The Passenger in Seat B9

Who was he? That man at the store. He was staring at me. Watching me. What was he doing? He was up to no good. I could feel it. I know it.

He was there watching me as I was shopping. He was watching me when I was checking out. He was watching me as I was getting in my car. He was creepy. Was he following? Was he out to get me? Should I have been more worried than I was? Who was he? I never saw him before.

Wait! I think I have seen him before. He was there last night. He was watching me then. In the alley by my house. I was taking out the garbage and there he was. He was talking to someone. I couldn’t see who. I couldn’t tell what language he was speaking. Who was he talking to? What were they talking about? Were they talking about me? I don’t know. He was staring at me. But he walked away when I stared back. Who was he? I just don’t know.

Two days later, I had almost forgotten about the strange, creepy man. I was on my way to visit my sister. Two weeks out of the cold Chicago air to enjoy the warm Texas sun. I was ready to forget my problems and enjoy a much-needed vacation.

The Uber driver picked me up at 5 AM. Midway Airport was 30 minutes away, but we were moving. After 5 minutes, we were stopped at a red light. Standing outside a corner store was that same man. He was with someone. Was that he man he was with in the alley? Were they waiting for me? Did they know where I was going? Did they know that we’d take that route? He turned around and stared right at me. Who was he? Why was he watching me? Why was he staring?

Breaking news came over the radio. Simon Denke, a serial killer, escaped from prison. Is that who was staring at me? Was my life in danger? What about my family. Would they need protection? Could he be following me? Why was he after me? What had I done to him? They said that he was spotted in the area. Could that be him? It was radio. There was no image of him for me to compare.

Airport security seemed very strong that day. Was it always that strong? I don’t know. This was my first time flying. I didn’t know what to expect. Were they increasing security because of Simon? Was that Simon who was watching me? Is he still watching?

I wanted to run. I checked my bags and made it through security. They made me take off my shoes. Have they always done that? When got to my gate, there they were. Watching. They were both there. Staring. Creepy. Terrifying.

The tension was broken by the sound of a sweet voice. The lady said that I looked familiar. So did she. We talked while waiting to board the plane. Her daughter was a very cute little girl. It turned out that she was Dona Jackson. We were in high school together. She was just as pretty now as she was back then. I wished we had time to get to know each other again. We exchanged information and it seemed that we didn’t live too far from each other. On top of that, it appeared that we were sitting next to each other on the plane.

We boarded the plane without any problem. I sat in seat D8. Dona was in F8 and Laura, her daughter, sat between us. Right away, I sat down and put my ear buds in my ear. Listening to the radio seemed to be an easy way to take my mind off my fear of flying. However, more information about our escaped serial killer was played than music. I turned off the radio and glanced around. Sitting in seat B9 was the same man. Possibly our serial killer. He was talking to the man behind him. It sounded like:

Man in B9: It’s all set. Just wait. Everything goes down from here.

As soon as he finished talking, he turned around and stared at me. What was he talking about? Was he trying to take down the plane? Was he going to kill everybody here? Would he be willing to kill himself just to get to me? Why was he staring at me?

The captain announced that we would take off soon. I put my phone in airplane mode and started playing games that didn’t require a connection. It was one of those color matching games. I would have listened to music stored on my phone, but I wanted to keep aware of my surroundings.

The plane started to taxi down the runway. As it left the safety of the ground, I was clinching the arm rest. I didn’t know, or care, what happened to my phone. I was just praying that I reach Texas alive.

Laura patted my hand. She told me to relax. She assured me that airplanes were safer than cars. It wasn’t helping. But when a little child offers you some of her candy to help calm you down, that would ease any heart.

Once the plane reached its cruising height, it was all smooth flying. I thanked Laura for the candy and tried to get some sleep. My eyes had barely closed before we hit turbulence. I jumped fully awake. The captain’s voice came over the intercom.

“Attention passengers, we have hit a little bit of turbulence. No need to worry. We’ll be out of it in a few minutes.”

If that was a little, I’d hate to see what a lot felt like.

I turned around and the man in B9 was still staring at me. He had a devious smirk on his face. He held his hand up. Did he just give me a thumbs down? What was that supposed to mean? The plane dipped. It dipped again. I knew what thumbs down meant. The plane was going down.

As the engine caught fire, the plane started to fall out of the sky. After a while, I could see the ground get closer. That’s when I woke up screaming. I was still in the Uber on the way to the airport.

I arrived at the airport and spoke to the same lady with the same child. The same passenger was sitting in seat B9.

Read The Passenger in Seat D8