Quoting Shakespeare - Flying Wrenches (ON HOLD)

2

The sun was warm as she walked along the path cutting through the field. Its bounty had been harvested weeks ago, leaving only the stubs of the plants. A gentle breeze wafted by Maddison. At first she only smelled the sunbaked field, but as the breeze grew stronger a more acidic smell assaulted her nose. Something was burning. It wasn't the field itself. It was something of metal and glass and manmade materials.

"Watson, get over here!" a voice screamed at her. She looked in the direction it had come from. Over a large hill to her left she saw the plume of black smoke. She immediately broke into a run. The burning smell became stronger as she crested the hill. A new smell became stronger, she pushed away the thoughts of what it could be and made it to the top of the hill. She let out a cry as she saw the source of the black smoke.

The broken fuselage of the helicopter sat on the ground. The front half lay a good ten feet from the rear and tail sections. The smoke was concentrated at what remained of the main gearbox, the shattered remains of the main rotor blades sticking out from the top.

"Watson!" the voice screamed again. She scanned the scene and determined it came from the remains of the tail section. It was partially submerged in a large pond. She heard splashing as she came closer. The smells were overpowering at this point but Maddison pushed through.

When she reached the edge of the pond she saw the source of the splashing. A young man her age was trapped by the tail rotor assembly. Blood oozed from a cut on his forehead. His flight suit was dirty with mud from the pond and the blood dripping off his head. He caught her gaze.

"Watson! Help! I can't get my foot loose!" he cried out holding a hand out toward her.

"Maxwell! It's going to be okay. We'll get you out of there," she said starting to wade into the pond toward him.

No matter how far she went though she couldn't get closer. It was like she was on a treadmill. She heard a pop and sizzle and looked to see a large chunk of hot metal blow off the main rotor. It came flying over her head and landed on the exposed tail rotor assembly. She panicked as she realized she didn't have much time before the piece could ignite the oil within the tail rotor assembly. Maxwell looked at her as he knew the same thing. Maddison picked up her efforts to make it over to him. It was still no use. Her chest was getting tight from the fumes and the smoke. Maxwell was screaming at her, begging for her to save him.

She began to make progress and was almost there. Maxwell's hand was just within reach when the explosion occurred. She screamed as the force blew her backwards.

Maddison sat up in bed. A cold sweat covered her body. She fell back onto her pillow. It had been a few weeks since her last dream. She must not have had enough chamomile tea before she went to bed. She hadn't experienced one of the dreams since she had added that to her bedtime regimen.

A loud pounding sounded from her front door. Maddison groaned. Now that she had a neighbor that got to hear every time the dreams visited. Their bedrooms shared a wall. She changed into a fresh nightgown and went to answer the door.

Billy stood there, ready to pound again on her door.

"Darling, are you alright? I heard screaming," he stepped forward. He reached out to touch her face.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she said, stepping back to avoid his touch, "Bad dream."

Billy dropped his hand and looked like she had just kicked him. "Oh, well, do you need anything?"

"No, I've been dealing with it on my own quite well up to now," she said and began to close the door. She was surprised when the door stopped moving. She looked up to see Billy had wedged himself into the door jam.