“Jaaaack!” I wailed, as we plummeted to the ground, the plane sinking and bouncing, bumping onto the thin slice of road that cut through the darkness, before jerking back up in the air slightly, unable to stick the landing just yet.

  “I got it!” Jack yelled back, while the plane hovered above ground after its first attempt at tapping the road between the sparse street lamps glowing ominously. After what seemed like an eternity, but was mere moments in time, Jack tried to touch the ground with the plane again, the green brush whipping past us through the dimly lit cockpit to either side of the plane.

  The landing gear scraped the makeshift runway again, as Jack pushed up on the controls, angling the plane downward, gripping tightly while aircraft sped down the road, slowing to some extent.

  “See?” Jack said, turning to look at me. “I told you I—“

  “Look out!” I pointed ahead, as a large tractor trailer barreled down the road ahead of us, blaring its horn as if it expected us to move over to a different side of the road.

  “This is getting ridiculous,” Jack yelled, as he swerved the plane, with the truck doing the same, veering off-road to opposite sides of the brush.

  “Ahh!” I screamed as we careened, dipping into the brush, clipping and crunching errant branches, which assaulted the exterior as we hurtled through them, before slowly coming to a stop.

  “Oh god,” I exhaled, exhausted, looking at Jack, who wiped large beads of sweat from his brow.

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  He nodded slowly, taking it in. “Well...hats off to Microsoft for that simulator.”

  I rolled my head back and couldn’t help but breathe out a slight chuckle.

  Jack did the same, leaning back in his seat and running an idle hand through his sweat logged hair, which gave a nice sheen in a tired moment. He just looked good all the time, through everything...must be nice.

  “I don’t know about you,” I moaned, “but I’m ready to walk the rest of the way there. We don’t have much luck on moving vehicles.”

  “No we don’t,” Jack smiled, “do we?”

  There was a moment of silence as we sat.

  “Hey,” he stated up again. “What was that thing you were gonna tell me before?”

  “Uh,” I tensed up. “What thing is that?”

  “You were saying that you had something to tell me...before we pulled in for the landing and all.”

  “Oh,” I said, puzzled on how to proceed. Since we were clearly alive, and hopefully not dying any time soon, that topic had to be tabled. Time for effortless evasive measures. “I...don’t remember.”

  Jack’s brow furrowed. “Is that right?”

  “Uh huh,” I nodded, shifting my gaze downward, sheepishly. I think I was doing well.

  “I think you’re lying,” he shot back. “I learned how to tell...in spy school.”

  “Stop,” I laughed, “I was out of my mind when I said that.”

  “But you were pretty aware with what you wanted to say...so tell me,” his voice grew quiet, composed, sincere. “I might have something...to say back?”

  “Um,” I uttered, low in tone, very unsure. I didn’t want to ruin anything we had. Whatever this was at least. “Well...”

  Suddenly, I felt a rush of something. Was it post adrenaline? I’m not sure. I was fading and rapidly.

  Jack’s expression shifted. “Ari?” He leaned in closer, putting a tender hand on my arm, his natural musk enrapturing me with warmth as he moved closer, looking deeply into my eyes. However, his tone, was something different, something serious, which I could barely take in, my current state and all. What’s wrong?”

  “I...I don’t know,” I said, before drifting off into the night’s embrace.