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From: kenn_ghannon@hotmail.com
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Subject: {ASSM} Stranded, Ch. 2: When All Is New (nosex) by Kenn Ghannon (The Missing)
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Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 05:10:03 -0400
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Disclaimer: While the following work of fiction contains no sexual
content, future installments will.  If written accounts of acts of a
lewd or sexual nature offend you or are illegal for you to read, please
discontinue your perusal of this story.

All people here are fictional.  Any similarity to people living or dead
is purely coincidental.

If you've gotten this far, I hope you enjoy.


[I know this chapter violates Vulgar Argot's 'rule of two' -- meaning
no more than two 'nosex' chapters per story -- but I guess rules were
meant to be broken.  I will say that this story is taking more setup
time than I expected.]

[Sorry for the 'dual post' but I forgot to include the 'book' title in
the last post.  :( ]


Chapter Two: When All Is New

Somehow, even though I was missing an engine, I had managed to keep the
plane fairly level during our hurried descent.  This kept the plane
from getting crushed nose first like a tin can but it also meant we
skipped across the waves for a while, bouncing and bounding until I
thought my teeth were shaking loose and some nice bruises developed on
my chest and arms from the flight harness cutting into my flesh.  I
heard metal screeching, but it didn't sound like anything had ripped
off.  Probably just dented...but it didn't matter.  My prize
possession, the pride of my small fleet, was dead.

When we finally settled, we were floating but I knew that wouldn't
last long.  The residual air would give us a minimum of buoyancy, but
the plane was heavy enough to drag us down within a few minutes.  Steel
doesn't float particularly well.

With each second more precious than the last, I untangled myself from
the flight harness.  "Let's go Jan!  Emergency evac now!" I
grabbed the old compass from the cash pocket with one hand and pulled
my duffel out of the storage bin with the other.  The duffel was an
expensive, water-tight European model that was capable of being used as
a flotation device in its own right.  I got it for my infrequent
white-water rafting trips and it had paid for itself many times over by
saving my belongings from getting lost and keeping them dry.  I had
brought it along thinking I would do some rafting or canoeing on this
trip.  It looked like I was right.

I moved towards the cabin door, dragging my bag behind me.  As I
started opening the door, I happened to look back expecting Jan to be
following me.  But Jan just looked on in horror, her face as white as a
sheet.  I quickly ran back and started undoing her belt and
half-pulled, half-dragged her towards the door.

"This isn't happening...this isn't happening..." she kept
mumbling, half to herself.  I shook her a little; I was going to need
her before this was over and I didn't have time for her to panic now.
We could panic after we got everyone off the plane.

"It is happening," I yelled at her.  "It has happened.  We have
very little time so come on."

I opened the door, grabbed my bag in one hand and Jan in the other and
ran headlong into pandemonium.  People were screaming and struggling to
get out of their seats.  The emergency breathing masks were swinging
and swaying everywhere.  Evidently, they had been jarred loose from one
of our violent drops.

"Everyone remain calm!" I yelled into the scared crowd.  My words
had no effect.  "We have to get off the plane NOW!" I yelled
louder.  "The plane is sinking; if you do not get off the plane now
you will NEVER get off!"  Finally my words seemed to sink in as the
enormity of our situation began to hit them.  Meanwhile, I turned to
the emergency escape door and started opening it.

"NO!" screamed Sarah, her hands clawing at me.  "If you open that
you'll let the water in and we'll sink!"  Her hair was disheveled
and her eyes were bright.  She was delirious with terror.  I didn't
have time to be subtle or nice; I pushed her hard and she tripped over
my duffel and fell to the ground.

Quickly, I turned and finished opening the door.  A brief glance over
my shoulder showed Jan's panic had subsided; she had finished with
the door on the opposite side.  We both reached for the yellow
emergency cord at the same time and the emergency rafts blew up
instantly, the wind driving the cold rain against us and soaking us
thoroughly.  I silently thanked the gods that Juan and Pablo, my
mechanics, were thorough.  Working quickly, I tied my duffel to the
raft and tossed it out the door.

I tried to be reasonable.  I tried to scream at people to get out of
the plane, but only a few listened and I'm not altogether certain if
they really heard me or just evacuated in terror.  It really didn't
matter in the long run.  Too soon water began entering the cabin and I
started frantically pulling people and shoving them out the door and
into the water, praying that they climbed into the raft outside the
plane.

I don't know how many I managed to shove out the door.  The plane was
sinking fast and I knew that there was not much time left.  Jan was
trying to help me with a young man when I realized that time was up.  I
could see someone struggling in the back of the cabin, but I wasn't
sure if I would be able to reach him or her in time.  I threw the young
man I was holding at Jan and then threw them both out of the plane,
water swirling over my shoulders all the while.

I dove under the water for a minute, my feet kicking hard into the
flow.  I was going too slow, too slow.  The water buffeted me every
which way until I couldn't tell which way was back, which way was
forward.  I grabbed out, my arms searching for something, anything to
tell me which way to go.  I reached frantically in every direction, my
eyes unable to see anything in the dark torrent of water.  As my lungs
began screaming for precious oxygen, my fingertips made contact with a
struggling, squirming mass of flesh.  I grabbed it with both arms and
planted my feet on the closest solid object I could find.  Then I
kicked hard towards what I hoped was the door.

A large thud onto the back of my head, however, put me out of my misery
and I finally let the dark of the waters run through me.


It was a deep, palpable dark.  A dark that has no beginning and no end.
A dark that eternity might be made of.

Every muscle in my body ached and each breath was a labor of pain.  I
thought about that for a while, wondering why someone as dead as I was
could possibly feel pain.  I rolled it around in my head, wondering if
the pain would eventually go away or if it was mine to hold onto for
eternity.  Whispering through my head was the idea that perhaps this
was what eternity was.  Maybe you hold onto the last feeling of your
life when you die, as a means for you to remember what life was like.

Slowly, though, my dark world started to lighten and then colored.   I
could hear a whisper, the faintest whisper of a breath.  It faded in
and out for a few minutes, and I could almost hear what it said.  Just
as I began to touch on it, however, it faded again and I was forced to
try again to climb towards it.  I was beginning to get frustrated,
beginning to feel that I should just sink back into the dark with the
effort of it when I heard one single word.  "Michael."  And
everything rushed back at me.

I opened my eyes and the burst of stabbing pain immediately made me
close them again.  When I found the courage to reopen my eyes, my
vision was blurred, but there was no mistaking the blue of the sky and
the searing light of the sun.  Brighter than the sun, though, was the
face of my sister.

"Michael!" she cried when she realized I was awake.  "Oh my God,
Mikey!  I was so afraid..." Her sniffles and tears punctuated each
word.  My head seemed to be in her lap, I think, but my back felt as if
it were lying on sandpaper.  Hot sandpaper.  "...I was so
afraid...the blood...and when you wouldn't wake up...."

"What's the matter, Jam," I tried to say, but the voice that came
out was weak and communicated in barely a whisper.  The words were
sliding and unclear.  "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" and she began crying anew.  "Mikey, Mikey."  I
heard between her sniffles and tears.  "I thought you were gone."

"Where are we?" I said.  My voice seemed slightly stronger now,
though not nearly as strong as it should be.

"Dunno, " my sister whispered between tears.  "A beach somewhere.
No one really knows exactly where."

"Beach?"  I pushed myself up and nearly cried out in pain.  It felt
as if someone had taken a sledge hammer to my head.   The dark rose up
to claim me again, but I pushed hard at it and somehow managed to
remain awake.  I remembered.

I remembered the dark coming for me as fireworks blew inside my skull.
I remembered feeling the strength leave my arms and legs, the bundle of
life in front of me already going limp.  I remembered breathing the
water and the pain of small explosions rocketing through me.  I
remembered the black, a black deeper than the torrent of the water
around me, as it pulled me into it.

Slowly, I opened my eyes again though I couldn't remember when I had
closed them.  My vision was blurry, but slowly cleared.  I watched as a
wave rolled up and tickled my foot gently.

I looked around from my sitting position.  The dizziness I felt and the
weakness that hovered around me told me that I was not going to be able
to stand for a few minutes at least.  So, instead of standing I twisted
my head this way and that.  I worried about the lack of control I had
and realized that my head was just flopping back and forth.  I think I
would have chuckled at how comical I must look, but the graveness of
our situation and the pain that shot through me at the thought of
laughing quickly kept me sober.

My sister sat behind me, her legs crossed in front of her, white sand
all around her.  Her hands were half-reaching towards me as if wanting
to be there to catch me if I fell.  Behind her was a thick layer of
trees and shrubs; perhaps a small forest.  They looked green and
tropical but I don't think I could really comprehend everything.  I
thought I saw coconuts, but I couldn't tell for sure.  I wasn't
able to endure the nausea that swept over me when I tilted my head up.

"Did anyone else..." I started, unsure of how I was possibly going
to word this.  "Did anyone else...make it?"  I asked, desperate to
hear the answer but afraid of what the answer might be.

"Yea," Jamie whispered, concern etched throughout the opals of her
eyes.  "Ms. Clemons and your co-pilot.  Some other kids.  They're
looking around, but I...I...didn't want to leave you..."  She
finished, her words dying out as she spoke them.  There was no
recrimination in her voice but her words cut me like a knife.  She
wouldn't leave me like I had left her.

"Not...not everyone?"  I knew the answer from her face, from the
way she talked, but I needed to hear it aloud.

"No.  Not everyone.  Not yet.  Maybe they'll show up later."  Her
tone was lifeless and I could see the tears well in her eyes.  I longed
to hold her, but I lacked the strength.  I was weak, so weak.

I lay back down, unwilling to continue.  As I closed my eyes, things
got better.  My breathing was painful still, a dark rasp in my chest
struggling with every gasp of air I took but the world stopped
spinning.

"What happened?" I asked quietly.  "What happened...after..."
I just needed the sound of her voice to quiet the ringing in my own
ears.

"Ms. Clemons grabbed me as you tossed me out.  She dragged me into
the life raft.  You kept tossing people out and we kept trying to pull
them in.  We...we...couldn't grab everyone.  Some of them just
started swimming off, trying to get away from the plane.

"Finally, no one else came through the door and we watched as the
plane started sliding beneath the waves.  You didn't come out of the
plane for so long...I...we thought you weren't coming out.  So when
the doorway went under  I...I...I dove in after you.  You were holding
on to Elizabeth, but neither of you were moving...and you were in the
water.  I...I grabbed you and pulled you out.  The plane was slipping
below the waves; I wasn't sure we were going to make it.  It seemed
like forever before my face touched the air again.

"The others, they helped me drag you into the raft.  I thought you
were dead.  You and Elizabeth both.  I...I gave you CPR and Ms. Clemons
worked on Elizabeth.  You didn't respond for so long...but finally,
you coughed up some water and you were breathing on your own again.
You still didn't look very good, your face was white and your lips
were blue, but you were alive and that was something.

"It was all we could do to stay in the raft, though.  The storm
tossed us around quite a bit and there were times when I didn't think
I was going to make it...that we weren't going to make it.  Just as I
thought the next wave was going to toss me over the side, the storm
broke.  The clouds just seemed to disappear as if they were never
there.  It was as if nothing had happened.  If we hadn't been in the
life raft, we might've even believed it.

"We couldn't do much...we didn't have any food and very little
water.  So we just lay back and drifted, trying to cover as much of our
bodies as we could during the day and cooling off at night.  We drifted
for something like three days, I think.  You seemed to come around a
few times, but you never opened your eyes.  You just mumbled and your
face remained so white.  There was blood, too.  A deep cut on the top
of your head...there was so much blood.

"Then today just when we thought we weren't going to make it, just
when we were beginning to lose hope, we grounded on this beach.

"Jan took charge.  She moved us up the sand a little, told us to keep
ourselves covered.  Then she divided us into groups and sent us off
looking for water, food.  The stuff we'd need to survive for a while.
I stayed with you and she didn't say anything.  I think she
understood.

"There's a fresh water lake a short distance in, maybe a half mile
or so.  It's pretty big and the water is really clear and fairly
cool.  There's even some fish in there and Andy has been catching
some and Sarah cooked some for a late lunch; I still have some if
you're hungy...  It really wasn't much but it felt good to eat."

She stopped for a minute and I opened my eyes slightly to see why.  She
had her eyes on the ground, her hand clutching mine.  I hadn't even
realized my hand was in hers, but now I could feel her squeezing it.

"I'm so sorry, Mikey," she started.  "I was so worried that I
was never going to see you again and the last time...the last time...we
were going to be mad at each other..."  Her voice drifted off, but I
could see from the trembling of her shoulders that she was crying.

With tears in my eyes, I sat up.  My head only protested mildly at the
movement.  I reached out and gathered her to me, pulling her tight
against me and all I could hear her say was "I'm sorry, I'm
sorry."

"Jamie, my darling sister," I whispered, my voice thick with the
over-flowing of my emotions.  I felt my heart open again, feeling her
against me, holding her tightly.  I had no idea what I was saying; I
was just opening my mouth and let my heart talk.  "You have nothing
to be sorry for.  I've been an ass and an idiot.  A real creep.
I'm the one who's sorry.  I thought...I don't know what I
thought.  I convinced myself I was doing the best thing for us...but
deep down, I knew better.  I am so sorry and I only hope that one day
you can forgive me."

She turned her tear stained face up to mine, worry and fear etched long
in her beautiful eyes.  "You mean you still love me?" she asked and
her voice was very small.

"How could I not love you, Jamie?" I responded, my voice deepening
with my emotion.  "I just thought...I just hoped...that I was doing
what was right.  That you would grow into a great person because there
was someone to take care of you."

She seemed to stop for a moment.  To measure my words against her own
thoughts.  I don't know what she was thinking in that moment, but I
could see the wheels turning within her.  Finally, she had sorted out
what she wished to say.

"How could us being apart be right?" she asked, her voice gaining a
bit of an edge.  "How could you not being there for me, taking care
of me be right??  I didn't know what to think.  I thought you
didn't want me any more."  Her voice was growing harder, angrier.
She was working herself up to it.  I knew this...and I did nothing.  I
wanted her to get it out.  I wanted her anger to just wash up and carry
me away.  I deserved this and I would endure it.  "I used to cry
myself to sleep because I thought you had abandoned me.  Every time you
came...every single time...I told myself that this was the time you
were going to take me home.  I used to tell the other girls that you
were coming to take me home...but you never did.  Eventually, they
started laughing at me...and I knew.  I thought you didn't love me.
I thought you had abandoned me.  Do you know how terrible it is to know
that you are alone?  You stopped calling, you stopped writing.  You
never came to visit any more.  I figured that I was just some trash
that you needed to get rid of."  Her voice was hard and bitter and
she had every right to be.  I had abandoned her.

I stayed silent; there was nothing or me to say.  Everything she said
was right.  I knew that in the depths of my heart.  I had been a
selfish fool, a very stupid, selfish fool.  I didn't deserve the love
my sister showed me.  I didn't deserve to breathe the same air.  My
only hope was that I could somehow make the past 9 years up to her.

I could see the anger in her face, could feel the heat coming from her
in waves.  She yelled for a while, she screamed.  I'm not sure
everything that was said but the meaning was clear: "I was the south
end of a north-bound donkey."  Still, her hand never left my own and
her fingers never betrayed her rage.

Finally, it ended and she just devolved into gasping tears, her face
planted against my chest.  I knew that it was small comfort, but I held
my arm around her my other hand still holding tightly to her own.  I
waited, patiently, letting her anger and pain wash through her.  I
could feel her sobs reach a peak and then slowly sink away.

"Jamie," I started, unsure how to proceed.  "I can only tell you
how sorry I am and make a promise that it will never happen again.  I
will never abandon you.  I will always be here for you.  I will listen
to you and hold you and never, ever leave you again."

Her sobs continued for a small time, then slowly turned to shallow
breaths.  Her arm held my back, her face never leaving my chest.
Finally, she turned her head and I could tell that she was looking out
over the sea.  "Promise, Mikey?  You've got to promise me that
you'll never leave me again.  Promise me, Michael.  Please promise
me."

"Of course, Jamie," I replied, my heart in my throat.  "Of course
I promise.  Never again.  I will make sure we are never apart again."

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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