Clouds on the Horizon

If you don’t take inspiration from the real world, you’re missing out on what can be some amazing writing material. Today’s writing challenge, therefore, encourages you to look at what’s going on around you.

Write a post inspired by a real-world conversation. Today’s twist: include an element of foreshadowing in the beginning of your post.

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“Are you worried about the landing?” the lady beside me asked her son.

The young boy turned away from the airplane window and gave a small nod.

“Don’t worry,” the woman cooed with a smile. “Taking off wasn’t so bad, was it?”

The boy gave a little shake of the head.

“Then landing shouldn’t be so bad either, right?”

The boy shruggd and turned back to the window to watch as the city slowly rose to meet us.

The first shudder was barely noticable, and the second was nothing that anyone would get too concerned about. But then the turbulance got worse, and suddenly we were all bouncing and shaking in our seats. Every motion felt as though the plane was being shoved off its course. The pilot made an announcement, but I couldn’t really make it out. I closed my eyes to ward off the wave of motion sickness that was rising in my throat.

A loud groan filled the air as the landing gear began to unfold. The plane took a large dip that felt like an elevator dropping out from beneath us too quickly. A baby a few aisles back began to wail.

The plane was approaching the ground; we were almost there. And then a cross-wind struck the side of the plane, lifting us so that only one side of the landing gear touched down. For a frightening moment we were hurtling down the runway on one wheel, and then the next moment the plane dropped and the other wheel slammed into the ground. My body flew forward as the pilot engaged the brakes, and a few seconds later we’d come to a full stop.

I opened my eyes before I realized that there was an arm pressed up against mine. The mother was gripping our shared armrest, every one of her perfectly-manicured nails dug deep into the stiff material. She was staring straight forward and her face was white as freshly driven snow.

“What’s wrong, mom?” the little boy asked with a grin. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”