A leap of faith

The storm

The man was still staring back at Ayush. Cold, emotionless and intimidating. Ayush was irritated and scared at the same time but assured himself murders on a plane were not common at least not unless you worked for a government spy agency while he was just a 10th grade student at DPS Bangalore, India. Ayush had visited New Delhi for a world math Olympiad competition where he had done remarkably well and was now on his way back home.

The man had walked up to the front of the plane possibly to use the washroom but it was occupied so he was standing there and waiting his turn. Ayush had casually glanced up when he first noticed he was looking straight at him which he ignored. But then he realized the man had not stopped staring at him for the last 5 minutes. This was odd, very odd. He was a big burly man with a thick beard and size of a gorilla. The overcoat he was wearing could easily be hiding a weapon thought Ayush, but then they frisk you at the airport so possibly no guns or knives but maybe a baseball bat with which he could easily smash Ayush's head to a pulp.

"Passengers are requested to return to their seats and fasten their seat belts as we have run into some turbulent weather". Typically Ayush disliked flights for exactly this reason that they often run into bumpy weather. But today this came as a bit of relief because this meant the man had to leave his spot and go back to his seat. The threat was still real but at least he was spared the cold steel stare.

From the corner of his eye, he watched as the man retreated and seated about 10 rows behind him. International flights are usually on larger planes which means the turbulence rocks you far less. When you fly within India the planes are smaller and rock quite badly when they run into a storm. Today the weather was especially bad. The rocking plane added to Ayush's anxiety and made him sick. A middle aged man in his 40's sitting next to him was sleeping completely oblivious to all this chaos. His head kept rolling off to one side every now and then but instead of waking up the man simply adjusted and went right back to sleep again. How Ayush wished he was blessed with such good sleep as well. To make matters worse he was seated at the window. He never liked the window seats as witnessing the altitude always made him sick. Ayush kept looking straight ahead trying to ignore the rain smashing violently into the window panes while constantly being aware of a different 200 pound threat looming inside the plane seated 10 rows behind him. Today's journey was slowly becoming a nightmare and all Ayush wanted was to land back and get back to the comfort of his bed. To take his mind off the chaos, Ayush tried to find solace in Music. He chose "music for sleep" on his offline music playlists. A gentle piano started playing in his ears. Ayush turned up the volume to completely cut off any noise coming from the plane. He started imagining a calm evening on a goa beach sipping on a cola and watching the sunset. He tried convincing himself that the rocking plane was actually gentle sea waves rocking his boat.

"Sir ...sir, please wake up sir". "Sir, please wake up, we have landed." Ayush woke up with a jolt fearing they had maybe crashed somewhere in the ocean but he was quite relieved to see a flight attendant smiling down at him kindly. Ayush sprang up and looked around. The plane was empty except for him and ground staff performing their checks. No signs of the gorilla in an overcoat. Ayush collected his back pack quickly and started for the exit hoping not to meet odd looking strangers staring back at him.

Ayush noted his baggage would arrive on belt 7 as he moved cautiously through the airport lounge. The conveyor belt was empty as most people had collected their baggage and left. Nearby an elderly couple looked quite upset as the airline staff repeatedly assured them that their luggage would be found and sent back as soon as possible.

"It's a pity you can't tell that your laptop is not in your backpack". Ayush was startled by a heavy voice. He turned around to face the voice. Ayush froze. Gorilla man was back. He was like 6 ft tall and big as a wall. Ayush felt dwarfed and helpless.