Don't Ever Lose Hope

Jack’s POV:
I wasn’t ready to go back to Baltimore when the rest of my band mates would be staying in the wonderful state of California for the next couple of days. I, however, had to leave because of some “personal” business as my mom put it. Don’t get me wrong, I love my home town, I just didn’t want to have to deal with family. Being with only my best friends for the past couple of months, it kind of put me in a dull state of mind when my thoughts came to family. However, I didn’t want to let my mom down so decided to come home to whatever the situation was. Yes, I can be a good guy when I want to be. As the flight took off, I couldn’t keep my eyes open, which was a bummer because I had the window seat for a reason. I pulled my hat over my eyes and drifted into some much needed sleep.

Meagan’s POV:
I couldn’t wait to get back home to tell my best friend, Nicole, all about my trip to LA. I knew she always dreamt of visiting the wonderful city someday and was sad when I found out I couldn’t take her with me. But, being the best friend she is, she understood and told me to take tons of pictures to make up for not going. I had my camera charged the night before ready to tell and show her everything as soon as I walked through the door to her house. Even though we talked every day while I was in LA, I couldn’t wait to see her reaction when I showed her the thousands of pictures I took of the best night there. That night being the night I won tickets to an All Time Low concert, hence, Nicole’s and my favorite band ever. I didn’t tell her I went; I wanted to keep it a surprise for a reason. I yawned, desperately needing some sleep, so decided to take a nap before I landed in the wonderful city of Baltimore.

Nicole’s POV:
The last time I talked to Meagan was last night. She told me that her flight should be landing around 5 pm, it was now an hour past 5 and was getting kind of worried. I kept on telling myself her flight just got delayed but as I glanced up on the screen it showed that the Baltimore flight was on time. Obviously, it wasn’t so decided to ask one of the ladies sitting at the desks in front of me.
“Excuse me, I was just curious if the Baltimore flight that was supposed to land at 5 got delayed,” I said hoping that was the case. She looked up at me with a worried expression on her face and said, “You haven’t heard?” At this point, my stomach was in knots and didn’t know what to think.
“Um, no I’m afraid I never got the message,” I told her, trying to hide the fear from my voice. “Did something happen?” I asked not wanting to really know the answer. The lady looked up at me and took a deep breath in. I didn’t think I was ready for what she was about to tell me.
“I’m so sorry to spread the bad news, but there was an accident. The pilot lost control of the plane somehow and now all of the people on board are dead because of his mistake. I’m so sorry again,” she said putting her hand on my shoulder letting me know she was truly sorry. I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing. I walked into this airport with butterflies in my stomach, full of excitement to see my best friend I haven’t seen in a week. Now the butterflies wanted out, and my stomach was in knots for a different reason that I still couldn’t quite grasp.
“Excuse me miss, but is your name Nicole Yazzetti?” I looked up, trying not to let the tears that were desperately trying to escape spill over. I nodded my head at the kind gentlemen. “Well, then come with me.” I didn’t ask questions, just simply followed his orders and walked with him to wherever he was taking me. As we got to what was supposedly our destination, I smiled for the first time since hearing the dreadful news.
“Meagan, is that really you?!” I screamed a little too loudly as I got some stares the people that were around us. I didn’t really understand because the lady told me that there were no survivors on the plane, but didn’t really care at the moment. I ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug, glad to see she was alive and well.

Meagan’s POV:
After being asleep for what seemed like 5 minutes, the flight attendant came over the speakers and told us we were in an emergency and needed to put our oxygen masks on as they all came down at once in front of our faces. My breathing was increasing, getting a little nervous, being that I was never in a situation like this before, but I kept telling myself everything was going to be fine. At this point, everyone started panicking and was trying to find some way to get off of the plane. I looked out the window and realized why everyone was in horror. The plane was going to land, no let me rephrase that, crash, into what looked like a building caught on fire. No one knew if they were going to make it out alive. I sat back in my chair with my oxygen mask on trying to breathe evenly as the screams drowned out and everything turned black.
I slowly opened my eyes trying to readjust to what just happened. I started coughing and realized there was smoke all around me. I wasn’t even completely conscious yet until I felt a pair of arms around me, taking me out of the burning building. I closed my eyes and mouth tightly, not wanting to breathe in the black smoke that was fighting with my body. My breathing wasn’t normal; I was fighting for air it seemed. As soon as I felt the fresh, cool air surround me, I felt enormous amounts of pressure being lifted off my chest and it felt like my breathing was back to normal. The guy that rescued me from the building sat me down in the field of flowers. As I was able to recognize my surroundings, I looked up at the guy who saved my life and realized he was the most beautiful guy I had ever layed eyes on.

"Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins? It’s not on the calendar, it’s not a birthday, it’s not a new year. It’s an event, big or small, something that changes us. Ideally, that gives us hope, a new way of living and looking at the world, a way of letting go of old habits, old memories. What's important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning, but it's also important to remember that, amid all the crap, there are a few things worth holding on to."