur a sound.
It was a
terrifying experience. I could now feel some liquid dripping down my head. I
closed my eyes and all I could imagine was that plane destroying my house.
“Alara.” I
cried.
“my baby,
Lord why?”
Someone
heard me. There were few men. I think they were from the rescue team. They
asked if anyone was stuck under the debris of the plane. But I thought I was in
the car when that plane hit the neighborhood. I was still in the car. That’s
where I fainted. I gathered all my strength to call out for help.
“Yes,
please I’m stuck in my car. Please help.”
I could
hear those men calling out for the rescue team.
I don’t
know for how long I have been stuck in the car. Miraculously I was alive. When
I was finally rescued, I saw millions of people around me with tired yet
smiling faces and screaming “Lord is the greatest”
“What a
miracle,” they said in surprise.
I was amazed
to see that it was already dark. It was hardly 10 in the morning when the event
occurred. When they placed me on a stretcher I asked for my family.
“Alara?
Have you seen my daughter and my wife?” I asked.
“They were
in the house. What time is it?” I asked but no one responded.
“Have they been
rescued already?”
One of the guys
replied, “It’s 9:33 pm.”
“Were you
alone in the car?” he asked
“Yes, I was
alone in the car, my family was in the house. Are they all right? I questioned.
“It’s been
a day, the rescue teams have saved many people and recovered many dead bodies
too. I hope your family is safe and sound, sir. Hope you meet them in the
hospital.” He said hurriedly.
“Take care,
and best of luck sir” he slammed the ambulance door right after he finished his
sentence.
This short conversation
was enough to make me anxious and I started panicking.
“My family?
How will I find them? How will I know they are fine?”
“Sir you
need to stop talking, relax take a deep breath, you’ll be informed about your
family in the hospital soon” one of the men replied.
“But he
said it’s the second day? How is that possible? It’s hardly a few hours when
the plane crashed.” I asked over curiosity.
“Sir more
than fifty families were affected. It’s been almost 47 hours. We have been
checking for hours if we found anyone alive in that rubble.” He paused for a
minute to inject the medicine.
“We hope
your family is all right. Do tell the inquiry team their names and ages so,
they can help you find them.” He continued.
“Now please
relax and pray for everyone, God is the most merciful.” He ended.
I was
feeling dizzy. “Alara my daughter is 6 years old. My wife Maria is 38… I love them … “and I fell asleep.
***********************
Maria was going
towards the rooftop. I asked her why is she going there. But she didn’t answer.
I followed her. I asked Maria where Alara was but she didn’t answer that too. I
called Alara.
“Alara, are
you there honey?” I asked clamorously.
Maria
turned and pointed to the left side of the rooftop.
“There she
is,” Maria said while walking towards Alara.
She ran
towards her and picked Alara and jumped off the roof. Leaving me to tremble in
terror.
I woke up
in fright to know it was just a bad dream. I had this nurse watching me. She
stood near my bed and asked if I was fine.
“Alara,” I
replied
“Who is
Alara?” she asked softly
“My
daughter and my wife. Are they Okay?” I asked
“I had a
nightmare about them, please help me find them” I pleaded
“Yes sir, we’ve
been waiting for you to wake up to tell us about your family. Let me call the
investigation team.” She said and left the room.
I was all
alone in the room thinking about how stupid I’d been all my life. I could have run
to save them both. “I should have … “I regretted it.
After about
ten minutes a bunch of people entered the room. One of them started speaking,
“Greetings Mr. …?”
“Aariz,” I
said
‘Mr. Aariz.
I am your doctor. You were fortunate enough to get over the accident with just damaged
tissues and a perforated eardrum due to the explosion. your blood pressure is
still not stable due to the trauma. We expect it to be normal soon. Is there
anything you want to ask?” the doctor paused
“My family.”,
was all I said.
“Yes, this
is Mr. Ahmed he will be investigating your family.” The doctor replied.
After collecting
all information, he left the room, leaving the nurse behind who was busy maintaining
my medical record.
I looked at
her, without being affected by the stare she kept writing. I let out a long
sigh of despair. Suddenly she stopped writing to look at me. “How long will it
take to get to know how my family is?” I asked with apprehension.
“Sir, I
cannot say anything about it because I don’t know.” She excused.
“Then tell
me when am I going to get discharged?” I questioned keenly
“Sir, where
will you go? Do you have any other relatives in the city?” she asked politely.
“Yes, I told
that officer about my wife’s parents.”
“Then soon
you are going to meet your family. By the grace of the Lord. ” The nurse said
with a smiling face.
“If God Almighty wills” I repeated with hope.
She turned
on the television, and kept the remote beside me, “I’ll be sending dinner for
you. If you want something do let us know.”
“Thank you”
I responded.
After some
time, someone knocked on the door. I was expecting dinner, so I called them in.
It was my
wife’s parents. They came running towards me and sobbing.
“How are
you, my child?”, my mother-in-law (Mother Mary) while kissing my forehead. In the meantime,
my father-in-law (David) hugged me tight.
Ignoring
their question I asked,” Where are Maria and Alara?”
Wiping her
tears she asked, “Have you eaten anything?”
Interrupting
our conversation, a man came with my dinner tray and asked if I wanted anything
else to which I asked for two cups of tea for them. They kept silent till the
man left the room.
“You look
weak, come on start eating your food.” My mother-in-law said.
“But have
you searched for Alara and Maria?” I asked eagerly.
“Yes, of
course, we did but haven’t found anything about them yet.” Wept my
father-in-law.
“We are glad
to see you. Now you are fine, we hope you’ll find out about them.” She paused,
“Now eat your food.” She served the food and continued “Mehmet’s (my neighbor) wife
is in a comma. Mehmet and the children were found dead.” She said in a low
voice.
“What? “I
yelled in shock, “Mehmet passed away?” tears rolled down my cheeks.
She pleaded
with me not to cry. But it took me half an hour to stop crying and eat. My
father-in-law carried on with the facts of fate. He kept explaining to me the
truth of life and death. After eating, the nurse entered to inform me that the
meeting hours are finished and my parents-in-law should leave. She gave me the
shots and left.
Very delightful story and eagerly looking forward for the next chapter
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