FELICIA HEILGENDORFF

X for Xandria

I had waited years for this day, but now that the ancient famous aircraft stood before me, all I could think of was the plane crashing with my wife inside.

I stared at the cockpit and wondered what the pilot had been thinking when he realised that the aircraft was sinking. They said it was an accident. Or had the pilot purposefully crashed the plane? I would never know.

I stared at the metal coating and imagined it shredding to pieces as the aircraft hit those fatal rocks below. They had only found the remnants of the plane, spread across a vast area, where it had crashed.

I stared at the back of the plane and imagined what my wife must have been thinking when she found out she was going to die. Did she scream? Was she calm and collected, trying to keep a cool head and figure out a way to change their fate?

Xandria, my poor wife, is all I think now, and I begin to weep as I stare at the old aircraft, unable to get images of the shreds of aircraft and body parts from my mind.

© 2016

FFftPP, Week #18 – 2016

Photo prompt provided by https://pixabay.com/en/fixed-wing-trainer-harvard-yellow-316707/

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Responses

  1. mandibelle16

    This man is truly empathetic. He can walk in another man’s shoes as Atticus so brilliantly said in TKAM. I am sorry he has this job of putting together the pieces of what happened. That all he can think about is this man’s wife as she faced death with him. It would be horrible to know you were flying your spouse to their death, if you truly loved them. I think this man loves his wife very much, for him to think this way. A sorrowful tale. Well done.

    Reply
    1. Felicia Hf

      Thank you for your comment. I hadn’t thought of it as him seeing someone else’s wife’s plane crash, though now that I think about it, that would seem quite possible too. I was thinking that his own wife just died in a plane crash and he keeps imagining the wreck, while he is looking at a completely different plane in an exhibition… I suppose both variations are plausible though and I appreciate now being able to see the scene from a different angle.

      Reply
      1. mandibelle16

        Either is awful, his own wife! Actually, I think that is worse 😟

      2. Felicia Hf

        You’re right, it’s much worse if it’s his own wife!

  2. amymorrisjones

    This captures emotion well. I’ve known a few people who’ve faced the cars in which their loved ones were killed, and it’s really tough. A person can’t help but go through all those “what-ifs” in that moment. Hopefully this narrator finds closure through seeing the plane. Sometimes that’s all we can ask for!

    Reply
    1. Felicia Hf

      It’s certainly a horrible thing to see the aircraft wreck, knowing that your wife was in there, and all being reduced to small shreds scattered over the place it crashed. I hope he finds closure too somehow!

      Reply
      1. amymorrisjones

        I think I’d rather my loved ones go out of the world in a blaze of glory than a slow agony in a hospital bed, though. He’s got that small comfort!

      2. Felicia Hf

        You’re right – if she had survived, but only barely, and was slowly dying in a hospital bed, never knowing when she would die, that would have been much worse.

  3. angietrafford

    This is a very sad tale with lots of emotion. I think it’s great that you have captured the state of mind he would probably be in.

    Reply
    1. Felicia Hf

      Thanks for reading and for you kind words! Appreciate the comment.

      Reply
  4. luckyjc007

    What a terrible thing to have to live with…not knowing how his wife felt at the time or exactly what happened or why it happened. Great emotional story.

    Reply
    1. Felicia Hf

      I agree – it must be horrible for him. Thank you for reading and commenting!

      Reply

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