**WATTYS 2022 WINNER** Seventeen-year-old Evelyn Werth is on an endless flight from hell. She's the only person onboard Aloha Airways Flight 1333 who's caught in a 28-minute time loop.
During each cycle, four things happen:
1. The Internet goes out...
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Still Loop 1
I'm not sure what kind of response I was expecting, but it sure wasn't that. My heart is racing, trying to process everything. So something did actually happen? But I subdue the anxiety rolling through me, and try to play it cool. "Um, yeah, of course I remember that. It just happened. I think most people remember what just happened a few minutes ago."
She twists her lips. "Um, actually, you'd be wrong about that."
Wait, what? I scratch my head while my thoughts play catch up. So, if the nosedive actually happened, does that mean the rest of it happened too?
"So why aren't--" I point ahead of us, at the empty spot in the middle of the aisle where she had been lying. "Why aren't you being sat on?" It's definitely not the most articulate sentence I've ever uttered but seriously, what the hell is happening here? "And your nose was bleeding... where's all the blood?"
She exhales, and it sounds like a whistle. Her eyes are fixated on her fingers as she twists them together in her lap. "Because that was the end of the loop. It resets every 28 minutes."
Okay, this keeps getting weirder, and I have a limit to how much weirdness I can handle. "Never mind, forget I asked. I should really go." I get up, but she puts her legs up, pressing her canvas shoes against the back of the chair in front of her, blocking me. Loopy pictures are hand drawn with a blue pen on both heels.
The plane continues to shake and I hold onto the seat in front of me, for balance. I hear a small shriek and glance behind me. A woman a few rows back must've just spilled her drink all over the front of her white blouse, and she's soaked. I grimace. Sucks for her. There's nothing worse than being wet on a plane.
"Can you move your legs?" I'm growing annoyed. What's wrong with this girl?
Instead of moving them, she peers up at me and holds up her hand. "So, it's not exactly the most normal way to meet someone, but it is what it is, I guess. I'm Evelyn Werth, but my friends call me Ev. Not that you're my friend, or anything. I just thought that you should know that."
Evelyn waits, her hand still extended. I don't shake it. She looks at me, and then at her hand, like I'm the one who's being rude. As if she's unaware that she's physically blocking me with her feet, only minutes after she stole pills from the woman sitting next to her.
"Look, trust me, I get it," Evelyn replies, lowering her hand. "I really do. If anyone gets it, it's me. I'm like OG Looper Girl over here--"
"Move your legs," I interrupt.
"I know, it's beyond weird. Impossible, even," she continues. "I freaked the hell out the first few times too."
