Lighting in the cabin was lowered. The turbulence was endured. Finally, peace.
He sat in row 18, slouching by the window. He'd got his hood up half-way up his head, and he'd gotten both ear-buds in - not with music, but to block out the annoying karen two rows up.
Her voice had been ripping at his head since liftoff.
"Baby, no—don't kick seat, baby! You want your tablet? No? Juice? Snack? Blanket? Gosh, people these days are just so impatient with children…"
Aiden grumbled to himself, "Lady, give that kid a nap… or a parachute."
Time went by. The cabin went silent.
Aiden slowly cast a glance behind himself. The woman and boy were at last asleep, heads askew, mouths half-open. Good. He slowly let out breath.
But as he turned around a second time, he did see something.
The boy.
He wasn't asleep
He was fully awake. Red, puffy eyes. Gazing directly at Aiden— no blink. Frozen.
Just observing.
Aiden winced uncomfortably
"…Well then
Then he went back to the window and raised up the shade curtain to glance once at the sky.
Only—
He stiffened.
In front of the panes of glass by the window came a black shape — tall, inhuman, with white luminescent eyes boring directly into his very essence.
Aiden's breath stopped. The universe beyond the glass was. off. No clouds. No stars. Just that shape. There, still.
Floating.
Wach
He blinked.
Gone
He rubbed at his eyelids. "I am just tired. It's just a reflection. A shadow. Maybe that karen's boy left a smudge—"
He glanced back.
The figure re-entered again — this time closer. Its face at the window. White eyes drilling into his.
Just a thin strip of glass divided them.
Aiden emitted a colossal shout and leaped backward, spilling his tray table.
The whole cabin jerked.
A baby began to cry. Someone swore. Karen sat up with a shock and got up to frantic screaming to silence. "What is that?! Is that turbulence?! Did someone handle my suitcases?!"
The intercom crackled with static.
Then there was that voice of the pilot—strained, trembling.
"Ladies and gentlemen. this is your captain. W-we're experiencing a radar blackout. I— I do not know what lies ahead of us. It's. not registering with instruments."
Be willing to give—"
He didn't complete the sentence.
The horizon jerked sideways.
Shouts filled the cabin.
Then—
Black.