Once their plane landed, it was nearly impossible for Chelsea to recall the exact order of events. Weeks later, as she sat at her favorite café, trying to type out a single sentence to describe what she went through, she couldn’t even write one word.
There were those few minutes of relief. The sense that the worst was behind them.
Then Bradley’s dire warnings ringing and echoing throughout the cabin as he promised they were all about to die.
At the time, Chelsea attributed his words to the ravings of a madman.
That was before she smelled the smoke.
After the ordeal, Clark told her it was understandable why she couldn’t stand the fireworks on New Year’s Eve that year. Why even the little poppers her nephew threw on the sidewalk made her cringe.
Chelsea was scarred. That much was for sure. Weeks after that emergency landing at the Detroit airport, she was still having nightmares. Nightmares about smoke and fire alarms. Nightmares about watching innocent people shot in front of her.
In most of her dreams, Bradley was pointing the gun at her, and it was Grandma Lucy who stood between Chelsea and her would-be murderer. After they landed in Detroit, while EMTs rushed to attend to the injured passengers and men in SWAT suits swarmed to arrest Bradley’s men, Chelsea had searched for Grandma Lucy in the ensuing chaos.
The old woman was never found.
“Maybe you could ask Google to find her,” Mom suggested.
But Chelsea never did.
She talked about Grandma Lucy so much during her coaching calls with Clark that she was sometimes self-conscious.
“She obviously made a big impact on you,” Clark told her gently when Chelsea expressed her embarrassment. “There’s nothing strange or weird about that. It could be that this little old lady you met saved not only that young woman but the rest of you as well. Who knows how far Bradley would have gone if she hadn’t stood up to him?”
Chelsea didn’t like to think about all the other what ifs. She was trying hard to move on. She’d written her article on the Brown Elementary School scandal. It wasn’t her best work, not by a longshot, but her editor went easy on her after all the trauma she’d gone through.
Clark was willing to bump her up to three coaching sessions a week, stating that an anonymous donor was footing the bill. In all honesty, Chelsea thought he was just gifting his time to her.
She wasn’t going to complain.
In the aftermath of the hijacking, Chelsea had made it a point to start going to church more regularly with her parents. When she wasn’t spending Sunday mornings with them, she’d visit the church where Brie worked, and they’d go out for lunch afterward. Out of everybody she knew, Brie was the one who seemed the most comfortable letting Chelsea absorb the terror and fear she’d experienced in her own time and in her own way. They talked about Flight 219 every so often. Chelsea found herself particularly upset about the flight attendant who was killed, especially after news stories came out about the two little kids she’d left behind. Sometimes Chelsea felt guilty, as if there was something she could have done to help the passengers who never made it off Flight 219.
But other times, she enjoyed sitting across the café table from her best friend, laughing about a silly Facebook meme or retelling a joke Brie’s pastor shared that morning in his sermon.
There were days when Chelsea felt like her despair was getting the best of her, but she was learning to accept that even if she did have lots to be thankful for, there was no shame in feeling down. If anything, Chelsea would have thought that her near-death experience would give her a deeper appreciation for living, but that wasn’t always the case. The same inexplicable sense of sadness still impacted her. Not all the time, but enough that she was thankful for the extra sessions with her life coach, thankful for the new antidepressants her mom had encouraged her to talk to the doctor about.
The trauma Chelsea experienced on board Flight 219 would be enough to fill up a hundred therapy sessions, and even the strongest drugs in the world might not take all the fear completely away. But Chelsea was excited to start a new chapter in her life, a chapter where she learned to accept herself exactly where she was instead of always wishing to be something different or someone else.
A chapter where she appreciated her friends and family and recognized how blessed she was to be surrounded by such an inspiring and encouraging support system.
A chapter where her soul could experience God’s love in the midst of trials, joy in the midst of terror, and peace and happiness regardless of her circumstances.
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Thanks for reading Tears of Terror, book 5 in the Turbulent Skies novella series.
If you’re ready to jump into more fast-paced, action-packed adventures featuring other characters aboard Flight 219, dive into You Raise Me Up, book 6, in the Turbulent Skies Christian Thriller series today.
Grandma Lucy never set out to become a hero. But when hijackers take over her airplane mid-flight, it will require an incredible act of courage ... as well as an extraordinary sacrifice ... to fulfill her God-given destiny and intercede for the safety of everyone on board. You Raise Me Up is the sixth and final novella in the Turbulent Skies Christian thriller series, an unforgettable collection of interconnected stories about strangers traveling together aboard a doomed flight. Find out why Christian fiction readers can't stop raving about this heart-stopping, fast-paced series you can devour in a single sitting.
Buy You Raise Me Up for an unforgettable high-altitude adventure full of danger, suspense, and life-changing faith. Keep scrolling for a sneak peek, or if you really can’t wait, download your next binge-read immediately!
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