Chapter 11 - Michelle
I was wondering where Brent was taking me. I pretended to be annoyed by his vague answers, but really, I was just happy to spend some time alone with him. Being alone with him didn't mean we'd have to be doing some physical, although that wouldn't be so bad...No, it was getting away from all the people at the hotel, from my frustrations and insecurities around all the rich and beautiful people there. It was a chance to be with him, who knows where, and who knows what for, but to be with him, in the purest sense of just sharing time with each other.
After flying for a while, Brent said to me that "we're here," and as bands of bright primal red shone on my face I instantly realized what he meant and what this all had been for.
We were witnessing the sunrise from a vantage point I never experienced and could not have imagined.
The sun shone through the peaks of the mountains like an ever-welcoming beacon of the power of nature. I closed my eyes and felt the warmth on my face, and the doubts I had about this excursion melt away.
I reached my hand over to Brent and felt him squeeze it tightly.
"Brent," I said. "It's so beautiful."
Tears quietly sauntered down my face as I was overtaken by the beauty of this moment. The mountains ran out for a moment and the sun glistened on the waves of the ocean as if each wave was bringing its own piece of the sun toward us in offering.
"This is what I wanted to show you, Michelle," Brent said, still holding my hand. "This is why I woke you at such an ungodly hour."
I turned my head and smiled at him.
"It was worth it," I said, giving his hand another squeeze.
Brent turned and smiled back at me.
"I have flown up here before," he said. "When I need to get a sense of perspective. But only by myself. Always alone."
I could feel the intensity behind his words.
"It's wonderful," I said. "Truly."
"I'm glad you can appreciate it," he said. "I knew you would."
I couldn't stare too long at a time but I found myself ensnared by the beauty and the power before us. The silent sun stood welcoming us as if into another world, one just for Brent and me.
"A lot of people in this city can't appreciate this," Brent said, looking out the cockpit. "They can't let themselves enjoy it. Their minds are always elsewhere. The next paycheque, the next opportunity to make money. But I always imagined there was something more."
Brent looked at me tenderly and I felt the depths in his soul all calling me.
"I knew there was," he said. "I knew one day I would find it again."
Another tear ran down my cheek.
I could only smile at his words and feel the warmth each of them produced within me. I had never seen this side of Brent before. I knew he could be the heart of a party, or the brain of his business. But this sensitive side of his had eluded me. It was new to me, and made me wonder how else he had matured.
I knew we had a special connection, now. I felt it just as much as I felt the pull of the island bringing us closer like a magnetic beam.
But suddenly, the bright red glow of the sun was dulled by dark grays. Out the cockpit and into the horizon I saw clouds forming like a wall. Brent looked even more focused as he guided us steadily towards the island.
And then, without warning, a crack of thunder startled me and would have had me leap out of my seat were it not for the seatbelt keeping me secure.
"It's OK, Michelle," Brent said, as if reading my mind. "We'll get through this."
I merely nodded, too anxious for words.
A flash of lightning struck somewhere in the ocean and my eyes shut themselves in reaction to the sudden violent brightness that took over the sky.
Terrified, I remembered the news report yesterday about a possible tropical storm hitting the area. I didn't think nothing of it, at the time, and I began to regret ignoring the warning.
"We'll be OK," Brent reassured me again. "You trust me, right Michelle?"
"Yes," I said, remembering his same question from earlier. "I do, Brent."
"I'll get us through this," he said. "Don't you worry."
I felt the ever unwelcome grip of anxiety I had been so successfully banishing from me until this point try to unnerve me again. My heart began to race and my hands tightened around the grips on both sides of my chair.
The plane began to rattle as we were being hammered by the turbulence from the storm. It was if we were driving down a bumpy street, feeling shake after shake rattle us incessantly.
"Brent," I called out, "I'm scared!"
"We'll be OK, Michelle. I'll get us through this."
I reached my hand out across to feel Brent but before I could even cross the center, the plane titled sharply to the left, and I had to keep myself from falling out of my seat.
My entire body began sweating and my mouth was dry and I saw the clouds outside the cockpit become replaced with the mountains and then an indistinguishable coverage of trees as the plane tilted downwards.
"Michelle," Brent said as calmly as possible, "I'm going to have to take us down in an emergency landing. We land into that forest over there."
Emergency landing?! What was going on?
"Mayday, mayday," Brent said over the radio, "we have an emergency landing here off San Marti's point, ID is CAP7231, send a rescue team immediately, I repeat, we have an emergency -"
The plane shook more violently and Brent stopped talking as his hands tightened around the steering and I felt my eyes shut tighter than ever before, the vibrations crashing through my feet and inside my skull. I prayed that we would be OK, before an incredible shake rattled through the body of the plane and I only saw a moment of darkness before I lost consciousness.