**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 398
"You think Alex is the pilot?" Rion asks.
He follows me as I'm hurrying down the aisle, towards the back of the plane. "I don't know. Honestly, I hope not."
"But it makes sense." Rion's voice is tense.
I stop abruptly in the middle of the cabin and Rion almost slams into me. "What do you mean?"
His lips flatten. "I don't know, think about it. If the three of them are plotting something together and Alex is the pilot, maybe that's how he was able to get that black duffel bag full of drugs past security and smuggled onboard." He pauses for a moment. "And when Heather notified the cockpit, that means there would be police and authorities ready and waiting when we land."
"So if we landed where we were supposed to, they would've been arrested." I finish his train of thought and take an uneven breath. "So, the pilot – Alex – is diverting the plane."
"But then something happens inside the cockpit."
"What?" My fingers tingle with anxiety. "What made the plane nosedive?"
I'm moving again, and as I pass the baggage compartment that will soon pop open, I reach over and unzip the bag under the seat below it. Jack is still asleep so he doesn't hassle me as I pull out the wallet. I flip to the license and read the small letters printed on it.
Jerry Plank.
Rion was right. The guy in the bathroom was the man he saw talking to Janelle Fiori that night.
My breath vanishes in my throat, a new thought suddenly taking over.
I freeze, gripping Rion's arm. "What if we're overthinking this whole thing?" I say, my breath coming out ragged. Time is speeding up, going too fast all of a sudden, like my thoughts are constantly playing catch up. "Maybe if we stop the whole chain of events, then we don't have to even think about stopping the nosedive?"
Rion's gaze is fixed on me, waiting for me to continue.
I take a deep breath. "There are four main things in each loop, right? Internet, Turbulence, Janelle, Nosedive," I rattle off. "But we know we can't change the Internet going out. Or the turbulence from starting. And we stopped Sibyl Erly from spilling her drink which didn't do anything, so that's not related in any way."
I glance at Rion and he nods, clearly aware of where my train of thought is heading.
"The bag," he says.
"Exactly." I'm feeling a sense of triumph, like I might have just stumbled across a plan. "What if we just have to stop Heather from finding the drugs? After the compartment pops open, what if we get to it and close it before her," I say, as if it's the simplest thing in the world. "Then she won't notify the pilot, she won't get threatened or killed, and then maybe whatever happens in the cockpit won't happen. If they're reacting based on her warning, then maybe there will be no nosedive."
