The Passenger in Seat D8

Read The Passenger in Seat B9

America, the beautiful. The land of the free. The home of the brave. I’ve heard these words since early childhood. But my troubles started shortly after I got here. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not the whole nation. It’s not even the whole city. It’s just that one person. That man that keeps watching me. Everywhere I go, he shows up. He looks into my very soul. He’s looking for something. It’s like he wants something evil to be inside me and he gets upset that it’s not there. Let me tell you about the first time I noticed him.

A few days ago, I had just bought my new house. I was happier than I have ever been. Finally, I was an American citizen. Finally, I was a landowner. My brother has been helping me for a few years now. I called him over to check out the house. At one point, we were standing in the alley to get a side view of the house. My brother went inside to get a drink of water. That’s when he showed up. He was throwing trash in the garbage can. I wanted to introduce myself, but he had this look on his face like he wanted to kill me. I haven’t done anything to him. Why was he so mad at me. TV always portrayed Americans greeting their new neighbors with a pie or cookies or something to eat. I was only given a cold hard stare. With a look like that, I turned around and went into the house. I may have imagined it, but I swear that when I peeked out the window, he was still there. Still staring.

The next day I went to the store to buy supplies for the house. As I was getting out of the car, there he was. Watching me. Did he follow me to the store. He was watching as I shopped. He was watching me at check out. He was watching me as I was getting back 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?

Two days later, I was going to visit my cousin in Texas. I wasn’t really looking forward to the blazing hot Texas sun that I heard so many horror stories about. But I did promise him that I would visit as soon as I got settled in. On my way to the airport, I stopped to talk to my boss to make sure he had someone to cover my shift. He told me that everything was taken care of and commended me for thinking more about the business that my vacation. My hope was to become a partner as soon as possible.

We stepped outside, still talking, when this car on the street stopped. The window rolled down and it was that same man, staring at me. How did he know where I worked? How did he know that I’d be there. Did he know where I was going?

The conversation ended and I continued on my way to the airport. I heard on the radio that Simon Denke had escaped from prison. A serial killer was on the loose. Is that who was following me, watching me? No! Denke is a German name. This man was African American. No, he wasn’t Denke. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t a serial killer.

The first thing I noticed when arriving at the airport was slightly increased. That was to be expected this early in the morning. They were about to change shifts and that could leave things open for someone to slip by unnoticed. Because of this, I was on the lookout for you know who. I checked my bags and made it through security. I did have a problem taking off my shoes. I had walked quite a bit that day before and my feet were swollen. I thank God that I had a pair of flip-flops in my carry-on bag. I put them on and went to the gate. When I got there, guess who I saw, staring at me. Staring. Creepy. Terrifying. WHY!

He was talking to a lady and her child. I wanted to scream. To warn her that her life was in danger. Did she not know that she could be flirting with a serial killer. Maybe she wasn’t scared because she was part of his team. I wanted to keep an eye on him, make sure of my safety. But he just kept watching me. It made me turn around.

I boarded the plane and sat down in seat B9. I wanted to relax and enjoy the flight. But as I sat there, he boarded the plane. He was in seat D8 and that lady was with him. They were together. I knew it. What were they planning? They were up to no good. I could feel it.

The man sitting behind me, I knew from work. He was aware that I was trying to become a partner in the company. I let him know that everything was set in place. That’s when I could feel the man in D8 staring at me. I turned around and stared back at him. I wanted to put a stop to this.

As the plane started to take off, he looked somewhat nervous. Could this just be to a fear of flying? That was my first thought. But the little girl gave him something and told him not to worry, that they would be safe. What did she mean? How would, THEY, be safe? What about everybody else?

The plane took off without any problems. We were flying smoothly for a while and I was able to relax. That’s when the first bump came. 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.”

I’ve flown through turbulence before. It wasn’t anything to worry about. I tried to continue to relax. I looked up and the man in D8 was still staring at me. He had a devious smirk on his face. I held my hand up and gave him thumbs down? I was telling him to stop staring at me.

But the smirk. What did it mean? The plane dipped. It dipped again. I knew what the smirk 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 and closer. At the moment it crashed, I woke up and I was still sitting at the gate. I boarded the plane and saw the same passenger in seat D8.