Last Resort

The car’s engine had been running for the past 15 minutes now, waiting to drive away from home. But no, good old drama queens Brian and Jimmy had to stall. “Where the hell are my socks?!” I heard Jimmy screech from upstairs.

Yes, unfortunately I was the one that the group voted off the island…the island being the Escalade outside…and that all meant that I had to go back inside and be their coach, cheering them along to get the hell out the door. “There are lots of socks, dude, just pick some!” I yelled back, feeling too lazy too walk upstairs.

I heard footsteps on the stairs and glanced up from the fascinating tiles on the floor to find that only Brian had come down, carrying his luggage over his shouldershowing off his amazingly strong arms . “Wow, are we really stalled because Jimbo can’t find some socks?” he asked rolling his eyes, presumably starting conversation.

“Yeah,” I laughed, “that guy gets weirder and weirder each day.”

Someone’s rather noticeable coughing ruined any other chance of us continuing our conversation. We both looked over our shoulders to see Jimmy standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, trying to make himself look intimidating. “Ashleigh, how could you say something like that? You know that I can never leave without my lucky striped socks!” he exclaimed, showing his inner hurt and doing one hell of a job at getting me to feel sorry for him.

I gave him a hug and said, “Oh Jimmy you know I would never mean something like what I said! You’re not weird at all.”

“Whoo-hoo!” he shouted, running out the door and nearly forgetting his suitcase.

Me and Brian looked at each other and shook our heads with a laugh as he carried Jimmy’s bags out and I locked the door behind us.

“About damn time!” Matt shouted as the three of us got in the car. He pulled the car into reverse and back out of the driveway toward the airport.

“This is just such perfect timing. A vacation, especially a free one, is all I need right now!” Emily said, reclining back in her chair.

“Agreed,” Sabrina said, “but wait, where the hell are we heading again?”

“Bermuda, I thought the letter said,” Johnny piped up.

Natalie snorted, “That’s such a random location. I mean, who the hell is all like ‘I’m going to Bermuda for a vacation?’”

“Apparently we are,” Matt replied as he got onto the highway.

“Hey now as long as it’s nice and sunny with a beach, that’s all I care about,” Amy interjected.

“Amy, we live on a beach 24/7 though…so really this isn’t much of a vacation,” Emily said.

As I was zoning in and out of their conversation, I thought about something. Bermuda really isn’t exactly the most popular vacation hot spot. Actually, it’s not even travelled to that often…seeing as that’s where the Bermuda Triangle is. You know that’s that one area in ocean where no one was ever seen coming out of alive?

“Hey, Ash, are you alright?” Brian asked, pulling me from my turbulent thoughts.

“Um…not really, actually.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, wrapping an arm around me and bring me closer to him.

“I don’t know, I just have a bad feeling about this trip all of the sudden.”

“Oh relax, Ash. I’ll be here next to you the entire trip. So how could anything bad happen?”

His words were almost the exact remedy for this feeling I felt. Maybe it was just a way for my mind to push my fears and concerns away for the time being… I just hope that none of these things bothering me actually came true.

We finally arrived at the airport and stampeded out of the car. The airport was crowded, which was never a good thing when you’re walking around with rock stars. “OH MY GOD AVENGED SEVENFOLD!” one girl shouted. The next thing we knew, we were sprinting down the aisles and up stairs until we reached our destination.

Since this was a private plane we were flying on, there was no waiting line or set time to leave. We got to designate that. We each gave our tickets to the lady in front of the terminal. The terminal was unusually dark, with light coming from only a couple of dim lights on the walls.

As I stepped on the plane itself, I glanced to my right just by chance and I could’ve sworn that I saw a reflection of some sort – like off of a camera lens. Hmm, it must just be a security camera in there, right? Zacky was walking behind me and bumped into me, seeing as I had come to a complete stop.

“Whoa, sorry about that Ash, are you alright?” he apologized.

“Oh it wasn’t your fault, dude. Um yeah I’m fine…I just thought I saw something.”

I shook my head to try and clear my mind as I walked forward onto the plane and away from the safety of land for the last time.

The inside of the jet was absolutely amazing. There were tan colored leather seats, each with their own armrests and cup holders. There was a large flat screen TV suspended from the ceiling near the cockpit. Also, there was a rather impressive stereo in a shelving unit toward the door. Natalie hopped over to the stereo and put in a Bullet for My Valentine CD and cranked the volume so we could all rock out. Jimmy pulled out the beer and we basically started to have our own little party up in the sky.

I had only a couple of beers, and yet already I was starting to forget my problems and just relax entirely. Brian was telling the truth about what he had said earlier – he hadn’t left my side so far the entire ride and he was ready if I needed to tell him anything. I was currently reclined up against his chest and relaxed as he ran his fingers up and down my arm. But then he took a bit of a detour and poked my stomach repeatedly, causing me to laugh uncontrollably. “B-Brian stop!” I pleaded between laughs.

And to my surprise, he finally stopped just as I had somehow managed to get even closer to him. Our eyes locked and I could tell that he was about to say whatever it was that had apparently been on his mind this whole time. “Ashleigh, I have super important question for you,” he said seriously, not once breaking eye contact. I nodded for him to continue, not even bothering to hide my smile at this point.

“Will you go out with me?”

Those six words were the words I had been waiting to hear him ask me ever since I first met him. I leaped up into his lap, and practically choked his neck as I held him close. “Of course I will, Brian,” I replied pecking him on the lips.

We both shared a smile…and I had no idea that this moment of happiness would encourage the turmoil ahead of us.

*The Pilot’s POV*

When I first heard that we would be carting around a bunch of rock stars, I was incredibly skeptical. And at first looks, this band looked like all the rest. But I was wrong. The singer, Matt, shook my hand as soon as he saw me and he thanked me for taking time out of my schedule to fly them to their vacation destination. I barely even knew what to say, that’s how stunned I was.

Anyway, that definitely did not help my conscience at this point. At first, the money I was being offered was enough to make anyone forget about human compassion. But now it’s starting to get to me. I can’t just crash this plane and risk their lives like that, especially since the whole scheme is set up so that my co-pilot and I survive. Why couldn’t they have picked someone more qualified for this job?

I mean, if I crash this plane as planned, then these people will die either in the crash itself or on the island at some point. It’s disgusting not only that someone would think of such a show, but that the viewers will probably be eating this shit up. This could have the potential to be the next best show…and that’s alarming.

“Hey, Mark what do you think that is up ahead?” the co-pilot, James, asked.

I squinted my eyes a little to further improve my vision. There was a dark cloud mass up ahead that looked like it was about ready to consume the white clouds that we had been flying through previously. “It looks like we’re gonna enter the eye of the storm…”

“We’ll be alright, won’t we?” he asked nervously.

He wasn’t fully aware of the whole ‘we survive no matter what’ deal, which I guess is why he still had a glint of doubt in his fearful eyes when I tried to assure him that we’d be fine. It got silent in the cockpit once again, until my pager went off.

*Jacoby’s POV*

I could not believe what was being played before my eyes on the relay screen. That piece of shit just asked my girlfriend out?! The mapping screen showed that from where they were in the sky, they could still technically crash into the island – and at this point, the sooner they would crash, the better. Maybe then he will be the first to die and half of problems can die with him. Without much hesitation, I reached for the phone and dialed up the pilot. Things were about to go not according to plan.

“What’s up Jacoby?” he asked.

“Mark, things have changed. We’re going to do the crash sequence now.”

There was a pause before he answered. “Um, I don’t think that’s such a good idea…we’re kind of approaching a storm now. We need to fly around it before we can do the crash.”

“Do you think I give a shit? You’re just going to have to increase the speed or something to fly through the storm. The crash has to happen now.”

“But if we don’t do this the way we planned, then there’s a chance that there would be…more casualties than expected.”

“Well if you don’t crash now, then there’s a chance you won’t be getting any of your god damn money when this is all said and done!”

He paused once again to reconsider his actions. “A-alright, I will crash it now. I just hope everyone will be fin–.”

I clicked the phone once I heard his agreement. Is he really that stupid to think that I care what happens to them from here on out? Nope.

Not only will I be making money from this show but I will be getting revenge all at the same time. See, money can buy happiness. At least that’s what the pilot of that jet hoped for…