By Aleksandra Atanasovski

The most intense 60 minutes of my life

I’m writing this scab during my flight back to London.

This one hour flight has me lost in my thoughts and I feel as though it will never end. Suddenly a loud noise comes from underneath the plane, causing it to shake for thirty minutes. The feeling is indescribable, and it wasn’t merely turbulence.

To give an idea of how intense the shaking was, every single person on that plane was wide awake and had no intention of sleeping. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t scared, but I can admit that I was in fact petrified.

The plane started to descend rapidly, not helping with the fear brewing on the plane. The cabin crew then started speaking into the speaker in Spanish. Even though I have studied it for years, I couldn’t understand even one word, causing me to question my safety on this plane even further. I kept praying that we would arrive safely, and mostly, alive.

There were still tremors and they were starting to intensify. My hands and my phone are shaking…

The only thing I dread is if the oxygen mask falls, for me that would signal that my life is in danger.

I start thinking about who will come to my funeral if I die. I did not have time to tell my parents about my preferences if that situation were to arise. That I do not want to be buried but be cremated and scattered in five places that are special to me; in front of my house in France, in front of both of my grandmother’s houses in Serbia, near the Jacob’s house, and in front of a Nando’s (yeah really).

Even as the flight was coming to an end, the intensity of the shaking was not. I’m sitting alone, there are two empty seats next to me. In front of me, a grandma, she seems rather worried, she tried to sleep at the start of the flight, but she soon realized that the situation called for alertness.

Today is Monday 7th January 2019. I am on my way to England, if this scab is published, you know what that means.

Aleksandra x