Short Story Saturdays!

Sometimes its hard to write a story, and sometimes I get inspired just after writing the first sentence.


John Murphy sat in his cramped plane seat nervously twiddling his thumbs. He looked around as the other passengers filed in and found their seats. Flight 367 to Delaware was preparing for take off. John tried not to make eye contact. He knew he couldn't go through with it if he did. He'd feel too guilty. He wouldn't be able to blow up the plane.

The Overlord had given him his mission. He was selected specially for this because of his unwavering faith in the cause. Funny how now he didn't feel so sure.

His ticket, passport, ID, all were forgeries all hand delivered to his house. The mail man just nodded silently when he handed them over and walked away.

The airport security were in on it too; they let John board the plane without any fuss. During the X-ray they saw the C-4 strapped to his scrotum. They let him by anyway. The Overlord's reach was farther than it looked.

His seat was right behind the central latrine. The target. Mid flight John was to excuse himself to the washroom. There he would remove the C-4 and flush it down the air pressure toilet.

The septic tank on this particular model was kept dangerously close to the main fuel tank. Once the C-4 was flushed. John only needed to activate the remote detonation. The plane would be split into two and everyone on board would be either incinerated in the blast, or plummet to their death.

John knew he couldn't afford to fail on this mission. If he didn't do as he was told the Overlord would find him and have him murdered. John, was a dead man.

Everything up until now had gone according to plan. The flight was delayed but that wasn't an issue. John had made it past all the major security checkpoints, and as far as anyone knew, he was just a nervous flying awaiting take off with the rest of them.

A young woman took the seat next to him. "I guess we're flight buddies, huh?" She smiled at him. John averted his gaze and gave a non-commital nod. "Do you fly often?" she asked.

"No, it's really dangerous to fly." John mumbled doing his best not to make eye contact.

"Nervous flier eh? I know what that's like. I used to be nervous too! Now I fly all the time. Have to, for my job! I'm a travel writer. Names Cindy!" She thrust out her hand ready to shake. John hesitantly shook her hand. "So you gotta name?"

"John."

"John, you look like you have something on your mind. Something more than this flight."

"I don't really want to talk about it." John looked away.

"If I gave up that easily I'd never be able to travel. John, what's got you all in a tizzy?" Cindy leaned on the shared arm rest. John recoiled his arm.

"I just have a lot on my mind."

"Well, why not unload a bit on me? Sometimes talking things out with strangers helps." She smiled.

John turned and faced Cindy. The first thing he noticed was her eyes. She had very kind eyes. A light blue, framed perfectly by her long dark hair.

"Well, ok. I just, I'm wondering about something I have to do."

"Well that's a start," Cindy chimed. "what do you have to do?"

"I can't really say, its, confidential." John nervously scratched his head. "I'm just not sure if I want to do it."

"Well, I don't really know a lot about what you have to do, but from my experience I know that if you made an obligation to someone, you should really keep it."

John nodded slowly.

"If you made a promise to someone you shouldn't try to break it." Cindy continued her lecture. "If you can't keep your word then you have no integrity. And doing what's right isn't always easy. It might be fun to shirk responsibility sometimes, but you have bite the bullet and do it." Cindy gave John an adamant nod as if to punctuate this last point. "Do you get what I mean?"

"I think so." John nodded slowly to her. "If you don't mind I just need to rest my eyes for a bit." John turned back facing forward. He leaned back on the uncomfortable seat and closed his eyes.

The two sat in silence as the plane took off. After an hour into the flight John got up and excused himself to go to the bathroom. John closed and locked the door. He washed his face and sighed deeply. After talking with Cindy he knew what he had to do.




Flight 367 arrived safely in Deleware.