Two hours into the flight Nat’s phone died. Damn it. I should have charged this before getting on the plane. Why do I never plan ahead? She pocketed it and looked to her left seeing Anna, her daughter, wearing a bright pink t-shirt and a pink skirt to match. She was playing some kind of civilization builder game on her tablet. Not something she’d thought a six-year-old would be interested in, but it looked fun enough. Looking to her right she saw a young man, maybe in his late twenties, wearing a red hoodie and blue jeans, sitting next to her. He was reading a thick book with a blazing dragon on its cover. The man glanced over making eye contact, he took out his earbuds that she hadn’t seen under his hood,

“What’s up?” The question seemed genuine, with no obvious annoyance.

“Sorry, I was just wondering what book you were reading.”

“It’s alright,” he had a smile on his face and a bit of excitement was in his voice, “this book is called Dragons Reborn. It’s about these dragons awakening after having been ‘asleep’ for thousands of years and the people who are trying to survive in this new world.” It seemed right up her alley.

“Who’s the author?” Nat asked,

“Her name is..” he turned the book around to look at its spine, “Kelly Bird. She also wrote a ten-book, high fantasy series called: The Endless Wars. It’s about a chosen one and his friends. Now that series was really good. I highly recommend it.” Nat had always liked fantasy books, even if she hadn’t had the time to read since Brandon died.

“Is it about defeating some great evi-”

“Mom?” Interrupted Anna. Nat turned to see her holding out her pink cat ear headband, “can you wear this?” She was a little embarrassed at the idea of a 53-year-old woman like herself wearing something like that, but Anna seemed to really want her to so... She grabbed the headband,

“Of course I will!” She said as she brushed her hair back and put on the headband, “How do I look?”

“Like my cute mommy cat!” Anna wrapped her arms around Nat and squeezed. Nat returned the hug and cuddled in whispering,

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you too.” As they pulled from each other a man in a lime green hoodie rushed by heading into the back of the plane. A stewardess followed just behind saying,

“Sir, stop. You need to sit down.” As they vanished into the back of the plane Nat looked back to the book guy,

“What do you think that was about?”

“No idea, probably just a problem passenger. Anyways, I just realized I haven’t introduced myself,” He reached his hand out, “I’m Daniel.” Nat shook his hand.

“I’m Nat and this is my daughter, Anna.” Anna gave a quick smile and wave before going back to her tablet. “She’s a little shy.”

“That’s alright, I was always really shy before I went to college. So why are you headi-” A girl’s scream cut through the conversation causing both of their heads to whip toward the back of the plane. A second later the entire plane started shaking and a blue flickering light started emitting from the back of the plane. The sound of what she could only imagine was electricity started getting closer as the light got brighter. Then she saw it, a massive ring or grid of crackling blue energy quickly making its way towards her seeming to disintegrate anyone it passed, all of the passengers immediately started panicking and running for the front of the plane.

“Mom?” Anna said worriedly, Nat grabbed Anna and started making her way to the front of the plane as well.

“It’s alright Anna, We’re gonna be alright.” Bolts of lightning were shooting out from the grid hitting people at random, seeming to just erase their existence leaving nothing of them behind. As they were making their way to the front of the plane she noticed Daniel was right with her. The other passengers were all slightly behind them and even being a solid 30 feet away, the lightning was still picking people off as it slowly made its way closer. By the time they made it to the cockpit door, it was just her, Anna, Daniel, and a random couple left. Daniel immediately tried the door but it wouldn’t open.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“What do we do?!” Asked the woman in the couple, Daniel started slamming into the door, and screamed,

“Let us in! We’re gonna die, please!” His voice cracked, the desperation was obvious as he spoke. There was no response from the other side. Nat collapsed onto the ground and held Anna tight, she could hear Anna sobbing and could see that she still had her tablet held tight to her chest.

“It’s ok Anna. Don’t cry, we’re gonna be fine.” Her voice was breaking now as the emotion of the situation started to take hold. Her tears were only held back by her need to comfort her daughter. Anna looked up at her.

“Promise?!” Her voice was uncontrolled and tears were streaking down her face. That broke the dam holding back Nat’s tears, they flooded out.

“I promise baby girl, I promise.” It came out frantic and breathless. Daniel moved into her vision and kneeled down next to them.

“It’s alright. I’m gonna go try to open that emergencey door.”

“But we’re in mid-flight we must be super high up. There’s no way we can survive that fall.”

“What other options do we have?!” She looked up in the direction of the emergency door and saw that the lightning grid had slowed to a crawl. It was still a bit away from the emergency exit. Daniel stood up and dashed toward the door, the couple followed just after. The moment Daniel grabbed the door a bolt of lightning struck him causing him to disappear. The couple both reached for the door and got immediately zapped and vanished as well. It’s hopeless. The grid sped up stopping right in front of them. Nat held Anna tight,

“Please, don’t hurt my daughter.” The grid sent a minor shock into her. A sudden feeling of acceptance overtook her. She smiled knowing her daughter would be safe. The grid slowly encircled them. She had never felt so at peace before. The grid finally touched her sending a shock throughout her body and suddenly everything was black and wet and warm.

She could hear muffled voices and screaming as the walls around her began constricting and pushing her through a dark tunnel. She could feel her head break the tunnel’s entrance as cool air touched her head. Shortly after that she could see a flickering light and could feel hands supporting her head. Looking up at who was supporting her, it was a man with a braided brown goatee and a bright smile on his face.

She tried to thank him for his help but only random noises came out of her mouth. He helped pull her entire body out of the tunnel. As she tried to get a good look at what kind of tunnel it was, she realized she didn’t have very good control of her head, and it was super heavy for some reason. She managed to get a look at it as the man pulled her into him, it was a vagina and a woman. Wait, was I just inside of her? How? Was I just born? Am I a baby? The woman also had a fluffy black fox-like tail and black fox-like ears on her head. The man turned Nat’s gaze onto him. He had brown cat-like ears on top of his head. What the fuck? Did she have a tail and cat ears as well? She couldn’t tell. The man who she presumed must be her dad spoke,

“Akindds siii podds, Nora.” His voice was soft and loving. He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. She couldn’t understand anything he said besides Nora. Is Nora my name now?

This was very weird but for some reason, she wasn’t panicking. She felt content and happy. She thought she oughta be feeling more scared and afraid, but no matter how much she thought about the fact that she was in a new body or that her daughter was somewhere else, she just felt like everything would be ok.

He handed her over to the woman, her mom, as he did Nat, now Nora, got a better look at the room, it was completely wooden and was only lit by a set of candles. There was a wardrobe, a dresser, a chest, and her mom was on a comfortable-looking bed. Her mom grabbed her and pulled her in, it was a little weird seeing a woman who was her mom completely naked but not as weird as being a baby. Her mom looked toward her dad,

“Hidds kiii podds, Bora.” Bora? Is that my dad’s name? She thought it was weird that she was already thinking of them as her parents but at the same time, it seemed so natural to her. That was also the second time she heard the word podds. Maybe it means love or something.

Her mom pulled her up to her breast and she suddenly felt the urge to eat and started sucking on her nipple, the milk was warm. It tasted similar to cow’s milk but sweeter and had the consistency of water. Her parents continued to talk as she ate, but none of it made any sense to her.

After a few minutes of eating, she started feeling full. She stopped sucking and pulled away. She was closer to her mother’s face now and could see her eyes, they were purple. She hadn’t been paying close enough attention when her dad had her to notice his eye color. I wonder if I have purple eyes? She looked over to where her dad was and noticed he was gone. She wondered where he had gone and when he would be back. Her mom began rocking her back a forth and humming, it was a nice and calming feeling. She could feel her eyes close and suddenly she was extremely tired. After another few rocks, she was asleep.