“First time flying?”

The young child looked up at the man. He nodded but said nothing. The older man smiled and looked out the window. Tired and hungry, he hoped lunch might be served soon. It had been a long flight back from Europe, and although he was recovering at a sufficient rate, he still felt tired and hungry.

“Mister?”

He turned to look at the young boy. The kid looked to be about six or seven and was extremely timid. The man acknowledged the question with a nod.

“I’m sorry to bother you, mister--”

“Call me Demmy.”

The child smiled for a moment, but his frown quickly returned. “I’m sorry to bother you, mister, but do you think the plane might crash?” His squeaky voice mixed with his English accent to bring a grin to the man’s lips. He did, however, seem genuinely worried.

Demmy had to laugh. The young boy had obviously been scared by the most recent case of turbulence. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. I’ve been on my fair share of planes, and I’ve never ever been in a plane crash.” This seemed to ease the child’s restless mind. Something still troubled Demmy, though.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Demmy began, “why are you flying all by yourself?”

“I’m going to visit my grandma in Abbotsford.” The boy’s smile went unmatched in Demmy’s memory. “Mum and dad couldn’t come, but I’m alright by myself. How about you, Mr. Demmy?”

Chuckling, Demmy replied, “I didn’t have a mum or a dad to come with me, I’m afraid.”

The little boy giggled. “Everyone has a mum and a dad.” Demmy considered arguing with him for a moment but thought twice.

As Demmy looked out his window at the bright white clouds below the plane, a stewardess ran by their aisle at an alarming speed. The young child appeared to not notice, but Demmy knew better. A second stewardess moved quickly along the other side of the plane, albeit more calmly. A few passengers followed. People were slowly migrating towards the next compartment of the plane.

“I’ll be right back,” informed Demmy, patting his new companion on the head before squeezing by. People were all looking through the windows on the right side of the plane. Despite the constant urging of the staff for everyone to return to their seats, Demmy could easily see what all the commotion was about. A black object was falling from the sky and was just barely visible out of the corner of the plane’s windows.

“What is it?” one man asked a stewardess. The same question echoed several dozen times over the next thirty seconds. The object was a fair distance away but seemed to be of significant size. It was black in colour and falling quickly.

“Ever seen anything like that before?” questioned a seated woman as the object disappeared from sight. Demmy shook his head, awestruck.

As the flight staff ushered everyone back to their seats, Demmy couldn’t help but overhear the copilot whispering to a flight attendant several aisles up. “We’re not sure what it was, but ground control seems to think it was manned. I guess it’s falling at a decreasing rate or something like that. Anyway, they said they’ll check it out, but that could take a while. I’m not worried about it, but damn. I’ve been flying for 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Demmy frowned. The image of the black object implanted itself inside his mind. As he walked back to his seat, he grabbed the attention of a stewardess. Pointing to the young boy sitting in the seat adjacent to his, he said, “Can you see to it that that boy gets extra attention? He’s flying for the first time and he’s all alone.”

The stewardess stared at him for a moment but agreed. Demmy smiled and continued to walk down the aisle. As he passed by the young boy, a tiny hand reached out and touched his arm. He stopped and looked down. He was hit full force by two of the most concerned eyes he’d ever seen.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Demmy replied. “There was just another plane flying outside.”

“So everything’s alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Demmy continued to walk towards the washroom, but the boy again grabbed his hand.

“Where are you going?”

Demmy considered lying, but the kid would obviously realize the truth when he didn’t come back. “There’s something I have to do, but it’s alright. The flight attendants will be here; they’ll make sure you’re alright.”

“You’re not coming back?” It was evident that he was thoroughly dismayed to be losing a new friend.

“No, I’m not coming back,” Demmy answered, kneeling by the seat, “but I’ll make you a promise. I promise that I’ll come back to visit you someday, um...”

“Max. Max Powell.”

“Right, Max. I promise I’ll come to visit you someday, Max, and I’ll bring you a present, too. How about that?” The boy’s face lit up. “Alright, then it’s settled. Enjoy the rest of the ride, Max, and have fun at your grandma’s.” With that, Demmy turned and continued to the washroom. Once inside, he closed his eyes to make it easier to concentrate.

The setting of the plane’s interior disappeared as Demmy’s body became intangible. He slipped like a ghost through the lower levels of the plane, exposing himself to the cold, thin air. As his body once more became corporeal, he began to artificially heat his being and started psychically creating his own oxygen supply.

Demmy began his free fall. His body turned vertically, with his head facing the ground. After a moment of falling, he realized he needed to move faster. Taking in the last bit of unrestricted solar energy before he hit the clouds, he unleashed an explosion of psychic energy from behind him to increase his velocity.

A matter of seconds after hitting the white blanket of clouds, Demmy burst out of that same whiteness. For the first time in nearly an hour, the world became visible to him again. The land was green almost as far as he could see. In the very far distance he could make out the blue of the Pacific. The rediscovery of colour strengthened his resolve and sped up his descent.

After a minute and a half of falling, the ground was quickly approaching. Demmy prepared to slow himself as he neared the green. He hadn’t seen exactly where the object had landed, but he would find it.

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