Author Information
Flash Fiction Story
Flash Fiction
The Flight
James Richardson was a jet pilot who lived in Portland he was used to long trips in his jet and was the most experienced pilot in the city. He knew every inch of his jet and had never had an accident in his entire life, he knew how to make the most difficult spins and pirouettes and had plain confidence in his machine. James had always liked his job and he dreamed of having that profession since he was a kid. He would often fantasize and dream he was a bird and dreamed he flew throughout the whole world and travel in the most extreme situations without even a drop of sweat. James had 3 kids and a beautiful wife, he felt blessed of having his family. The only problem was that they were always arguing about his job because they didn't like him working as a pilot because they felt it would be really dangerous for him. After a series of discussions for almost a whole year James gave up. Mr. Richardson had promised his family that he was going to leave his pilot job for a year to spend more time with them and have a stronger bond but that he would return after that year and drive his jet once in a while but less often than before.
He had one last job on that year and he would leave it that period, he had received a call a few days ago from a guy named Gerald Granger, who said he wanted to go to Denver as fast as possible. They agreed to take flight two days later. James mostly used to make special deliveries from one city to another and didn't travel with passengers really often and he had been lucky that he had never had any problems while traveling with a passenger. Mr. Richardson was at the station preparing everything for the flight when a man with a really old coat and some dusty shoes came into the station.
“Hi I’m here for the flight to Denver with James Richardson”-The man said.
James recognized that man it was Gerald Granger, his customer, but he was also called the "Birdman". He was considered a crazy man who lived on the outsides of town with all kinds of birds and lived away from society because he didn’t consider himself one of them anymore.
“Are you Gerald Granger?”-James asked doubtfully
“Yes, and I would like to go as fast as possible”-The Birdman answered.
“Everything’s ready we may leave now”-James said
“Excellent”-The Birdman replied.
Both men got in the plane and put on their seatbelts. The plane accelerated and began to fly. The Birdman was really quiet and calm and didn’t talk in the whole trip. They were a few minutes from Denver when suddenly the plane started making noises and the engine stopped some seconds later. James started to get really nervous like he had never been in his life. He had never been in a situation like this when another life depended of him and he had nothing he could do to save him. The jet was freefalling and something in the man made James feel really curious about him, he seemed calm, but that gave James more anxiety. James had a heart attack when the Birdman suddenly started to whistle in a high pitch. James could only hear like the flutter of some bird wings and felt the jet started to stop it freefalling.
James suddenly woke up, he was on a hospital in Denver. At first he started to analyze if his body was complete. After that a doctor came into the room.
“I see that you have finally woken up. It took you three days”-The doctor said with a deep calm voice.
“Where is the Birdman?”-He asked rapidly. He couldn’t thing of anything else than the Birdman and the scene he had lived some days ago.
“Who is the Birdman?”-The doctor asked.
“The man I was traveling with”-James replied.
“We have no information of you traveling with someone, you must have gotten a hard hit in your head in that plane crash”-The doctor answered.
James never knew if he had really ever been with the Birdman, or if he had been flying alone, the only thing he knew was that after that day no person in Portland or in Denver ever knew about the Birdman. He disappeared.
