The smoke left a dark, long cloud in the sky. Looking up from the ground, it felt like a huge meteorite falling to pieces. After a few seconds, the howl of the falling plane stopped abruptly, and it disappeared right in the middle of the sky. Only the tail section was slowly falling down, as if it weighed nothing. It whirled around like a light feather.
“Debby,” Sango said. “Debby!”
Debby sat up out of bed and looked around. She recognized Sango’s apartment in Tokyo. Everything was exactly as it had been on her last visit. A bright room with a large window and a bed that transformed into a dresser. A beautiful tree in the corner. Sango sat on the edge of the bed, looking frightened, as if she hadn’t been able to wake Debby up for a long time.
“God, Carol!” Debby threw herself into Sango’s arms. “I had a terrible dream. I was on an airplane and it started falling. Then a young man tried to save me, but…” she recoiled from Sango, “how can you possibly save somebody in a plane crash? And then we were falling. I felt weightless. And then the terrible impact and everything was spinning around. I felt like it was better to just die.”
“Debby,” Sango looked at her with compassion.
“М?” Debby mumbled through her tears. “God, I was so scared.”
“Debby,” Sango repeated, “open your eyes.”
The room began to darken and fill with cold. Debby felt her body grow heavy and aching with terrible pain. Sango was moving away from her. She pulled her arms toward her friend to hold her again, but her hands didn’t obey. Everything in front of her eyes blurred. Debby opened her eyes.
Jean-Pierre was in front of her. His face and hands were bruised, but he was looking at Debby frightened. He exhaled with relief when he found Debby awake.
“Debby,” Jean-Pierre said with relief, “how do you feel? Can you move your arms and legs? You didn’t breathe for a couple of minutes.”
Debby tried to say that she felt fine, but realized that it wouldn’t be true. She couldn’t utter a word.
“Aaah!” she let out a semblance of a scream instead of words.
“Debby, you have a broken hip and a lot of bruises. Don’t be afraid. We need to see if I can move you. Try to lift your head.”
Debby lifted her head and felt a wild pain. She moaned again.
“I know it hurts, but we need to check the whole body. The neck is fine. Move your arms,” Jean-Pierre commanded as if he were a doctor.