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them.  That’s all I could tell myself.  To keep holding my breath and not scream.  Otherwise, I would go quietly with nothing left in me. It was hard to do, especially when the plane vibrated hard and I could feel it slow.  Like we were skidding on sharp rocks before abruptly stopping.
    I couldn’t keep my eyes shut.  The pain was just so overwhelming, opening my eyes didn’t matter.  My body felt almost gone, and I couldn’t feel it.  Eyes wandering mindlessly, my dead gaze found Emma and it wasn’t a pretty sight.  Her head was tilted to the side unnaturally, and there was no life or movement in her.  Her hair floated around her face now that we were completely stopped.
    I blinked as I took her in. I didn’t want to end up like her, even if I didn’t understand how she died and I didn’t.  It moved my heart to a bad place, and it made me feel even sicker.  But I couldn’t think about that now, I was still here or so I felt as if I was.  That’s all I should need to be willing to try.
    The first step of possibly living meant taking off my belt.  I looked down to myself, and suddenly, I could feel my body again.  It hurt so terribly!  I could only afford to wince as I tried to see my belt.  The issue was I could hardly see at this point with the salt water and the pain.  Not to mention… I started to panic. 
    My hands flew all over the damn belt that kept me in place, looking to unlatch it. I pulled at it and tried clicking it open.  For whatever reason, it didn’t work!  I even bucked against it as I tried, anything to take it off!  The latch wasn’t working! Simply attempting to get a grip to unlatch the belt didn’t work for me either.  It was just stuck.  With time, my panic grew as did my terrible need for air. 
    I was fighting an impossible battle right now.  Most of it rested in my own physical state.  It was something I didn’t have much control of right now.  I felt this could be it…
    The life I knew would end.  The one with my father and being trapped. It was a welcoming thought, to be honest, to die and end up with my mother in heaven. I wanted to go to her and leave my dad behind and my brother; they could rot in hell.  At the same time, it was such a shame… I wanted to live, and I still had hope for my life.  I, as well as all these others, could have had such great futures.
    Through the water, something moved and caught my attention. I cleared my head and blurred vision as best as I could, and when I did, I saw a man. Mr. Rush.
    As he moved closer, I could see him more clearly. He looked around to all the students frantically as he swam over everyone’s seats.  He was free and alive! I was happy he might have a chance.
    However, I noticed his frantic looking stopped when he hovered over my row. I looked up to see him just over my head. His eyes were panicked, but he didn’t pause. He grabbed down and onto my belt, pulling himself until he was in front of me, bubbles floating from his abrupt movement over to me. With everything, I guess I could still be surprised.
    The first thing he did was wrestle with the seatbelt like I did, trying to unlatch it and get me free.  After trying enough times, I concluded that wasn’t going to work.  Then, he shocked me a moment later after reaching down into his pocket.  He had a knife.
    Mr. Rush pulled the sharp weapon out.  With his other hand, he slid his finger under my belt and away from me.  The hand with the knife made a back and forth motion over the belt.  He was saving me, trying to cut me out!
    All this happened in a matter of seconds, from the crash to now.  Time was ticking fast, though.  I had no air, and I knew he didn’t either.  He kept looking up at me as I started to fade away; I could feel it.  The need for air was building in me as was the pressure on my chest. I couldn’t make it. There was no way.  
    I rested my hand on his hand that was working to cut the belt. Meeting his eyes, I did my