June 1st 2017

This is based off of real events that happened on the Hudson River.

It had been a horrible day for Alaric from the moment he woke up. His alarm hadn't gone off, so he slept in till 12:32 in the afternoon. That gave him only 3 hours to completely pack his bag. He could've packed ahead of time, but he was known as the world's biggest procrastinator, and he didn't get that title for nothing. He quickly whisked himself downstairs and poured a bowl of cereal. Upon opening the carton of milk, he was faced with the fact that it was past its expiry date. Way past its expiry date. It filled the kitchen with an awful putrid stench, and he dry heaved all the way to the sink as he poured it down the drain. There went his appetite.

He sulked back upstairs having been defeated, and began the process of getting ready. He hopped in the shower to rinse off and after that, he brushed his teeth and tousled his hair with some product. He went back into his room and threw on a pair of black jeans and an old white t-shirt. He grabbed his suitcase from under his bed and threw a few pairs of pants and a couple t-shirts inside. He was just going to visit his parents in North Carolina for a week, so he didn't need much. He returned to his bathroom and obtained his toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, and hair product. He threw those on top of his clothes and zipped up the suitcase. When all was said and done, he hopped into his old Ford and started the long journey to the airport.

Traffic was delayed for five sixths of his commute due to accidents, and by the time he entered the airport it was already 3:00. He hurriedly made his way through security, only being stopped once because he forgot to take his belt off for the metal detector. Once he was through that, he looked down at his watch: 3:20. He had five precious minutes to board his flight. He speed walked as fast as his legs could carry him and handed in his ticket to the lady at the desk. He finally boarded the plane at 3:24 with one minute to spare. He put his carry on in the overhead storage and took his seat beside a woman and her child. Great. Children scream on airplanes.

Take off went smoothly aside from the fact that the child beside him wouldn't stop crying. He put in his ear buds and used Metallica to drown it out. He hadn't even reached the chorus of "Enter Sandman" when he felt a heavy jolt of the plane. He figured that it was just turbulence and went back to his music. He glanced out the window and noticed smoke and flames billowing from the engine. That's definitely not turbulence. He ripped his ear buds out of his ears and listened to see if anyone would say what was going on. He heard several panicked conversations about what it might be, but nothing was guaranteed. The lady beside him was struggling to get her child to shut up and his screams made it increasingly difficult for him to hear what happened. There was so much noise that he hardly noticed that the hum of the engine was completely silent. The plane turned and began to follow the river below; losing altitude as they went. His brain went into panic mode, and he had to focus on keeping his breathing under control. Through the chaos he heard the flight attendant telling them to brace for impact and so he did. He tucked his head between his legs and held on to his seat belt for dear life. He shut his eyes and felt a thump as they landed on something. It wasn't ground. He looked out the window to see that the pilot had landed them right in the middle of the Hudson River. He sighed in relief. Looked like he was going to be late to his parents anyways.