I’d taken the lowest garbage fare I could find. Local airports aren’t cheap. They squeezed me into the way-back — the row of seats behind beverage station. Front-row seat for the mile-high club…

I couldn’t take my eyes off the young woman hobbling her skirt back down. That is, until the plane shifted. It wasn’t like you see in the movies. Nobody was decaptitated by falling luggage. The gas masks didn’t fall from their compartments. I just happened to glance out the window and notice a mountain of water approaching.

Nothing sentimental flashed before my eyes — just water. My face did not register the impact. It was all too quick…didn’t make a sound. Everything went black and blue. I woke up some time later; it felt like outer space. My front teeth were hovering in the water in front of me. Wait til I lisp this to Bill Nelson. Such a strange thought in such a strange instant. The water was now stained kool-aid red; the plane was missing pieces. Was I was still in the tail end? Perhaps the bev station had saved me after all — not much of that kool aid was mine.

My reflection glared back at me through broken glass. My blood ran cold — the passenger once seated next to me was no longer. Long, wispy hair waved in the rosy water and battered faces with staring eyes slouched over torn seats.

The aching in my chest reminded me I could use a breath of air. Panic was strangely absent as I forced my way through the busted window. The shards sliced but did not stick and I wriggled from the plane quickly.

The darkness I had perceived earlier was misleading — a kaleidoscope of fish canvassed a complex network that wound around me. The urge to breathe again briefly vanished. My impetus to move came swiftly as a hammerhead shark emerged from below. Its unblinking eyes fixed on the blood from my arms…or so I thought. As light shone off those menacing teeth, I glimpsed his kill: my in-flight neighbor only minutes prior. A jagged leg hung limply from his garbage disposal grill.

Adrenaline panic staved off waves of sickness. I released my grip on grim reality and floated up. With closed eyes I drifted further upward — giving my body to science.

I still believe the dolphins brought me to shore: a race of noble beauty. Could I have arrived? What version of reality is mine?

The last thing I remember is broad yet waiflike figure blowing deep breaths into my needy lungs. I looked into its eyes as it said, “mmmummph fffmoth msleldfh, and I approve this message.”