The+Briefcase,+by+Tay

I stared at the clock and each tick seemed to last for an eternity. “Wait, wait, wait!!” screamed a man as he ran down the jet-way, drawing everyone’s attention. He panted and whispered to himself, “I thought I was on time...” His appearance turned everyone’s mood to a cheerful mood because the flight had been delayed for almost forty minutes in total, and it was entirely this man's fault. The reason he made everyone chuckle was because he looked like a buffoon, dressed up like one of those mafia characters in the movies. He wore a mysterious-looking black suit, dark glasses and he held a suspicious looking brief case as he walked up the aisle of the airplane. I couldn’t hold it any longer and so I roared with laughter out loud, chuckling to myself. Once I started it seemed like I couldn’t stop.

I laughed so hard that I gasped for breath and my cheeks were as red as a drunken persons. I noticed that everyone’s eyes looked straight at me because I was acting like an energetic monkey. And so I tried to disguise my laughter with a cough. Everyone seemed to be convinced and so they got back to minding their own business except for that man, the one who looked like a mafia gangster.

As the mysterious man looked about to start a quarrel with me, the flight attendant shoved him aside quickly, saying, “We’re on tight schedule sir, please take your seat!” Unfortunately his seat was four rows in front of me, right along the aisle and so he gave me a quick flash of a look. If looks could kill, he would be the perfect assassin.

Behind those shades gazed those furious eyes that looked as dangerous as craters of a volcano about to erupt. From just looking at those eyes, as the light allowed me to see behind the lenses for a second, I saw emotions such as anger, sadness and loneliness, and then I saw how cold those eyes could be. It made me shiver and tense up like a statue; I fell silent and became motionless. It was if those cold, merciless eyes had frozen me to death. I felt an out of this world feeling. I felt like I was in space, where there was no sound and where everything was solemn. Those eyes were illusive. So meaningful that it made me anxious.

Suddenly, I was draw back to earth by a sound above, “We’re clear for take off in about 5 minutes.” Everyone grumbled, since they thought that they would be leaving right away but it turned out that they had to wait for another five minutes.

The mysterious man asked the flight attendant, “Is this flight MH611?”

“No sir, this is flight MH911,” she replied with irritation, “And will you please - ?” Just before she could finish her sentence, the man darted across the aisle, through the hatch that was about to close, and ran down the jet-way. “I guess he was on the wrong flight. Again,” said the flight attendant grumpily.

While everyone seemed to be convinced that he was on the wrong flight, I sensed something ambiguous. Then I frowned, and realized that I was staring at the briefcase that he had left behind or that he had deliberately abandoned. //Could it be a - no - he probably just forgot it because he was in a hurry//. I swallowed hard. Doubts filled my mind. That mysterious briefcase seemed to draw my attention as if it was a magnetic field. I was so into it that the world was a complete blur to me. I was so focused that I didn't even blink.

As the plane gradually moved towards the runway, I thought of the saying, '//Better safe than sorry//.' And because of that, I decided to do something crazy. It was also the sound of the screaming engine that had pressured me to perform such an act. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I quickly darted down the aisle and with all my might I opened the hatch and without a hesitation I jumped off the plane. A pain shot up from the lower half of my body and still I was running; running for my very life.

I made the right decision and I was able to live another day. Small mushroom clouds shot up from the sky, like a volcano erupting. Although I was far from the incident, it was hot as hell and felt like I had walked into a fire-breathing dragon's cave. Everything was too real and too fast for me to handle. I didn’t know what was happening or where I was. I wanted to scream but nothing came out. Everything I saw was red. //Could it be the firefighters coming//? Or was I in hell for being selfish and for leaving the innocent lives behind in that plane?